The goals of students all around the world are fairly comparable. While the exact methods of achieving those goals differ dramatically, virtually every student goes to school to learn and hopefully use that knowledge to provide a better future for themselves, their families, and/or the world. In that way almost all students are the same. In Dickinson’s partnership program with the American University of Sharjah, the students from across the world have this ideological viewpoint in common; however, the way we were raised and the factors associated with that vary greatly. These differences between the students can be most clearly seen in the particulars of their general ideologies and understandings of religious practices.
A person’s general ideology and opinions are derived from two things, the facts at hand and their internal predisposition towards those facts. The facts that come to a person that lead to their ideology being discovered regarding any given subject is not always under their control; however, their predisposition towards those facts is usually constructed by the dominant culture under which they were raised and the predispositions of important figures in their life. Usually their family takes on this role. The differences in ideology between the students was put on display very early on during the zoom meeting.
During the first of two breakout rooms the students were put in, we were asked to discuss what we would tell our grandchildren about the year 2023. The student from the US’s answer was that they would tell their grandchildren that life was generally good for them, they hadn’t dealt with anything firsthand that would have led them to form any other general idea to answer the rather vague question. The student from India had much more to say though. As a journalism major, the student went into great detail discussing the nuances, benefits, and detriments of social media and how it can be both a powerful resource as well as a dangerous weapon. The two students had grown up to form different predispositions that lead them to respond to the facts of the question in dramatically different ways. They had myriad unique experiences that lead to a dramatic display of differing ideologies. Ideological displays were not the only difference the students discussed though.
During the second breakout room, the new group of students began by discussing their religions. The student from the UAE described themself as “not very religious”, then went on to discuss the fact that they prayed five times a day while strictly following all of their religion’s teachings. This shocked the American students because they had come to associate the idea that someone who was not very religious did not even think about religion in their day to day life. It is very interesting to learn firsthand that in different places around the world, the daily impacts of one’s religion can hold dramatically more weight than they do in other places.
During the conversations, several other differences between the students were discussed; however, this student noticed that while they were explicitly told to discuss differences, their group’s conversation naturally drifted to drawing comparisons between the different cultures rather than creating distinctions. They learned that, like themself, the students in the UAE were multilingual so they could communicate with their families and their peers at school. They also learned that all the students in their group put an emphasis on being with friends and participating in clubs.
It is important to recognize and cherish one’s cultural differences and unique history, that is not a question. What is also important to recognize though is that while there may be a ton of differences, there are also similarities that can be used to form relationships. This interscholastic partnership will serve as a fantastic reminder for those who need it that no matter how different we may seem on the surface, we are all still people.