ORIENTATION

CULTURAL BACKGROUND

Ayunanda Putri BP : 1110003924004

ENGLISH LITERATURE EKASAKTI UNIVERSITY PADANG 2012/2013

Table of Contents

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Ringkasan To The Student American Education : Contrast with Other Countries Teach a Man How to Fish Culture Shock Whats in Your Intellectual Baggage Career Goals Conclusion

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ringkasan
Paper ini adalah tentang hal hal yang harus kita pelajari mengenai budaya di kehidupan masyarakat luar negeri, terutama Amerika Serikat. Sering kita dapati banyak pelajar/mahasiswa yang bersekolah di luar negeri sering mengalami kesulitan beradapatsi dengan kebiasaan kebiasaan yang terdapat di sana. Apalagi dibandingkan dengan budaya di Indonesia, budaya di Amerika sangatlah jauh berbeda, jadi tidak ada salahnya kalau kita mempelajari budaya mereka. Disini dibahas tentang sudut pandang masyarakat Amerika dalam pendidikan, kebiasaan sehari hari, cara berbicara dan juga dala menentukan karir untuk masa depan.

Contents
Lesson I To The Student

Why are we offering this course : Some time ago we were talking with a student who had received his college degree in the United States. He spoke of the experience as something he would value for the rest of his life. But then he paused, and said slowly, But I wish I had known more about the realities. What do you mean by that ? we asked. His reply was quite a story of experiences he had to go through before settling into balance routine. Some of them were painful, and almost all were trial and error encounters with an academic system different from his own. Why students fail : many foreign students, unlike the one described above, enter college and fail, even though they had high marks in their own countries. There are many reasons why this happens, including the following : a. Their background in English is not adequate b. They have not chosen a college that fits their educational preparation and their career choice c. They lack the know how of study habits to help them cope with the American system of education d. They have problems with a new style and tempo of academic life e. They have problems adjusting to American life in general

Orientation courses in the US : Some US colleges have orientation courses for entering students and insist that new students from overseas take them. It is always better to take the orientation course of the school you have chosen, if one is offered. If you cannot do this, the next best thing is to find out as much as possible while you are still in your country.

Lesson II

American Education : The Contrast with Other Countries

There are five characteristics that set American education apart from other countries, They are ; 1. Education for all, not for an elite First of all comes the belief that every child should go to school as long as he can benefit from the experience and wants to continue. 2. Decentralized Control The second great difference is that there is no centrally directed program as with foreign ministries of education, imposing standards to be followed by each of the fifty states. Schools are locally run, financed by local taxes, and locally supervised. 3. A secular, non-religious base Church and state are separated as set forth in the Constitution. Although attempts to change this doctrine are made from time to time, it remains unaltered and there is no national religion to influence the schools. 4. Opportunity open to both sexes Another difference is the belief that education should be open to all, regardless of sex. Although American women do not take full advantage of their opportunities beyond high school as men do, it is not because such opportunities are denied them. 5. A methodology based on the philosophy of pragmatism Pragmatism was a movement founded in the 19th century by C.S Pierce and William James. It holds the purpose of thought is to guide action, and that truth is to be tested by practical results.

Lesson III

Teach a Man How To Fish

The Chinese philosopher Kuan - tzu wrote : If you give a man a fish, he will have a single meal. If you teach him how to fish, he will eat all his life. Translated into modern terms, it is better to teach a man how to think for himself than to do the thinking for him. Teach him how to think and handle any situation, he will be self reliant. Education as experience : traditional education has always made the claim that one should teach truth, therefore education should be the same for everyone and unchanging. Modern education does not accept this argument. It reasons, rather, that truth changes as reality changes and education should prepare student to adjust to a changing world. Education as crucial to democracy : but the child as future citizen was not more important than the child as an individual, for his needs always came first. The democratic belief that the strength of each of its members, and not the other way around. Thomas Jefferson warned that education was the first armor of freedom, for an informed citizenry would not let itself be threatened by a tyrannical government. The Historical Development : in the perspective of 200 years of history, American education may be seen as a hybrid development. It began with the early colonist who brought with them traditional ideas from Europe plus those added from the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther, declared that every man should learn how to read so that he could know the Bible for himself instead of depending upon priest for his religious theology. In ancient Greece, young men discussed politics and morals in the crowded, noisy agora or in the market place. In other times and places, people withdrew from the rush of life and secluded themselves in an ivory tower to find the truth. During the period known as the sixties, American college students were drawn into the clash of current American social and political life as never before in history. It was philosophy in the market place again, as Socrates time in Athens.

Lesson IV

Culture Shock

Americans themselves going overseas to work or study often go through a state of what called culture shock. It has become so common, in fact, that both government and business have given it serious study. Psychologically, it is state of an anxiety that arises when familiar signs of the home environment are taken away and new ones are put in their place. It is something like being a fish out of water. Signs and signals of cultural life are often non verbal, such as gestures and facial expressions, or they may accompany language, such as lifting of the head when saying yes or no. As already mentioned, Americans are told to expect they will experience culture shock, and to prepare themselves for it through having an open mind and a creative outlook on the way other people live. Some Americans become so open minded that they actually go native once they arrive in a foreign country. Some of the many habits Americans take abroad which make them impatient with foreigners are the same ones which bewilder foreigners when they encounter them on native Americans soil. The belief in rationality is tied in with the acceptance of the scientific habit of mind, that every effect has a cause leading to it, that problems can be solved by tackling the reasons behind them and that nothing just happens. For example, accident can be prevented, disease can be cured poverty can be reduced the environment can be saved. Our habit of speaking directly to the point and not beating around the bush is another strong characteristic. When American asks for information in his own country, he expects a straightforward reply. When he goes abroad, he is surprised and often dismayed because all foreigners do not responds as he does. This is common cultural problem for Americans abroad which might kept in mind when foreigners come to the US. The third belief common to Americans is the respect for work. Work in itself is honorable, and that includes all of kinds. Americans pride themselves on belief in equality, in being egalitarian. There is tendency to judge a man, not so much by who or what he is, but by what he can do.

Lesson V

Whats in Your Intellectual Baggage ?

The students coming from abroad brings a lot more with him than his suitcases. Someone has said that he brings a lot of intellectual baggage too. Many students , even though coming from countries where there are restrictions on their age or sex group, arrive at their chosen college expecting complete freedom of choice regarding their plans. How they get this idea is an interesting mystery, but it is often so. Many who have returned to their own country as graduates say that making new friends was a more basic problem than educational preparation, food, housing, or money. The point is that ones material concerns are often softened if emotional support is given by friends when one has been cut off from his family. Social tradition concerning dating in US are also confusing. Because American women are friendly, frank, and often casual in showing affection, they are sometimes interpreted as being easy in their ways. But one should be careful and not misread the signals. Americans are reluctant to admit that class distinction do exist in the country. As a matter of fact, most of Americans describe themselves as middleclass even when they are above that level as defined by economist or below it. The students who comes from a country where class distinctions are sharper and given frank recognition as a part of that society will probably find his own ideas dislocated.

Lesson VI

Career Goals

The tradition and conditions of employment open to the foreign student when he returns to his own country are different from those of the Americans. Career goals are the base for a successful college experience. The most realistic approach to each course you pursue during each year of college is to relate it to what you plan to do with your life. Once you have a clear picture of your goals, your studies will fall more easily into a proper perspective. They will come to signify, not a way of acquiring grades but a way of acquiring skills. Once you admitted to school, getting a degree is not automatic. Because you were good enough to be admitted does not mean that you will be allowed to remain if you pay your tuition and appear classes for four years. Far from it, you will find that is continual, unrelenting, demanding work, and you will have plenty competition to keep a place in school. In addition to this, the students needs to understand his own strengths and weaknesses, his likes and dislikes, and his basic abilities before he makes any final decisions about his career. After the students has chosen his program and his particular college or university, he should feel a commitment to follow through at that school. Failure to pass courses is the chief reason why students drop out of school, but not all of them fail because they lack the ability or intelligence to do the work. The students who knows what his aim is in college and how he plans to achieve its continuance in his lifes work is known as goal oriented. He is the one who is on the road of success.

Conclusion
The point in this paper is to teach us how to survive as a foreigners student in foreign country such as US. Even though we had high marks in our own country, but if dont learn habits and cultures of our destination place study abroad, we will through a state called Culture Shock.

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