When the language of instruction in Rwanda shifted from French to English, I stumbled academically. My father taught me to ask for help when in a jam. The author with her father in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2008. “That was my first time in Kigali. My father had...
I have always wondered why my Mom gave me a merciless beating over a piece of meat. But that meal changed my life for the better. The author with his mother and elder sister Isata in 2009 This story won second prize in News Decoder’s 11th Storytelling Contest....
We studied together ahead of exams. What I learned about friendship and adversity at study camp in West Africa will serve me for life. At study camp in 2019 in Kpelleh Town Community, Jacob Town, Painesville, Liberia. From left to right, Teddy Jallah, Varlee Fofana,...
Elisabeth Wachtel learned a second language, made friends and lifted her chances of college admission by studying abroad for a year of high school. Why would a teenager pick up stakes and leave friends and family behind for a year to study in an unfamiliar, foreign...
I’ve spent the past school year studying overseas. It’s given me a new perspective on my own homeland and on the polarization that divides us. A protest against efforts to repeal the U.S. Affordable Care Act, New York, 24 July 24 2017 (EPA/JUSTIN LANE) I...
Chinese students flaunting luxury cars and designer clothes fuel a stereotype that ignores the harsh reality for many compatriots on U.S. campuses. Chinese high school exchange students act out skits during their orientation near Ann Arbor, Michigan, 29 August 2017...
By Emily Isaacman After the 2016 presidential election, Tom Lewis, interim director of the Intensive English Program at Indiana University, said his class of foreign students felt amused, not concerned. “I think they feel that their experience here has been very...
Smartphones can be great learning tools, but they can also be addictive, interfere with learning and contribute to bullying. I know — I teach high school. Students send text messages, Manila, Philippines, 10 June 2008 (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) I walk into a...
My parents came to the U.S. from Mexico, and I grew up in the Bronx. They have sacrificed so much for me — a burden I need to learn to live with. Immigrants at a naturalization ceremony in New York, 22 March 2013 (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) I can’t recall a...
Do you think universities should create “safe spaces” and offer “trigger warnings” for material that might upset students? Here are two opposing views. Protesters shout before a speaking engagement by Ben Shapiro at the University of California...