The Peculiarities of Geography: Latin America

Abstract

Students from Latin America arriving in the United States for the first time face certain difficulties in mak ing readjustments to the environmental changes involved in the transfer. These difficulties, in large part, result from or are made more acute by misconceptions held by the student in five distinct areas of change: geographical, linguistic, educational, cultural, and political. Disoriented by these previously formed ideas, they face a cultural shock which must be overcome be fore they can successfully concentrate on the primary academic objectives. Because both the United States and Latin America stand to gain much from international educational exchange, it is essential that the experience of these Latin-American scholars be enriched to assure their receiving maximum bene fit from the educational experience in this country. Sympa thetic attention and wise counseling as part of both formal and informal orientation to the United States are required, and these in turn call for an understanding of the students' background, both personal and academic. With attention, in genuity, and experience, the problems of the Latin-American student on the United States campus—as well as those created for the university by his presence—can be overcome; the ex perience of these students in the United States can, thereby, be made more valuable, and the benefit to the United States likewise can be increased.