Show Intercultural Students Represent Large Part Of Enrollment by Leslie Vance About one half percent o of the total school enrollment at are foreign students The 1984 fall head count of distribution of students by country of residence shows the largest group on campus is the Pacific Asian Islander totaling students A breakdown of the rest of the foreign students shows one student from each of these countries is attending Chile Pakistan Philippines and Saudi Arabia There are also two students from Japan six from Iran and ten that did not specify where they originally came from Statistics aside what kinds of problems do these people have obtaining an education in a country foreign to them and how do the they cope with these problems Interviews of several foreign students showed that language was the largest obstacle to overcome as it permeated all facets of education English had to be learned proficiently enough to understand not only everyday conversation conversation conversation conversa conversa- tion but lectures and texts as well Sung Tam Tarn a Vietnamese student majoring in engineering said that reading is easier for many students as they can look up words in the dictionary that they dont don't understand Tam Tarn also stated that many students get gel only 40 to 50 percent of the lecture content because of vocabulary deficiency and he thought that having lectures transcribed or outlines containing important facts readily available to the foreign student would be an aid in learning Assimilation into a new culture did not seem to be a problem to any of the students interviewed Most held the view that because their homelands had been westernized to a a certain ertain degree already they had become used to western ways before even leaving their countries Although none of the students claimed to be discriminated against some felt that there was a little prejudice shown towards them because of either their race or religion However this was out of the ordinary On the whole foreign students are much like any other students Problems with meeting homework deadlines anxiety over tests and coping with both school and work are things all students experience regardless of where they come from |