Deaf in DC: A Memoir

20. The Foreign Students Group

76 20 The Foreign Students Group GALLAUDET HAD OVER ONE THOUSAND STUDENTS DURing the 1960s, though only about twelve were from other countries, not counting Canadians. Three were from the United Kingdom; three from Africa; two from Japan; and one each from Germany, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Belgium, and India. We shared a common sadness and excitement about being away from home in a strange land and quickly formed a close bond. We shared several challenges. We were away from home and our families for a long time. We were adjusting to the American culture. Our friendship formed across boundaries of nationality, age, gender, and race. Enjoying Indian food with some other foreign students. t h e f o r e i g n s t u d e n t s g r o u p 77 We formed an organization aptly named the Foreign Students Club. We staged cultural shows with folk dances and food, showed international movies, and even had our float in the homecoming parade. It was a simple float. Some of us sat in an open car, dressed in our native clothes and bearing some flags borrowed from our embassies. We were small in number but very active and visible as individuals and as a group. The dean’s list included 90 percent of foreign students almost each semester. We were all very serious about our studies, as we didn’t study for ourselves but for our countries. The grade point average of a Japanese student reflected the cumulative academic achievement of the country. Hartmut, the lone German student, had to excel in science and mathematics. Chuzo and Michiko, two Japanese students, majored in mathematics. At the end of my freshman year, a teacher thought I was majoring in chemistry, the subject I hated most. He told me that I had made so much progress during the year that he thought I should continue. I thought about it for about ten minutes and decided that chemistry was not my cup of tea. The foreign boys didn’t play football and the girls didn’t become cheerleaders . They didn’t participate in “pure American” activities such as Sadie Hawkins Day or betting on the World Series finalists. They did join various campus groups and organizations, including the Greeks. None of the foreign students were ever really accepted as mainstream Gallaudet students. We were smart, we were cute, and we were friendly, but we were never full-fledged and bona fide Gallaudetians. Our roots were too deep in our respective cultures and it would take years to change us for full assimilation. The fact that Hartmut acted in a play and won the best actor award was an anomaly. As I look back, being up close with these foreign students was an education unto itself. We learned about each other’s countries, educational systems, and the lives of deaf people around the world. One can’t learn all that by reading books or watching documentaries. The personal explanations based on growing up in a country are unparalleled. I look back with great delight to those bull sessions discussing our countries. Of course, we were not short of insulting each others’ countries based on stereotypes we had developed. I got my share of barbs about India’s poverty, caste system, snake charmers, and elephants. Most of these “foreign” students were not foreign for long. Except for two or three, all of us stayed in America. They all have jobs, married, 78 d e a f i n d c and have children, just like any other American. The Gallaudet foreign students were just like other immigrants who came to America, except that we were here for an education and with serious plans to return home to do great things. As time passed, the visions, the dreams, and the grand plans faded as the American dream took over. How did it happen? No one knows; it just grew on us without our knowledge. Even if you do not have an American Dream, the American Dream will have you. While a lot of things about America piqued our curiosity, American football was a mystery that most of us could not understand. All of us grew up on the football that the Americans called “soccer.” We used to go to the Gallaudet home football games just because everyone else went and were excited despite the fact that Gallaudet...