Have you noticed any differences between American and International Students?
Well, first of all, an international student show comes to the United States to study is going to be atypical. A typical student would probably remain home for a variety of reasons. So, by the very virtue of the fact that we have an international student in the United States, studying in a foreign language, competing with native speakers and doing very well, makes that student exceptional from the very beginning.

So I guess I'm biased in that way, I see international students as being far more adventurous and far more inventive and very experimental. Courageous, as well, to give up everything that is familiar to experience another culture. Now, the number of American students who are beginning to feel and think the same way is growing.

And we've had tremendous increases in the number of American students who want to travel abroad and have part of their education in a foreign country. So I see that there is a catch up being made here, but still I think that the United States is a magnet for people, for young people to visit, to experience, to become educated in. And that has not yet really caught on for U.S. students as quickly. But I see it happening.

In terms of the way the, the students act and respond, well, of course international students are going to bring with them a different set of cultural values, a different set of, as you were talking, expectations. A different set of moral, perhaps even moral values.

And those sometimes are in opposition to the values that we have as culture or individual values that you're going to find, and sometimes those clash, sometimes they cause a great deal of misunderstanding. And I think that the person who's on, on home soil has the advantage.

So I think the American student is far less willing to understand these different and very complex value systems. The international, in order to survive is going to have to understand or try to understand the American value system. So there I think there's a disparity. And that I think is one of the major differences between the American students and the international students.

The other thing is that American students already have their communities established. And, so it's much easier for them. The international student has to find a way of breaking into an American community, which is not always easy. There, you know, and this would be true, I think, in a number of cultures as well as the American culture. That it's not a simple thing to create close bonds and close friendships in a short period of time. It's going to take work.

What else international students can learn in addition to their academic studies?
It seems to me that a student is going to come to the United States not just to learn mathematics or business, but to learn something about the people. And I would hope that they would be open enough to learn and understand that the American culture is made up of a huge variety of people.

And not just to look at the negatives, but also to see some of the positive things. Definitely there's a lot to learn from people in classes and classmates and so forth. But I would hope that students would take the time to travel, would take the time to see different parts of the country, which are extremely beautiful.

Would make an effort to see beyond the superficial, you know, the things that we get in, you know, the Hollywood image, the TV image, and to learn about people as people.

Why would you recommend someone to come and study in the US?
Well, first of all the experience of being in another country. I'll tell you a little bit about my background. I was raised on a farm in a small farming community in California. I had very little understanding of the rest of the world around me. When I began college I started to look at the world around me, and I started to become appreciative of a variety of cultures.

But it wasn't until I actually put myself in the position of an international student, and I wasn't a student, I was a teacher at the time. And, that I really understood what the value of living in a foreign country was all about. And I chose a country that was so totally different from my culture and my country, that it pointed it out to me very, very quickly.

So one of the reasons that a student, any student, should travel abroad to study is to learn about the culture, to learn about other parts of the world, to see how other people think and react and respond not only to events, but to you personally. And try to find ways of communicating with other peoples.

Obviously, one of the draws of the U.S. is its technology. And even though the technology is strong in other countries, still the U.S. has that image of being so technologically advanced, students want to come here. And I think there's a positive thing to say about that we are, you know, we are a highly technical society. So even if they could learn the technology in another place, perhaps having that little bit of polish that a U.S. education might be able to give them could be very helpful.

Other reasons for coming to the United States might be, obviously, to practice their language skills and their communication skills. Because we see that English is rapidly becoming a medium of business and finance and even politics. So that is, I think, that's crucial.