International Students

I have just been informed that I have many more blog readers than I realized! Super sorry to keep you all waiting in-between blog postings. New resolution to write more begins now!

I teach few Mexicans. Many of my students have lived most of their lives in Mexico, even if they are North American or Korean or mixed ancestry. So, much like students in New York City, they are truly international. They may look "american" and even act "american" and speak "american" (whatever that means) but they have a very unique history.

Example #1: We got into a great discussion yesterday about U.S. Immigration. As it turns out, one of my top students, a 19-year old student of Korean ancestry, has no desire to go back to Korea. He misses his family, but he hates their school system - that's why they left, and he is also not interested in Korea's mandatory 3-year military service. So he would like a visa to attend a U.S. university. I think he can do it; he's very smart, and his English is as good as most any American student, and international students are sought out by many schools. Once his student visa runs out, though, he's planning to marry an American woman. He figures then he can be american, and so can his kids. Also, he thinks american women are sexy. ;) I assured him that he's charming enough to make it actually work!

Example #2: We did a simulation this week of the philadelphia convention - where the american forefathers wrote the constitution. My perceptive students realized that out of the 9 of them, only one would have been invited. the other 8 were either women, koreans, mexicans, or black (actually, most were a combination of those). I thought they were sad/angry about this, but they made the best of it. They tried to convince me that they shouldn't do the work bc it wouldn't be a realistic simulation! I told them they should rewrite history as a little more inclusive. :)