Cultural Assimilation: Fifth Meeting With My Conversation Partner

Over the past couple of weeks, Jose has spoken more and more frequently of his aspirations to attend business school in the US. He asks me to edit his papers with the eye of an American college professor, and tells me that he plans to take college courses at TCC directly after graduating from the EIP program. Last week, Jose went to take the COMPASS test TCC requires for enrollment so he can begin these plans next fall.  When I asked how the test went, Jose seemed a little disappointed and said he would have to take it again.

Jose said that the calculus portion was nothing like any calculus he saw in Venezuela. It never occurred to me that math could not be translated cross-culturally. Numbers are supposed to be a universal language, but apparently there is still a barrier in math interpretation. Jose said that he had taken calculus in Venezuela, but that questions are written in a different format in the US. This made me appreciate just how hard it must be to move to a new country. Not only do you have to learn a new language, but you also have to relearn skills because they are communicated differently.

Jose then told me if he was from America he would have passed the writing portion, but a higher score is required of foreign students. This surprised and slightly angered me. American students have no more right to an education than foreign students simply because they are born here. I get so frustrated because I feel everyone puts pressure on immigrants to assimilate and contribute to the American society, but at the same time America puts any means of contribution out of the immigrants’ reach. I don’t understand why “the land of opportunity” limits opportunity.

After discussing his test, Jose brought out a paper for me to edit so he could prepare for retaking the test. The prompt read, “Should businesses employ people for their entire lives?” To me this meant should someone be employed for his or her entire work life, but to Jose this read should employees be employed until their death. Because of this misunderstanding in connotation, Jose’s paper received a lower score. Even though he understood the words perfectly, a barrier still existed. I then realized that understanding connotation can only come with experience in a country, and I again more fully appreciated the difficulty of joining a new culture.