Posted on 07/08/2004 5:26:42 AM PDT by a_Turk
Washington -- Indonesian student Dedi Setiadi admits his opinion of the United States has not always been positive.
"In the beginning, I was critical of the U.S. and its policies toward different countries," he said.
In an interview with the Washington File, Dedi said his views changed after a year of living with a Mexican-American family in the United States. "This country is very diverse. I didn't see prejudice," Dedi observed.
He appreciated learning about his host family's culture and sharing with them aspects of Indonesian culture. When he returns home, Dedi plans to help other Indonesian students learn about the United States.
Dedi came to the United States through the State Department's Youth Exchange Program (YES), which brings secondary school students from countries with significant Muslim populations to the United States for an academic year. The students attend an American high school and live in the home of an American family. The program is overseen by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).
"These students will take a better understanding of American society back to their communities and correct misperceptions about the United States," Robert Persiko, chief of ECA's Youth Programs Division, said.
"It's different than anything I've seen on TV," Sarah, a Muslim student from Turkey, said of the program. "I thought everyone was for the war (in Iraq) and that they didn't like Muslims because of terrorism. I found people who didn't really care. I mean a lot of people didn't even ask what religion I was. They really wanted to know me as me."
Sarah spoke enthusiastically about her experiences living with a host family in North Carolina, and recounted how she and her friends shared common experiences of growing up, even though they lived in different countries.
"Americans respect others' beliefs," said Titis Andari, another student from Indonesia who stayed with a family in San Jose, California. "They saw me as a person and were interested in my faith as a Muslim. I was not only able to learn about American culture but also to share with my friends and host family about Islam."
She discussed the difference between the views of individual Americans and the policies of the U.S. government, saying: "Before I came, I believed all Americans loved war. But during my stay here, I saw how some Americans supported the war in Iraq, and some did not; and how American society allowed many differences of opinion."
Students in the YES program live with American host families from diverse backgrounds, attend school, and participate in activities to learn about American society and values, acquire leadership skills, and inform Americans about their countries and cultures.
The group that included Dedi, Sarah and Titis was the second to participate in the YES project and included 70 students from Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt and Turkey. They were scattered across 20 American states.
At the conclusion of their stay, the students were invited to Washington to meet with ECA officials and attend events at the U.S. Congress, the Holocaust Museum, the National Museum of American History and the Indonesian Embassy.
Patricia Harrison, assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, has said the YES program is vital to expanding communication between the people of the United States and partner countries in the interest of promoting mutual understanding and respect.
Another student interviewed by the Washington File, Jaziel Lon of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, talked about his experience with a host family in the small town of Garden City, Kansas.
"Everyone wanted to learn about where I was from and (about) Malaysian culture," he said. "One of best things about America was its sense of equality to people with handicaps," he said, noting that he himself is partially blind. He said that he wanted to bring greater awareness to his community about people with disabilities.
The YES program is the first U.S. government-sponsored high school exchange program for students from Nigeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank/Gaza, Egypt, Kuwait, Malaysia, Syria, Yemen, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia. In the program's first year, 160 students participated. The State Department plans to increase the number to 480 students next year and to include students from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, India, Morocco, Oman, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the Arab community in Israel.
ping..
This YES program sponsored by the US State Department smells like a boondoggle, and US taxpayers (federal, state and local) are being taken for a ride to pay for this nonsense!
This couldn't possibly be true, all I ever hear is how terrible we are. The left reminds me of it all the time.
One down, about half a billion to go...
Gotta start somewhere, but I hope we're checking these students VERY thoroughly.
I was actually really encouraged by this article, then I saw where it came from. Now wonder, they left out all the seething resentment because Abdullah was picked on in some highschool.
Maybe the state dept found a few good schools where the students were treated as equals but around here they would be beat up for lunch money, sold drugs on shcool property, and belittled for their cultural differences (and I must add, at MOST public schools)
I don't see this as a positive, but as a sign of a dying culture.
Why?
Even though it's a press release from the U.S. State Dept., it still raises some very interesting points.
There is a very well-known program in the state university system of California, which tries to accomplish similar goals by bringing over diverse groupings of foreign exchange students, and housing them in the same dormitory for a semester.
Even though it is a very mixed bag in some respects, e.g. Khalad Sheik Muhammad, "Chemical Sally" and the progenitor of modern day radical Islam as we know it, Sayid Qutb, had all received postgraduate education at American Universities or colleges before returning to their native countries, I think that these sorts of programs have an overall beneficial impact to America's foreign relations with other parts of the globe.
Some of the most eloquent, thoughtful and vocal proponents of freedom in the "developing" world, e.g. Saeddin Ibrahim, the current president of the Republic of Georgia, et. al., are imbued with the values they learned and/or communicated during time spent on American campuses.
If it weren't for the outreach of America to these people, and others, like Ajami, Makiya, etc., our country's academic life would be very stultifying and doctrinaire, which would diminish all of us, as citizens and participants in our representative republic.
We definitely need to look into expanding these sorts of civic institutions, which could serve as the building blocks of democracy in lands ruled over by despotic regimes, which would not ordinarily be open to intellectual discourse.
More often than not, these students end up getting very 'Americanized' in a way their parents do not like *LOL* Also, there's a man by the name of Hank Hanegraaf who sponsored a muslim student for a year and he ended up converting to christianity.
If anything, at least these muslims can see that when Americans disagree, they don't blow each other up.
The actual program, I believe it's at Stanford, but I'm not positive, was featured on a PBS special a few years ago.
It was something that was initiated at the best of a wealthy philanthropist, who believed in the open exchange of ideas across linguistic/cultural/national boundaries.
Personally, I believe that the only good thing about the BBC is its "Talk Balk" segments.
I've always been amazed at how people who live under the most repressive conditions are able to voice their opinions because they have access to wireless technology.
It's very encouraging to think that there are at least some people in a place as remote as Malawi who happen to agree with your opinion on any given subject.
Many nations sponsor such programs. Japan sponsored my sister in a homestay which she loved.
Good... and the cartoons are great but tv is a bit lame. She said Japan is a sex paradide for Western boys but that's another thread. The technology coming out of Japan probably puts US twenty years behind.
The purpose of life is to know, love and serve God in this life, and to be happy forever with Him in the next. Therefore, our salvation, and the salvation of our neighbor, should be of paramount importance to us. Indifference to the religion of others represents indifference to their salvation, and is an evil. (That we should coerce others into belief does not necessarily follow from this truth, however).
Revelation 3:16So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to vomit you out of my mouth.
Sometimes I ask people about their religion of choice. I know some muslims and most are muslims because of reasons other than the God of the Quaran. I think people don't ask about religion because religion is a private thing (but they can grill someone about other things like lifestyle,race,etc.). Why religion is so different is a mystery to me.
Though, we're fast approaching Japanese quality xxx-rated material.
I suppose that's good for perverts.
I don't know about the rest of us though.
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