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Initial Period Adjustment of International Student
America which has the most developed education has an increased number of international students every year. However, failing to adapt to the cultural environment in many aspects, many students, especially students who are from East Asia http://www.ukassignment.org/mgzydx/ have experienced a difficult initial adaptation period. Due to different customs, habits and values, many people have suffered seriously culture shock. On a related website, it describes the symptoms of culture shock like: “During their first few months of college, many first-generation college students (those who are the first in their families to attend a four-year college) face the same hurdles Milenny did. They feel the tensions of entering new territory, and their parents are unable to reassure them. Their fellow college students often seem to be members of a club of insiders to which they do not belong. These kinds of cultural tensions may be one reason that almost one-fourth of first-generation students who enter four-year colleges in the United States do not return for a second year. “(Cushman 1). In my IE paper I pointed out if a correct concept of learning could be established, which would minimize the negative effects produced by culture shock, making students achieve their desired objectives more quickly and effectively in new environment. Western education researchers put forward a number of important theories on how to establish a correct philosophy of education from different perspectives, such as multi-cultural education theory, engaged pedagogy and self-motivated learning theory, and so on.
From multi-cultural perspectives, I discussed how Chinese overseas students were hard to adapt to life there, and believed that there were two main reasons; one was that they could not blend into abroad life when they were beginning to study in the United States; the other was a difference of learning methods. I held that Chinese students should learn more about American culture, so that they could integrate into American society better, American students were very friendly, Chinese students who studied abroad could communicate more with local students to make friends with them. In the process of interaction with local students, Chinese students could have a better understanding of local habits and customs. Gardner held that “culture as a way of life has relativity rather than absoluteness. Connotations of human existence, social practice and personal experience are in a changing state, a thing which is considered to be the real today may become the unrealistic tomorrow” (p236). Therefore, the existence of cultural differences is not a strange thing but a reality, in the evaluation of differences; it cannot be based on the rules or standards which take a dominant position in a society. Students should pay many affords to understand and respect cultural difference.
Hooks put forward the concept of engaged pedagogy. On the one hand, he argued against traditional teachers’ authoritative attitude in teaching. On the other hand, she paid attention to the relationship between teachers and students to develop students' critical awareness, and defining the significance of learning, that is, taking education as free practice, everyone could be his (her) own, so as to achieve themselves (126-138).
As Dearden said, a person who is autonomous should be able to think independently and make his decisions and take actions lightheartedly. Namely, an autonomous person should be a free thinker and learner, through “self-direction”, “self-activity” and “independence”, he becomes a “chooser” (341). Dearden also concluded that freedom needed to be controlled (345). Any freedom requires that people should show respect to others and obey the laws, otherwise, people must pay for their own behaviors.
In my IE paper I considered that students needed to understand local customs, communicated with local people more in order to adapt to the local environment quickly. However, when international students come to America for study, to understand the local culture and tradition is only an important part of learning; the more important thing is to know what they need to learn in the United States. Moreover, each international student has their own traditional values, it is impossible for them to give up in a short time. And there is no absolute right or wrong values, each value and idea has its value of existence, so Gardner pointed out that it shouldn’t to take the dominant standards in a society only as standard of conduct (237). Hooks held opposite views, he believed that students should not follow to the mainstream consciousness of a society’s; they should have a sense of freedom in order to facilitate self-realization (126-138). This thinking allows students understand what they really need, but as an international student who first comes to the United States, only considering following his original habits in the past to start his life of studying abroad is clearly not realistic. As what Dearden said, students should be free, but this freedom must be based on certain restrictions. As an international student, we has the freedom to learn, but we must understand U.S. customs and habits, by doing this we can be possible to adapt to the environment better.
Although the above theories conflict with each other in some places, they all have one thing in common, that is, they have emphasized the mutual communication and mutual understanding. There is no absolute right or wrong values, each value and culture has its own values in education, students should have the freedom to pursue what they really need. In summary, as an international student who comes to the United States, he should know American culture; communicate with local students and teachers more to help him with adapting to the environment here better. In addition, international students should also understand that culture shock is an inevitable stage in the process of adaptation. They should not give themselves too much pressure, they should understand that to adapt to a culture takes time, they should be patient, in the premise of respecting local culture and customs and sticking to their values and outlook to work hard to achieve their goals in life.
It is a common phenomenon for international students to experience culture shock, but the proposed solutions are often recommendations of them to strengthen communication to make them be integrated into the local culture. But these suggestions may exceed proper limits, as many students are adults, they have mature values and way of life, and too much emphasis on asking them to integrate into the local culture may increase their psychological burden, which is not conducive to eliminate the negative impact of culture shock. Therefore, to find a balance between integrating into the local culture and not violate their own culture.
Works Cited
Bell, Hooks. “Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom”. Journal of Engineering Education 1(1994): 126-138.
Dearden R. “Autonomy and Education.” Education and http://www.ukassignment.org/mgzydx/ the Development of Reason 11(1975):333-345.
Howard, Gardner. Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York: Basic Books, 2000.
Kathleen, Cushman. “Facing the Culture Shock of College.” Apr. 2007. Educational Leadership. 30 Oct. 2011
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