Great information for young Americans who are open-minded, interested in other cultures, countries and a good education. They will be a welcomed addition to the student body at our European universities.
I am afraid though, that those young Americans will not be very representative for the US we are seeing disintegrating right in front of our eyes as we speak.
I'd love to know, Linda, which programs actively draw on student references to other cultures.
Here you say, at the end, "you can help keep people around the world in contact with people from the US just by your presence." For me, that's not anywhere enough.
I want schools actively to have programs where students write essays directly and indirectly quoting both fellow students personally and also quoting humanities -- novels, films, songs, memoirs, histories -- from other cultures.
Trusting osmosis? No. We have worldwide cultural and civilizational collapse. The rule of testing grows everywhere, so students all learn they have no questions to ask. Only impersonal authorities ask questions, and they all simple-mindedly have only one answer: pick from A)-B)-C)-D). Nothing human. Nothing personal.
Phil, I am not quite clear what you mean by program drawing on student references to other cultures. My friend was telling me today that her daughter is looking at the program in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Freie University in Berlin.
There she would be writing and thinking about people and culture. There are other humanities degrees that do that as well. Also, studying languages does that.
I am a Deweyan teacher. John Dewey promoted the idea of experiential learning. So I believe that the experience of being in another country alone makes a difference. I also live in a German city where I can stand out at a booth all day asking people if they know anyone American and maybe only one person will say yes. There are about 1000 Americans in a city of 5-600,000 people, so it is easy to see why they would not know anyone American.
Still, the people that know Americans is because they are friends, colleagues, in class with or neighbors with them. When you go to another country you will make friends in that country and those friends are then getting to know you, an American. You can dispel or reinforce ideas of who Americans are when people can get to know you up close and in person. In either way, it is based on real knowledge of an American and not just an idea.
Countries like Russia and China actively spread propaganda about the imperialist American. Knowing someone in person can counter that. Unfortunately not a lot of Americans go abroad for university. A lot of potential soft power is lost. We are losing our embassies under this administration and the Americans who live abroad are in the role of being ambassadors for the United States. It is important that people understand that not everyone supports Donald Trump and his ideas. We are in a position to represent other types of Americans by being abroad.
Yes to all you say, Linda, about the serendipity of people living in other cultures.
But a sad, pathetic reason, too, for your own not being clear about a "program drawing on student references to other cultures."
Fact is, there is no such program, anywhere in the world.
Should be. Organized. Funded. Taught by teachers skilled in the arts of apt analogy.
One reason for the world lacking this is the determined push by our commercial and corporate classes since the Powell memo of 1971 to eradicate humanities.
A corollary reason, since the commercial and corporate classes accomplished their first goal even before Reagan, has been the worldwide spread of testing. Where discussion and essaying open up worlds, testing enforces the conceit that only authorities ask the questions. Everyone else just reduces to the passivity of ever seeing only one answer to the standard A)-B)-C)-D). And all this machine gradable.
Phil, I decry the disappearance of humanities. I have been discussing this with friends, many of whom teach humanities. However, in Europe there are no multiple choice tests. That is a uniquely American phenomenon. Here you write your answers and typically by hand, so no AI doing it for you. That may change, but it hasn't yet. An Israeli neighbor of mine was telling me what they called US multiple choice tests, but I cannot remember what he said they say. It was something making fun of it.
I hosted an AFS student from Japan in 1962, my son spent his junior year of university in Japan and my daughter was accepted for a 2 year special technical degree program in Canada. It is a wonderful thing to do and a positive impact on the lives of all who are a part of it! My exchange student and I are still in touch frequently, now by email instead of post. She is currently living in Switzerland with her husband, a Swiss citizen, whom she met in 1963 when she was in the U.S.
A very comprehensive post, very helpful to students considering other options!
I did a “junior year abroad” in Göttingen at Georg-August Universität and it was a high point of my life to be there 1989-1990. But it was very hard academically having had the minimum two years of college-level German!
Lauren, that is great. My husband and his brother lived in Gôttingen at that time. He came to the US later as a post-doc. His brother still lives there. My nephew is studying physics at GA Uni Göttingen. We used to summer there. We bought our house north of there in Bremen because it is larger and more diverse. However that is where my husband and his brother both got their PhD in physics. We know all about the Brothers Grimm being there, and the many famous mathematicians and scientists who were there. I get that it is difficult. So much language. I am around a lot of Americans so I have days here that are just in English, except to maybe make an order or pay a bill. It just depends who I am with, like it is for my friends from other countries who come from abroad and have others from their country as friends.
Great information for young Americans who are open-minded, interested in other cultures, countries and a good education. They will be a welcomed addition to the student body at our European universities.
I am afraid though, that those young Americans will not be very representative for the US we are seeing disintegrating right in front of our eyes as we speak.
I'd love to know, Linda, which programs actively draw on student references to other cultures.
Here you say, at the end, "you can help keep people around the world in contact with people from the US just by your presence." For me, that's not anywhere enough.
I want schools actively to have programs where students write essays directly and indirectly quoting both fellow students personally and also quoting humanities -- novels, films, songs, memoirs, histories -- from other cultures.
Trusting osmosis? No. We have worldwide cultural and civilizational collapse. The rule of testing grows everywhere, so students all learn they have no questions to ask. Only impersonal authorities ask questions, and they all simple-mindedly have only one answer: pick from A)-B)-C)-D). Nothing human. Nothing personal.
Phil, I am not quite clear what you mean by program drawing on student references to other cultures. My friend was telling me today that her daughter is looking at the program in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Freie University in Berlin.
https://bachelor.undergraduatestudy.eu/serwis.php?s=3304&pok=68672&id=1670&kier=108970,10
There she would be writing and thinking about people and culture. There are other humanities degrees that do that as well. Also, studying languages does that.
I am a Deweyan teacher. John Dewey promoted the idea of experiential learning. So I believe that the experience of being in another country alone makes a difference. I also live in a German city where I can stand out at a booth all day asking people if they know anyone American and maybe only one person will say yes. There are about 1000 Americans in a city of 5-600,000 people, so it is easy to see why they would not know anyone American.
Still, the people that know Americans is because they are friends, colleagues, in class with or neighbors with them. When you go to another country you will make friends in that country and those friends are then getting to know you, an American. You can dispel or reinforce ideas of who Americans are when people can get to know you up close and in person. In either way, it is based on real knowledge of an American and not just an idea.
Countries like Russia and China actively spread propaganda about the imperialist American. Knowing someone in person can counter that. Unfortunately not a lot of Americans go abroad for university. A lot of potential soft power is lost. We are losing our embassies under this administration and the Americans who live abroad are in the role of being ambassadors for the United States. It is important that people understand that not everyone supports Donald Trump and his ideas. We are in a position to represent other types of Americans by being abroad.
Yes to all you say, Linda, about the serendipity of people living in other cultures.
But a sad, pathetic reason, too, for your own not being clear about a "program drawing on student references to other cultures."
Fact is, there is no such program, anywhere in the world.
Should be. Organized. Funded. Taught by teachers skilled in the arts of apt analogy.
One reason for the world lacking this is the determined push by our commercial and corporate classes since the Powell memo of 1971 to eradicate humanities.
A corollary reason, since the commercial and corporate classes accomplished their first goal even before Reagan, has been the worldwide spread of testing. Where discussion and essaying open up worlds, testing enforces the conceit that only authorities ask the questions. Everyone else just reduces to the passivity of ever seeing only one answer to the standard A)-B)-C)-D). And all this machine gradable.
Phil, I decry the disappearance of humanities. I have been discussing this with friends, many of whom teach humanities. However, in Europe there are no multiple choice tests. That is a uniquely American phenomenon. Here you write your answers and typically by hand, so no AI doing it for you. That may change, but it hasn't yet. An Israeli neighbor of mine was telling me what they called US multiple choice tests, but I cannot remember what he said they say. It was something making fun of it.
I hosted an AFS student from Japan in 1962, my son spent his junior year of university in Japan and my daughter was accepted for a 2 year special technical degree program in Canada. It is a wonderful thing to do and a positive impact on the lives of all who are a part of it! My exchange student and I are still in touch frequently, now by email instead of post. She is currently living in Switzerland with her husband, a Swiss citizen, whom she met in 1963 when she was in the U.S.
BTW: anxiously awaiting your "How To Leave the U.S." post!
Excellent summary, thank you.
A very comprehensive post, very helpful to students considering other options!
I did a “junior year abroad” in Göttingen at Georg-August Universität and it was a high point of my life to be there 1989-1990. But it was very hard academically having had the minimum two years of college-level German!
Lauren, that is great. My husband and his brother lived in Gôttingen at that time. He came to the US later as a post-doc. His brother still lives there. My nephew is studying physics at GA Uni Göttingen. We used to summer there. We bought our house north of there in Bremen because it is larger and more diverse. However that is where my husband and his brother both got their PhD in physics. We know all about the Brothers Grimm being there, and the many famous mathematicians and scientists who were there. I get that it is difficult. So much language. I am around a lot of Americans so I have days here that are just in English, except to maybe make an order or pay a bill. It just depends who I am with, like it is for my friends from other countries who come from abroad and have others from their country as friends.