Diary of an Exchange Student : ‘To me, American schools are like a smaller scale of the world. . . .’

Last month brought a major change in my American life. After an invitation from my American Field Service representative (the person who has helped coordinate my stay here), I decided to move to her house in Chatsworth for my remaining three months.

Exchange students often do change host families and for many reasons. We come from a different culture, speaking a different language, leaving everyone we know behind, to live with strangers with new customs and ways of thinking. Sometimes our new school is difficult to adapt to. Sometimes it’s hard to make friends. Sometimes we just have a feeling of not belonging--in a family or in a community.

From my organization’s local chapter, there were four exchange students at the beginning of the year. All four of us changed families and only two of us remain in the San Fernando Valley. Both my Chilean and Colombian friends not only changed families, but also communities. Though both came from relatively large cities in their countries, they couldn’t adapt to life in the L.A. metropolitan area and they now live in small Northern California towns.

My own change has shown me some interesting contrasts, even between one Valley high school and another. I like the fact that Chatsworth High, my new school, is smaller than Grant High, where I began the year, and that it doesn’t have Grant’s awful tall wire fences. To me, in a school without fences, students feel freer, even though we’re still not allowed to leave campus during the day. Without fences, there’s not such a feeling that school is a duty or an imposition. We’re there, even though we must be, because we want to be.

Also new at Chatsworth are the number of handicapped students, something I didn’t see at Grant or at my Portuguese school. There are students in wheelchairs and others with difficulties walking or speaking or learning. It is very good that they are among us since it keeps them from feeling discriminated against and gives us a chance to relate to people who are different--though in most ways just like us.

I think my main criticism of American schools involves the opportunities students have missed to learn about just this kind of difference. To me, American schools are like a smaller scale of the world, with diverse people from many places all living together. Like Grant, Chatsworth has this ethnic and cultural diversity. This means that we all have something to teach each other and, in mingling, to learn from each other.

Unfortunately, the pressure of being thrown together seems to breed conformity. In neither of my schools have the students been interested in showing their roots and their identity. All the girls--Mexican, Oriental and otherwise--wear their hair the same--long and straight with bangs. They dress the same--mostly in miniskirts or shorts and high-top aerobic shoes. They wear the same makeup.

In making friends, however, they separate themselves into ethnic groups. I can understand this. Most of my friends are other exchange students because they can relate most to my experience. I do think, though, that one learns more about a culture from getting to know the people in it.

During my year here, I have learned that American girls can be my friends. In the beginning, I was intimidated by their sophistication. Gradually, I saw that while it took time, it was possible to go beneath the makeup and find someone worth knowing.

By the time I left Grant, I had made two close American friends. I know I’ll be in touch with them even after I go home. But, most importantly, they have enriched my life here and my understanding of this country.