In Defense of International Students

 

The Earth Is Not Flat

My previous post praised Harvard University President Alan Garber's speech, which defended bringing international students to Harvard. Admitting international students was, he said, "as it should be." Let me take a moment to explain, from my personal experience, why he was so very right. It is not just that international students gain benefits for themselves. They also bring great benefits to their professors and classmates.

Previous Post: “False Conviction Saps True Potential.” Wise Words from Harvard’s President

As our ignorant, xenophobic president, Donald Trump, vigorously (and maybe illegally) suspends visas for Harvard's international students, he leads American education, and American life, down a dark, angry path.

As the White House announced his proclamation, Trump said:

“We are still waiting for the Foreign Student Lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country. Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents, and probably for good reason!”

The legality of Trump's document request is highly suspicious under the 4th Amendment and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Those issues are before the courts. 

No, I never taught at Harvard. I happily spent my entire career teaching at excellent state universities. Yes, those universities recruited and admitted students from all over the world. I taught students from China, India, Europe, Russia, Central Africa, and Central America. From everywhere. I taught students who came to the United States to gain an international education. Some of them eventually became more prominent university professors than me.

Some of my students came to the United States to gain the benefits and prestige of an international education. Some came to escape certain torture and death if they returned to their home countries.

The international students were often among the most talented and industrious students in class. They were often inspiring. (I still fondly remember my foreign student who, distressed at receiving a B+ on one of his assignments, ran up to my desk in a panic: “Dr. Harpine! This has never happened to me before! How can I improve?” Of course he ended the semester with an A. With an attitude like that, how could he not?) My international students often conducted advanced research, sometimes, I am proud to say, under my supervision. Some of my international students eventually returned to their home countries, but many – maybe most – eventually settled in the United States and contributed, in their own way, to Making America Great.

Furthermore, my American-born students gained just as much, maybe more, as their international classmates. My American-born students attended class, participated in group projects, and made friends with students from all over the planet. The dedication that the international students showed was often inspiring. Many of them learned difficult subjects while studying in their second or third language.

It is one thing to learn about other cultures by reading anthropology textbooks. It is quite something else to become people's lifelong friends. It is quite something else to experience the humanity and personal qualities that international students shared with their American classmates. Maybe that is the outcome that Trump and his supporters fear the most. What do you think?

by William D. Harpine

Copyright @ 2025 by William D. Harpine

Image: NASA, public domain