Those who bother to think about the foreign student at all use an evocative phrase to describe his plight. They speak of "cultural shock" or "cultural alienation," expressions which conjure up frightening visions. One immediately pictures a bewildered, little foreigner, torn from the simple, slow-paced culture he has known, blinking in confusion at Harvard Square. Or one sees this same man, innocent of American ways, falling prey to an unscrupulous sharper.

This image has so excited some imaginations that they have postulated a foreign student "problem." Sympathetic minds, including the CRIMSON, have felt compelled to solve this problem, and have offered suggestions for easing the pain of conflicting cultures. This writer himself, in a more naive frame of mind, once even advocated the cure-all of a paternalistic "Big Brother" system.

No Great Problem

A closer look, though, shows that the foreign student problem hardly classifies as a problem at all.

A few years ago, the Student Council set up a special committee, known as HIACOM (Harvard International Activities Committee), to investigate the problem. One of its first projects was to interview a slew of foreign students to ascertain their special needs. Earnest young social workers set out, pad and pencil in hand, to offer their services. But a shock was in store for them. They found that many of the interviewees were more sophisticated and more "Americanized" than those offering to help them.

This amusing situation was brought about partially by the fact that many foreign students, at least on the undergraduate level, come from a wealthy, international background, and have spent years getting "acclimated" in American private schools.

A second, and perhaps more important, factor lies in the misleading figures released by the Foreign Student Office. All students who are not citizens of the U. S. are registered as foreign students. Included in this groups are sons of diplomats, who have lived in American much if not most of their lives, sons of American representatives of foreign firms, who have done the same, and children of naturalized parents, who for some legal twist will not be citizens until they are 21.

Similar Cultures

Also included are students from countries with cultures very similar to our own. Out of a total of 795 foreign students enrolled in the University last November, by far the largest number, 116, came from Canada, with England a distant second at 66.

In general, there tend to be three main categories of foreign student. First, there is the undergraduate, who is often adept at handling himself in international situations. He has no great problem of adjustment to Harvard. Ironically enough, whatever problems he faces probabably lie in the future, when he must readjust to his native land after spending his formative years abroad.

Second, there is the graduate student, who is enrolled as a candidate for a degree, or who is doing specific course work or research. This group accounts for by far the greatest number of foreign students (680 out of 795 last year), and faces the only considerable problems of adjustment.

Advanced Scholars

Third, there are the advanced scholars, who are here as special students to do research work. They tend to be older, middle-aged men, who have special permission to work at the University, generally for a few months. They have certain adjustment difficulties, but they tend to be more set in their ways and more self-sufficient than the younger foreign students. Because of this, and because of their relatively short stay at the University, they present no great problem.

Traditionally, those who see a "problem" have detected it in three distinct spheres: the academic, the social, and the practical sphere of everyday living.

Only Academics