[SJackson]

The only thing worse than this would have been housing him with a gun owner.

[alisasny]

Little Stefan probably also could have been housed with 2 married gay guys and no one would have said BOO.

This is totally insane.

[Rodney King]

I don't think that anyone should be banned from the program, but everyone should know what they are getting in to. If the German kid signs up being told that he will stay in a house with his own room and facilities, it would be a breach of contract to drop him off in a single-wide trailer.

Conversely, If I were going to be an exchange student in france, and was told that it would be in a modern middle-class house, I would not want to wind up sleeping on hay and having to crush grapes all day for some smelly frogs, as happened to Bart Simpson.

[NorthGA]

Being a North Georgia resident, I can understand that many in urban areas do not understand how/why people live in house trailers.

Many people who live in trailers do so because zoning allows this form of inexpensive housing. People who live in trailers are real people, who often do not make enough money, or choose to do other things (like buy land) than buy a big suburban monster house.

If this "enlightened" exchange staff had their way - these moderate income people would be forced off their land and into goverment subsidized housing - which may be their form of the American way.

[George W. Bush]

The only thing worse than this would have been housing him with a gun owner.

Or a Christian.

[yarddog]

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.

Then during the campaign, I noted AlGore mentioned how he and Tipper lived in a trailer park in Daleville, Alabama. I still wonder about Qualyle and Bush, but would not dismiss the story as inaccurate now.

[Don Myers]

"Does he get to marry a girl named Amber, sire a child and get divorced, all in one semester, "

What do you mean get married?

[CatoRenasci]

Sorry, but I'm with the agency on this one. The foreign students in these programs are typically from upper-middle or upper class backgrounds in their home countries. The purpose of the programs is to give foreign students a favorable impression of US life and create lasting cultural bonds.

Like it or not, there are class distinctions in American society and life in a trailer park is hardly an introduction to the upper reaches of society. A student from Europe who lived in a trailer park would likely not have a positive experience which would make him a friend of America.

[Focault's Pendulum]

Good thing the kid wasn't assigned to me. He'd be given a four season tent, a 0 degree mummy bag and learning how to make fire by rubbing two Afghans together.

[aomagrat]

How insulting. When I was a child we (Mom, dad, me, two brothers, two sisters) lived in a two bedroom "single wide" trailer and I turned out OK.

Didn't I?

[Quilla]

Pardon the post. I thought this was a Bill and Hillary Clinton thread.

[Betty Jane]

We had a German girl and a Dutch girl stay with us three years ago. We had just bought our first .22 rifle when they were here. The German was extremely uncomfortable at first. The dutch girl was excited to try it.

After they had each gone shooting, they loved it. We started doing lots of trap shooting and it became the must do when their friends and relatives came to visit. We believe it was a successful culture exchange. Some German and Dutch teenagers learned about guns and we learned about teenagers. Teenagers definitely have their own culture.

[KC_Conspirator]

The only thing worse than this would have been housing him with a gun owner.

No kidding.

[Twodees]

This is probably Phil Perrier's idea of a joke. He writes like a posturing little queer anyway. He's a stand-up comic, and is probably making this whole thing up.

[budwiesest]

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

[ppaul]

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

:

[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. ???