1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

I just realized how comfortable I am with these people. It's pretty
incredible to think that in 5 1/2 weeks these relationships have formed
.... I have a life here. Part of me belongs here and maybe I'll be able to
leave that part behind. But I have to somehow take that with me, too. I
told Rachel that I think if someone goes on SST and doesn't come back
changed -- doesn't have a new understanding that they will carry with
them, then they have abused the program. Because this is a very
delicate thing. To come into a community and live with these people for
only six weeks and then to leave -- most likely forever -- is dangerous.
What will I leave behind? What will I be to them? The justification is
that I use what I have learned, that I use what I know in my future to
indirectly repay them. I don't know what to do about poverty or
machismo. I think I've found these problems have much deeper roots
than are initially apparent. But I do know that these are not the
problems of the faceless masses. They are issues that belong to my
family and friends -- people who have loved me and taken care of me
for a month and a half and, thus, they belong to me, too. And I can't
forget. The most simple part of my responsibility is that I can't
forget.56


Recent research supports the notion that cross-cultural experiences in

foreign countries enhance one's multicultural and pluralistic outlook. Direct

experience is more effective for multicultural education than is structured

learning, say the studies.57Putting faces on issues, and valuing those people

both for who they are as well as what they represent, creates people better


IMAGE imgs/ArmEmb01.gif

56Lisa Koop, SST journal, Summer 1997.

57See, e.g., June Noronha, "International and Multicultural Education:
Unrelated Adversaries or Successful Partners?," in Maurianne Adams, ed.,
PromotingDiversity in College Classrooms:Innovative Responses for
Curriculum, Faculty and Institutions(San Francisco:Jossey-Bass):53-61; J.M.
Mahan and L. Stachowski, "Overseas Student Teaching:A Model, Important
Outcomes, Recommendations," International Education15:1 (DATE):9-28; Janet
Marie Bennett and Milton James Bennett, "Multiculturalism and International
Education:Domestic and International Differences," in Gary Althen, ed.,
Learning Across Cultures(NAFSA:Association of International Educators,
1994):145-172; and Elaine Razzano, "The Overseas Route to Multicultural and
International Education," The Clearing House(May-June 1996):268-270. Some
of these studies would be critical of Goshen-style "international education,"
suggesting that it is geared more toward further understanding and making
the world a better place, while a true multicultural perspective includes
sharing privilege, having a voice, and righting historical wrongs. See, e.g.,
"Michael Smithee, "Internationalism, Diversity, and Multiculturalism:Are
They Compatible?," NAFSA Newsletter 42:6 (1991):PAGES. Goshen's SST
program tends to be less activist, though it sometimes produces multicultural
activists.


35

[CONVERTED BY MYRMIDON]