Efforts in International Education

Connections: Commencement 2005-- To further our efforts in international education and understanding, Hackley has initiated impressive programs in recent years. The Casten family has supported international travel for our students and faculty; Henry Wendt '51 has created the Wendt Visiting Scholar Program, which in the last two years brought Koichi Itoh ‘59 and Shaoul Bakhash ’55 to the Hilltop to discuss Japan and the Middle East respectively; Peter Allstrom '71 has endowed the Allstrom Chair in Foreign Relations for 2006-07; and on June 8th, one of our most distinguished international students (currently a research physicist), Nai-Gong Zhang ’92, who came to Hackley as a junior from the People’s Republic of China and graduated Salutatorian, returned to Hackley to serve as our Cum Laude speaker.

Now Hackley has invited two students from abroad to join our community for the 2005-06 academic year. Desislava Mikova (known as "Dessie") will join us as a 5-day boarder from Sofia, Bulgaria, under the auspices of the Assist program (American Secondary Schools for International Students and Teachers, Inc.). Her host family for the weekends will be Mr. and Mrs. Gustavo M. de la Piedra-Jimenez, parents of Sylvia ’07. Astari Widiastomo (known as “Asa”) will join us as a day student from Madiun, East Java, Indonesia, under the auspices of the Casten Foundation. Astari has already arrived in New York and joined her host family for the year, Dr. and Mrs. Tauseef Ahmed, parents of Asef ’10. Our thanks to these Hackley families for offering their hospitality!

To assist in our orientation to Asa, as well as her orientation to the United States, on June 13th Dr. Irid Agoes, Director of the Indonesian International Education Foundation, briefed us on some of the cross-cultural issues we might encounter. As an example, Dr. Agoes told the story of an American girl who after eight months of living together had a falling out with her host family in Indonesia. Her host “mother” had read her diary, in which the girl had described her host mother as having become “hysterical” when her American charge was attacked by monkeys in Java. The host mother, for whom English is a foreign language, drew incorrect etymological conclusions and was angry that the American girl had criticized her sexuality. The American girl in turn was irate at the violation of her privacy represented by the reading of the diary. As Dr. Agoes explained, in Indonesia, the qualities desired in an ideal student would be, in order of priority: religious, obedient, hierarchical, social-oriented, and quiet. In Dr. Geert Hofstede’s famous cross-cultural analyses, Indonesia rates a 14 out of 100 on the individualism scale (IDV), in contrast to 91 for the United States (the average world rating is 43 and the average Asian rating is 23). In such a culture, loyalty to one’s family and community is preeminent, as is the feeling of responsibility for others within one’s family or community. Rights to personal privacy and autonomy within a family simply wouldn’t be an expectation for an Indonesian child. In fact, the American girl’s host “sister” told her that the only reason she wrote a diary was with the expectation that her mother, motivated by loving care, would read it, providing a way to tell her things less directly.

To return to etymology, “education” is related to “educere,” or to lead out. We are led out of ourselves when we are truly educated, enabled to see the world as others see it, from the perspectives of different times, different languages and cultures, different religions and philosophies. In that sense, our international initiatives, like our diversity initiatives, are fundamental to Hackley’s educational mission as a school.

Asa’s visit will help her education, enabling her to see the United States not as it is caricatured in so much of the world, but from our own perspectives and values; her visit will also help our education, enabling us see and understand not only Indonesia, but also the perspectives of the Muslim faith. While Indonesia is a country of many languages and cultures, 88% of its 242 million people are Muslim, the largest Muslim population of any country in the world.

Professor Bakhash’s visit in April helped us think more deeply about the Islamic world and the many different governments and philosophies of that world. We are fortunate to have religious diversity at Hackley, as well. Such different experiences within our community -- whether of race, religion, national origin, gender, economics, or sexual orientation – offer us a great educational opportunity, an opportunity to grow in knowledge and character. When we recognize that the experiences, assumptions, and values from which we build our understanding of reality are neither inevitable nor superior, but simply fascinatingly different, we have taken a crucial step to opening our minds and our hearts. And as Dr. Agoes’s story illustrates, we may find that our misunderstandings, which so often produce hostility in our world, can even, on occasion, be the source for some humor!

Walter C. Johnson