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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Campus -> 
An uphill struggle: Chinese students’ endeavor to fit in on US campuses
    2016-02-17  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    On a summer day in 2010, 18-year-old Jane Yu quick-stepped through the cool morning wind in Iowa, central United States, a backpack over her shoulder. She was a freshman at Iowa State University.

    “Well, I adapted to the new environment quickly. However, sometimes when an ‘American joke’ popped up during a lecture and the whole class burst into laughter except me, it was a little bit awkward.”

    “But I would still laugh with them even though I did not quite get it,” she joked. “However, it was a bit frustrating then — seeing myself as a cultural outsider on certain occasions.”

    To acquaint herself with U.S. pop culture, Yu regularly watched “The Daily Show,” a satirical news program then hosted by comedian Jon Stewart. “It was one of my favorite news programs. I loved it because it delivers something very serious through humor.”

    Fast forward to 2015, Yu is now a graduate of Columbia University. “If you spend a lot of time learning American pop culture, you will gradually get these jokes. But these are still my ‘blind spots,’” she admitted.

    Yu’s efforts navigating through a different culture and her feelings of being an “outsider” are shared by many Chinese students who study at American schools.

    Statistics show that more than 304,000 students from China were studying in U.S. colleges and universities in the 2014-15 academic year, accounting for 31.2 percent of all international students.

    A growing middle class in China and U.S. universities’ push for a global education contributed to the influx of international students, particularly from China, analysts said.

    While American schools go to great lengths to recruit Chinese students, the influx of international students has also left them unprepared in terms of helping them assimilate into local communities.

    A recent study found that nearly 40 percent of international students reported having no close American friends. And students from China and elsewhere in East Asia said their efforts to fit in at school are, more or less, a struggle.

    “When Chinese international students come to my office, one of the very first questions they have is ‘how do I make American friends?’” said Sebastian Cherng, assistant professor of international education at New York University (NYU).

    “It is difficult,” he said. “We are a very diverse society, but we are also a very segregated society.”

    There are reasons for concern. Take a stroll on any campus on any given day and one can easily sense the nuanced boundaries: Most students are hanging out with schoolmates of their own ethnicity.

    Though most American students believe Chinese students are a positive addition to the classroom, making friends with them is a different matter.

    To most Chinese students, for all their efforts to mingle, there always seems to be an invisible line.

    Ya Lin, an alumna of New York-based Fordham University, said, “Most Chinese students will actively participate in social networking events, such as happy hour or alumni gathering, but it is hard to maintain and develop the relationship.”

    Speaking along similar lines, Linda, also a Fordham alumna, said it is easy to become acquaintances with local American students, but very hard to forge closer ties with them.

    The tendency to seek for friends with similar backgrounds is one reason, Cherng said.

    “Even in place like NYU, which is incredibly diverse, people will stick to what they know. Your English sounds different from mine and if I make pop culture inferences, you may not know. We may not watch the same TV shows, we may not like the same food. So to make friends and to cross those borders, it takes effort.”

    In his view, the responsibility to cross those boundaries lies with American students. “I think uniformly Chinese international students are very willing to make that effort. I think a lot of responsibility needs to be placed on American students.”

    Chergn also said he believed universities should offer more programs to both American and international students that facilitate mutual understanding and interaction.

    Peter Kwong, professor of urban affairs and planning at Hunter College, also agreed that universities ought to make the effort to help foreign students fit in at U.S. universities.

    “But whether they see that as a priority is a different story. The pressure is not there,” he said. “They don’t see the responsibility in terms of bridging the cultural gap.”

    Still, changes are happening.

    Many universities are spending considerable time and effort to attract more international students, as well as ensuring they are academically supported, particularly in terms of language, Chergn said.

    Jia Wei, an MBA student at NYU’s Stern School of Business, told Xinhua, “Stern has a very good orientation program called Launch. During the two-week activities, there are a lot of interactions between us and other students that help us adapt to campus life.”

    “Meanwhile, we have different societies. I am on the board of the Asian Business Society. Every year we have a ‘cultural trek’ to Asia. A lot of Americans will join the trek. They are eager to learn Asian culture through the program.”

    At NYU, which boasts the highest number of international students in the United States, Chergn is currently working with one international graduate student who is designing and running an intergroup dialogue course for NYU undergraduates on the topics of race, immigration and international students.

    “Since coming to NYU, I’ve worked with the Center for Multicultural Education Programs. Part of their mission is to run workshops for both NYU and non-NYU groups that model how to have conversations that are important for both U.S. domestic and international students,” he said. (Xinhua)

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