'White trash' exchange program

Jewish World Review ^ | Oct. 19, 2001 | Phil Perrier

[SJackson]

ALL they wanted was to host a German foreign exchange student. Is that so Wrong?

Harry and Brenda Greene of tiny Buchanan, Georgia volunteered their hospitality to 15-year-old German student, Stefan Sipemann. The 40-year-old security guard and his wife even went to the expense of buying a new box spring and mattress. The couple looked forward to meeting Stefan, they thought the experience of hosting the boy would be "enlightening."

The meeting was not to be. Hours before the Greenes were to meet young Stefan at the airport, they were contacted by the agency and told that the boy could not stay with them because their home was a single-wide trailer. The company explained that in Europe mobile homes are considered "holiday homes" and not permanent housing. The Greenes have since told reporters that the agency treated them like "trailer trash."

Apparently, the agency feared that living in a trailer park could expose the student to more than he bargained for.

Someone failed to explain to the Greenes that foreign exchange programs are designed for Upper-Middle-Class suburbanites -- doctors, lawyers and such -- who want to feel good about themselves by telling their golfing buddies "You know, Carol and I are hosting a foreign exchange student this fall."

So rich spoiled brats from other countries come and live with rich people in this country and they compare the quality of the two countries video games.

Meanwhile, Harry and Brenda Greene, oblivious to the socio-economic underpinnings of the process, rode their Hush Puppies into an office and said they'd like to host a student from another country. Seemed logical to them.

The agent looked at them, then looked at their car, figured it would never happen but gave them an application anyway, hoping they would skip the part about filling it out and bringing it back. The Greenes did fill out the application and they did return it. But then, they didn't know they were up against a rigid caste system.

At the last minute someone at the agency bothered to read the Greenes' application and realized they lived in a trailer park; panic ensued, "We can't have some German kid living in a trailer park!... my G-d, when he gets home with a shaved head and 'N.W.A.' tattood on his neck his parents will sue us!"

The decision to reject the Greenes is contrary to the true spirit of a student exchange program; an actual cultural exchange. Taking a kid from Germany and plunking him down in a trailer park in Georgia --- that is an EXCHANGE! A space alien who crashed landed in the trailer park would feel no more out of place than the teutonic teen.

Does the average foreign exchange student get to eat possum? Does he get to marry a girl named Amber, sire a child and get divorced, all in one semester, back at Dusseldorf High? Do teenagers in Germany sneak beer into tractor pulls then shoot street signs on the way home?

Click for Complete Article

[budwiesest]

I'd have handed them each a plate of macaroni and cheese and based my decision on how they handled the fork.

[bwteim]

I once read a story in the local paper that George Bush, Dan Quayle and Al Gore had all lived in the same trailer park in Daleville, Alabama. The story was told as a straight one and I still thought it was some phony story such as people with the same name etc.

FYI, if they all lived there at different times, perhaps it is because Fort Rucker is located near there big time....

[Looking4Truth]

Euros do not bathe as often as Americans, as a rule (I know some do). I lived in Europe for six years so I know what I am talking about.

Gotta back you up on that one bro'. Lived there for a couple of years myself.

[Martin Tell]

It was a student program and we followed the rules. I think the problem was the individual even though (generalizing again) the French are more likely to be anti-American (and worse hygeine) than Scandinavians (3 years of my Euro-time were in Belgium and 2 in Denmark). That said, I was in Norway last month and I experienced my first overt incident of anti-Americanism. In a social setting (dinner), a Norwegian (petty government official) cornered me and laid into me about how America was the root of all evil in the world, how America brought the terrorist attacks on itself and how retaliation would only cause more problems (violence begets violence, etc.). I was shocked because I had never experienced anything like that before. He went as far as implying the US also deserved the Pearl Harbor attack (he called Hawaii a US "colony"). To be fair, the other Norwegians present seemed shocked as well and apologized profusely.

[yarddog]

Yes I know AlGore was stationed at Ft. Rucker.

[bwteim]

Yes I know AlGore was stationed at Ft. Rucker.

Scary isn't it???

From Gore: "I would want to draw upon my own experience as an enlisted man in the United States Army. When my wife Tipper and I were first married, we moved into a trailer park in Daleville, Alabama, just outside the gates of Fort Rucker. Often our clothes were blown to the red clay off the clothesline by the helicopters coming in to land right next to the trailer park. "

From MarineMule election 2000

[ppaul]

Click the pic to tour the great trailer parks of the South:

:

[I got the rope]

good post. BTTT

[SJackson]

My first comment was sarcastic. I didn't think it was funny when was about red necked southern hillbillys (if that's what this guy is).

[Straight Vermonter]

,i>...when he gets home with a shaved head and 'N.W.A.' tattood on his neck his parents will sue us!"

N.W.A. ???

[SJackson]

N.W.A. ???

I don't know, I didn't say it. Northwest Airlines maybe?

[mhartline]

AMEN!!!!! I live in a nice house in the city, however, I get so sick and dang tired of people acting like they are better than everyone else. I am no better than someone living in a shack! God made us all the same. Some are more fortunate than others but that doesn’t make them better. When cut, I bleed the same color blood you bleed!! People need to grow up!!

My brother lives in a nice double wide trailer on his own property with lots of land and he is being discriminated against and there is no reason for it at all. He is a respected police officer and his wife is in medical school. They have 2 children that LOVE where they live.

Grow up America!!