Winters-+Reading+Response+3

Stephanie Winters Winters- Reading Responses In chapter 4 of "My freshmen Year", Nathan explores very controversial topics. She talks to international students to get their opinions on American college students. Many of these international students had very negative views on Americans. They were not afraid to voice any discrepancies they had with the other students. They said many things that were offensive to an average American. I disagree with many of the things they said but I will admit that there were a few things that I can see as being true.I do not agree with their ideas about American students not being friendly. In my personal experience I have not seen any outward expression of of hostility to international students. However I do agree with the international students about how they perceive some of our conversations and greetings. Nathan points out that many of these students focused on the idea about Americans asking, "How are you?" It's understandable that other cultures may see this as rude. We say different phrases like this as a way to greet someone not actually start a conversation. The other cultures think this is a serious question and get offended when Americans do not take their reply into consideration. I think that if I was a student in another country I would run in to similar problems with their ways of expression. I do not believe that it is only Americans who would treat international students like this and if they did treat them in any way it was not meant to hurt them. The next section of ethnography mentions how sometimes ethnographers may not know what they are getting into when they start their research. They explore something that they would like to find more about. This may be confusing for the ethnographer at first and many may want to give up on their original ideas. This relates to the project that we are doing in class. When I first started doing the CLUE project I didn't know exactly what I was doing or what was being asked of me. As the steps of the project go on I am getting a better sense of what the project requires. With each little bit of research I do, I understand the project better. After collecting data and different facts, the main idea of the project is starting to emerge. In a way our class is taking the role of ethnographers as we go deeper into the CLUE project.