But RKV, the media says that all foreign students are geniuses and Americans are dolts compared to them.
The socio-economics of foreign students who can afford to travel to the US for summer language instruction is such that they are the product rich families (not just upper middle class). I had pretty high expectations and was a bit let down. I work at a community college and get to meet plenty of kids this age, and our best kick their butts. Maybe that's why all the euro kids want to listen to our music, not the local dreck. MTV gives the kids overseas a pretty unrealistic idea of life in the US. The kids even agreed when I mentioned it - since they had a chance to actually experience US life.