Word: localizes
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...similar sort of re-framing that led the American fiasco in Vietnam to occur. The hardliners in the foreign policy apparatus in the late years of the 50s refused to see the fight in Vietnam as one of local politics, denied the overriding issues of nationalism and dressed it up as a Communist bogeyman for the American public and the world. Communism turned out not to be a monolith, just as Islam isn’t, but a force shaped by local history and regional circumstances. The results of this were disastrous. This sort of logic, that simplifies, reduces...
...hard time empathizing with her complaint. As an American student teaching English, I had transformative cultural experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant, on a daily basis. I had made many local friends and probably spoke English less than half of the time. At first I thought her situation was an individual problem—that some people had trouble connecting with a foreign culture because they were less outgoing and adventurous. However, the real problem is that the structure of study abroad programs isolates students from the native culture...
...abroad program, a student lives either with other students or with a host family. Arrangements skew towards the former; in 21 of the 26 Harvard Summer School Programs for 2009, participants will live with other students either in dorms or in a hotel. Students mostly attend classes at a local university. In this setup it is hard to get maximum exposure to another culture. Students tend to become friends with the people they associate with the most: their classmates and housemates. These are usually other Americans or foreigners who can speak English and are familiar with American norms. In effect...
...different like-minded perspectives. Such experiences themselves are limited because, in another university environment, students tend to drift toward a lifestyle similar to the one they practiced at home. The standard class-study-party triad rebuilds itself with a more interesting background. There is little opportunity for interaction with locals and local culture, other than with shopkeepers and teachers—relationships that will always be one-sided...
...good way to remedy this problem would be to incorporate work experience into every study abroad program. Working in a local shop, school, or office would provide a good context for students to make friends with locals. In a workplace there is plenty of material to sympathize with and talk about with one’s co-workers. Through these relationships, students could learn about culture in a more individual way and make sense of the numerous small facets of life they observe. You may observe that most of the town lives in standard-looking, three-room houses, but until...