A new type of immigration---- challenges to democratic citizenship education Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 21 Spring/Summer 2011 Global Citizenship and Global Solidarity through Study Abroad: An Exploratory Case Study of South Korean Students Sohyun An Kennesaw State University Given the increasing numbers of pre-collegiate students who study abroad, this article seeks to answer the question of what kind of citizen young international students seek to become through study abroad and in what ways study abroad experiences challenge or reinforce their initial motives. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Korean high school students studying in the United States, this article suggests that while the core meaning of study abroad may be strategic interests within the global economy, the pragmatic instrumentalism and neoliberal ethos toward education and global citizenship can be challenged. The most significant factors identified in the article are: 1) social studies curriculum that challenges international students’ desires of strategic cosmopolitanism, and 2) a school culture that encourages young international students to mix with other races/cultures and reconsider their pre-migration views. The article offers a discussion of how both sending and receiving countries of young international students can support them so that they become citizens concerned, not only with their strategic positioning within the global economy, but also with building a moral sense of global solidarity. Keywords: international education, citizenship education, social studies It has been argued that study abroad can develop a global citizenry that cherishes the right and duty to change the world by offering opportunities to meet new people with different cultural norms and to reconsider one‘s own cultural and national affiliations (Szelenyi & Rhoads, 2007; Waters, 2009). It also has been noted that study abroad can give rise to largely instrumental notions of global citizenship that are disengaged from notions of a global public good with little concern for social justice on the local, national, and global levels (Matthews & Sidhu, 2005; Ong, 2004; Rizvi, 2005). How and in what ways can study abroad develop citizens who are concerned not just with their strategic positioning within the global economy but also with building a moral sense of global solidarity? This study seeks to answer this critical question through an exploratory case study of young Korean international students. South Korea is one of the countries whose young citizens study abroad at a remarkable rate. In the past, only a few wealthy Korean families sent their children to Western countries for study abroad. These days, however, middle-class South Korean families send their children abroad at an unprecedented rate, making for a veritable education exodus of the middle class (J. Kim, 2010). This phenomenon offers a rich case for understanding the impacts of study Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 22 Spring/Summer 2011 abroad on citizenship education in an age of globalization. Through the narratives of Korean international high school students, this study examines: 1) what kind of citizens young Koreans seek to become through study abroad and in what ways study abroad experiences challenge or reinforce their initial motives; and 2) in what ways (if at all) study abroad contributes to a formation of globally oriented subjectivities which are not just informed by strategic economic possibilities but also by civic dimensions of global interconnectivity. In the following sections, I first review previous studies on the relation of study abroad to global citizenship and provide a brief overview of the South Korean education exodus. I then describe and discuss the methods and findings of the study. I conclude by considering the implications of the findings for citizenship education in a global age. Study Abroad and Citizenship Education Most of the empirical work on study abroad (e.g.; Al-Sharideh & Goe, 1998; Bradley, 2000; Volet & Renshaw, 1996; Zhao, Kuh & Carini, 2005) has concentrated on the tertiary education sector, and it is largely limited to examining cultural adaption, social adjustment, psychological well-being, or educational achievement of international students. There has been a lack of attention to international students as citizens who exercise their rights and duties in local, national, and global contexts (Collins, 2008; Matthews & Sidhu, 2005; Rizvi, 2005; Szelenyi & Rhoads, 2007). Because of declining domestic enrollments and public disinvestment in Western higher education in this neoliberal global economy, international students are often viewed as overseas customers of education products rather than citizens in local, national, and global communities (Collins, 2008; Rizvi, 2005; Szelenyi & Rhoads, 2007; Waters, 2006). However, a more recent and expanding group of critical scholars has started to address this limitation with research that considers international students as citizens and looks at the relation of study abroad to global citizenship (e.g., Matthews & Sidhu, 2005; Ong, 2004; Rizvi, 2005; Szelenyi & Rhoads, 2007). This paper contributes to this emerging literature on study abroad by exploring why young students study abroad and what kind of citizens they become through overseas education. Setting a precedent, Matthews & Sidhu‘s (2005) study is one of the few studies that investigated pre-collegiate international students‘ notions of global citizenship. Most students in the study came from Asia in order to attend Australian high schools because they believed an English-based education would provide a comparative employment advantage in the global marketplace. The students‘ pragmatic instrumentalism, or tendency to find the value of study abroad only in how it prepares them for the job market, hardly changed, partly due to the lack of social interaction with local students. By remaining with other international students, they had little chance to reconsider their neoliberal ethos. According to the co-researchers, not only the cultural/linguistic barrier but also Anglo-Australian peers‘ indifference, fear, or ignorance of foreign ―others‖ led the international students to be separated and disconnected from local students. Ong (2004) and Rizvi (2005) also have discussed the kinds of citizenship emerging from study abroad, although their focus was on tertiary education. Initial motives and meanings of study abroad to the international students in the United States Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 23 Spring/Summer 2011 (Ong, 2004) and Australian higher education (Rizvi, 2005) could be described as a kind of global acceptance based on amassing Western knowledge capital, rather than on sharing basic values of democratic citizenship; for example, democracy, equality, and pluralism. Over the course of the study abroad, this initial motive was not challenged but was instead perpetuated. Both researchers suggested that colleges and universities receiving international students should provide forms of education through which international students learn about themselves in relation to others, so that overseas education credentials do not contribute to the economic exploitation of others but open up genuine possibilities of cosmopolitan solidarity. While the almost exclusively instrumental notions of study abroad and global citizenship were also held by several international graduate students studying in the United States, Szelenyi and Rhoads (2007) found that for other international graduate students, their study abroad experiences did offer venues for broadening views, promoting the understanding of other cultures, and strengthening their ability for critique. Szelenyi and Rhoads (2007) suggested that this difference could be explained by multiple factors, including the international graduate students‘ home country contexts, areas of study, previous experiences with global citizenship, and/or intercultural encounters. These findings suggest that international students may venture to study abroad with almost exclusively strategic interests within the global economy, and their pragmatic instrumentalism and neoliberal ethos toward education, citizenship, and globalization can be reinforced or challenged by factors such as the school and university curriculum and cross-cultural interactions within and beyond the school and university. In the present paper, I develop these discussions through an empirical investigation of Korean international high school students studying in the United States. Given the increasing numbers of pre-collegiate students who study abroad, more studies on young international students and their ideas and experiences of study abroad would contribute to this emergent literature on the relation of international education and citizenship education. Young International Students from South Korea The South Korean education exodus offers a rich case for understanding the motives and meanings of study abroad for young students and the effects of study abroad experiences on these developing citizens in the contemporary age of globalization. The number of South Korean students from elementary school through high school who study abroad increased to 27,350 in 2008 from 1,840 in 1999. A 2008 survey by South Korea‘s National Statistical Office, found that 48.3 percent of South Korean parents said they want to their children to study abroad, and more than 12 percent want them to study abroad as early as elementary school. The desires and ventures of South Koreans so-called early- study-abroad (namely, study abroad prior to college) experiences reflect a complex confluence of factors. These include South Korea‘s national globalization project initiated in the 1990s; the aggressive neoliberalization of the South Korean economy in a response to the 1997 IMF Asian Debt Crisis; the adoption of English as a formal subject in elementary school in 1997; the symbolic and practical value of Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 24 Spring/Summer 2011 English to achieve upward mobility in South Korea; and South Korea‘s highly competitive schooling, to name a few (Cho, 2004; J. Kim, 2010; Koo, 2007; Park & Abelmann, 2004; Song, 2010). Many scholars explain this education exodus as the middle-class South Koreans‘ response to the complex conditions on the local, national, and global levels. As South Korea becomes more closely integrated into the global economy, English skills have become widely regarded as a measure of one‘s competence (Koo, 2007). Those with low English competency are regarded as outdated and lacking the proper sociocultural aptitude required for the globalizing world (J. Kim, 2010; Koo, 2007; Park & Abelmann, 2004; Song, 2010). Individual competence in English is closely linked to occupational success and social mobility in South Korea (Koo, 2007). Besides supporting English skill acquisition, study abroad also functions as an alternative route for school success. Particularly for the middle or high school students who struggle in the highly competitive Korean schooling system, study abroad offers not only a chance to learn English skills but also an easier academic route to college. Compared to a very competitive and highly stratified Korean schooling, the United States and other Western educational systems are often considered ―easier‖ or ―humane‖ by many Koreans (Koo, 2007). Moreover, as with English proficiency, a ‗Western university degree‘ has always been considered the mark of class and status in South Korea as well as an express ticket to social mobility (Park & Abelmann, 2004; Rhee, 2002). While Western higher education was accessible for a small number of wealthy Koreans in the past, it has become a popular and desired good for many Koreans today due to the ascendance of the middle-class and the relative ease of international travel. Encountering the ever-increasing numbers of Korean youth who study abroad, researchers began to investigate the various effects of study abroad on young students. To date, academic attention has been primarily placed upon the students‘ academic achievement, English skill acquisition, cultural adjustment, or psychological well-being (M. Kang, 2008; H. Kim, 2009; J. Kim, 2010; Y. Kim, Choi & Lee, 2006; D. Lee, 2010). Few studies have viewed the students as future citizens and examined what kinds of citizens they become through study abroad. In addition, previous studies investigated this phenomenon mostly from the angle of the parents who send their children abroad, ignoring how the students themselves make sense of changing local and global contexts and their study abroad experiences. Thus, this study extends previous research by exploring the meanings, motives, and effects of study abroad from the angle of young Korean international students as future citizens. The Study Data were collected in the academic year of 2006-2007 through in-depth interviews with twenty-seven Korean international high school students in a United States city in the Midwest. The research site has a population of 200,000 and is home to a large state university. The Korean community in the area mainly consisted of pre-collegiate study abroad students, tertiary international students, visiting scholars and their family members, and a much smaller population of immigrants. In the era of transnational migration when people constantly move back and forth with an increase of people holding dual or multiple passports as well as a growing discrepancy between legal Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 25 Spring/Summer 2011 membership, national identity, and the territorial state (Taylor, 1994), it is difficult to draw a clear line between the concept of ―immigrant students‖ and ―international students‖. In this study, I define Korean international students as students of Korean heritage who, regardless of their birthplace (South Korea or the United States) or legal citizenship status, made a conscious decision to pursue education in a school in the United States and whose families are not in the process of immigration. During the research period, there were about forty Korean international high school students in the area. Using a snowball sampling method, I invited all students to join the study via email or telephone so as to understand Korean international high school students in the area more fully and extensively. In the end, the total number of participants was twenty-seven. The students were between fifteen and eighteen years of age. They had been in the United States between one and five years. There were seventeen females and ten males. Two went to private schools and twenty-five went to one of three public high schools in the area. Fifteen were born in the United States during their parents‘ higher education study abroad and twelve were born in South Korea. The majority (22) came to the United States right before or after finishing middle school in South Korea, whereas two and three came as 6 th and 10 th graders, respectively. The majority (22) came with their mothers and/or siblings while their fathers lived in South Korea to earn the money to finance these ventures. Three stayed with their older siblings attending colleges/universities. Two lived with legal guardians. The students came from middle-class families who could afford transnational living and their children‘s international education. I conducted face-to-face in-depth interviews with individual students and asked them to talk about their motives for studying abroad, experiences in United States schools, peer relationships, future plans, and overall evaluation of their study abroad experiences. Particular attention was paid to their initial motives behind the decision to study abroad and how and why they have changed or remained the same. The individual interviews took one to two hours each, and were audio-recorded and transcribed. After transcription, I conducted a systemic content analysis of the interview data with inductive coding and constant comparison (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Strauss & Corbin, 1990), searching for similarities, differences, patterns, themes, discrepant evidences, and general categories of responses. Findings Why They Study Abroad: Initial Notions of Global Citizens The stories of how the participants came to the US were as diverse as their twenty- seven unique faces and personalities. Some students began their stories with, ―I didn‘t do well there, but in America getting good GPA and going to college is easy‖; others came because ―my brother was kind of failure and so he came first, then I joined him later‖; others came because ―my mom got accepted to a graduate program in the university here and so she brought me to learn English for free‖; some came because ―I was bullied by mean kids and I wasn‘t happy to go to school there‖; some came because ―I hated study study study all the times. I couldn‘t go to bed until 1 a.m. because of series of tutoring, cram school lessons, and homework.‖ Almost ubiquitous among the varied contexts behind their decision to study Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 26 Spring/Summer 2011 abroad was a perceived necessity of English skills and/or a diploma from a United States university for socioeconomic success in the local/global setting. As Kiyoung says below, being bullied caused her to start thinking about study abroad as an option, but the driving force behind her decision was the assumed benefit of study abroad for professional career success. I was bullied by mean kids. They bullied me because I didn‘t wear brand-name clothes or I wasn‘t looking ―cool‖. My parents were searching for an alternative school in Korea for me… but then we thought why not study abroad in America? We are living in a global world! In America, I can learn English and go to college easily. Then, whether I go back or get a job here, I would have a better chance to be successful. Like Kiyoung, most students viewed English proficiency and a United States college degree as necessary to get ahead in globalized South Korea and the world or both. For them, study abroad meant a means to better position themselves within the changing structures of the local/global economy which increasingly prizes ―global skills‖ such as English proficiency and an American education (J. Kim, 2010; Matthews & Sidhu, 2005; Ong, 2004; Rizvi, 2005; Waters, 2006). This was also strongly reflected in their initial plan of how long they would stay in the United States. The majority (22 out of 27) planned to go on to college in the United States and go back to South Korea where a United States college education would give them a competitive advantage in the local job market. The remaining five students also planned to go on to college in the United States, but they left open whether or not they would get a job in South Korea or in other countries. Students‘ carefully planned migration for ―better education‖ reflects what Ong (1999) calls ‗flexible citizenship.‘ This concept of citizenship signifies rights for individual advancement in the global capitalism over duties as citizens (Szelenyi & Rhoads, 2007). In their stories of initial decision-making to study abroad, most students exhibited a yearning for global acceptance based on amassing individual knowledge and cultural capital while they lacked interests in learning and participating in activities for equality and social justice. This suggests that international students including the students in the study participate in an economic exchange, and are likely to be concerned less with the moral civic dimensions of global citizenship than with its strategic economic possibilities (Matthews & Sidhu, 2005; Ong, 2004; Rizvi, 2005). Also revealing in students‘ decisions to study abroad were their perceptions of a ―globalizing world‖. Many students interpreted globalization as an inevitable societal development to which they must adjust to survive or succeed. Study abroad in the United States was their way to navigate the social change. The inevitability of globalization was rarely questioned, despite the fact that many were not happy with it. Soobin recollects: I felt so sorry for my dad because he was going to live alone while all of us, me, my brother and mom, were coming to America. I was also very sad to leave my friends. But, you know… everybody knows Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 27 Spring/Summer 2011 English is important and the world is getting more and more globalized! Companies like Samsung or LG look for a person who can speak English well, graduated from a US elite college, to compete with other countries. To Soobin and many others, globalization was, despite its financial, familial, and social cost, an unavoidable context they needed to align with. For them, a successful person in this age of globalization was a strategic economic player equipped with ―global skills‖ such as English mastery. It was not the one who questioned and resisted the sweeping changes that are underway by globalization, especially the symbolic/practical value of English and Western education credentials in class reproduction and social exclusion at local and global levels. Indeed, students‘ decisions to study abroad reflected the dominant discourse of globalization promoted by the South Korean government (Park & Abelmann, 2004). For example, in the 1990s the government set the development of ―global individuals‖ as the nation‘s educational aim and adopted English as a formal subject in elementary school, which was offered in middle school for the first time (J. Kim, 2010; Koo, 2007; Park & Abelmann, 2004; Song, 2010). As in many countries (Myers, 2010), the South Korean curriculum is framed by global perspectives that provide the rationale for English education rather than integrating globalization as a curriculum topic that students are encouraged to question and examine. For example, the questioning and examination of the contested, multiple dimensions of globalization, especially regarding the growing inequities between those who benefit from it and those who do not. This governmental project of globalization boosted the English education market in South Korea. According to one estimate, South Koreans spent over $3.3 billion per year for children‘s English education, and over $800 million per year for children‘s study abroad (Park & Abelmann, 2004). Despite many students dislike over leaving their families, friends, and familiar world behind, they choose to go abroad to negotiate with the imperatives of globalization. By going abroad they wish to survive or succeed in a globalized era when an English based education will provide a comparative employment advantage. The Changing Meanings of Study Abroad through Intercultural Encounter The pragmatic instrumentalism evident in the students‘ motives to study abroad hardly changed over the course of study in the United States. Looking back on their experiences as international students, many students focused primarily on the value of study abroad as an easy/effective route to academic success and later career success. For example, Boyeon recounts: I am very glad that I decided to come! I recently got admission letters from several American universities! If I didn‘t come, I would end up going to just a so- so college in Korea, which would not get me into a high paying job. When probed to talk about different aspects of study abroad that she liked/disliked, Boyeon shared, ―I miss my friends, miss all the fun stuff that we did together. Here things are so boring. Nothing to do!‖ Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 28 Spring/Summer 2011 In contrast, a few, if not the majority, went beyond instrumental benefits of study abroad. For instance, Jeesoo said: When I came here, I intentionally avoided Korean kids. It won‘t do any good to improve my English if I just hang out with them. So I tried to be friends with others, and I got to know people who are very different from me. In fact, my best friend here is Hema, she‘s from India. She‘s a very smart fun girl and I learned a lot from her. Before then, I used to think India is like a poor country with weird culture as you often see in TV. Jeesoo‘s story evidences a possibility of study abroad in broadening horizons through meaningful intercultural encounter. Although it was pragmatic instrumentalism for her to socialize with non-Koreans, Jeesoo appreciated the opportunity to engage in mutual interactions and exchanges of different understandings, worldviews, and experiences. As Jeesoo hinted above, most students in this study kept to themselves, rarely socializing with non-Koreans. Consistent with Matthews and Sidhu‘s (2005) findings, intercultural mixing of international students with the local youth was not the rule but the exception. Changsoo explains: Like everybody else, I wanted to have American friends when I first got here so that I could improve my English. But, you know, they aren‘t interested in us. Why would they be? They have their own friends already… We can‘t speak English well. We are very different… It‘s a lot comfortable with us. Like Changsoo, many students pinpointed language/culture differences as the main reason for having few friendships outside of Koreans. Students also mentioned the institutional barriers such as social divisions along racial, cultural, and national lines in a United States school (S. Lee, 2002, 2005; Matthews & Sidhu, 2005; Olsen, 1997). Indeed, it was very challenging for my participants, ―new faces‖ to the school, to initiate interracial/intercultural mixing. Again, similar to Matthews and Sidhu‘s (2005) finding, lack of meaningful interaction with non-Koreans limited a chance not only to improve English but also to examine premigration views on other races/cultures. When probed about what he meant by ―American,‖ when he said ―I tried to have American friends,‖ Changsoo clarified: I mean whites. Well… blacks and Hispanics are also American. But … they are not original Americans, aren‘t they?! Plus they seemed not into study. Some of them are quite mean and problem makers. Hispanic kids don‘t even speak English. I came here to study, learn English! Like Changsoo, students who had little interracial/intercultural encounter had rare chances to reconsider their premigration view of other races as well as American identity, and some even formed new prejudices against others. Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 29 Spring/Summer 2011 Changing Meanings of Study Abroad through School Curriculum Besides intercultural encounters through peer relationships, curriculum in a United States school may also provide a transformational learning opportunity in which students imagine themselves and the world in new ways, question and explore their own and other‘s values, and become active and informed citizens not only in their own local communities but also in making choices which might have an impact on people in other parts of the world. Because social studies education is the curricular home of citizenship education, and because one of the important goals for today‘s citizenship education is to prepare students for the globalizing world (Banks, 2004; Merryfield & Wilson, 2005 ; Myers, 2006 ), I particularly focused on the impact of social studies courses on my participants. When I asked students to talk about their experience of learning social studies in United States schools, Eunsoo described: I used to think America is the best county in the world. A country of democracy and American dream! That‘s what we learn in Korea, right?! But here one day in a social studies class the teacher taught about racism and inequality in America today. It was shocking! But then it kind of made sense to me, because, whenever I look around, people working at McDonald or low-paying jobs are mostly blacks or Hispanics. I used to think they are just lazy, not smart, or they just don‘t bother to live better. I think people in Korea and even my parents still think that way. We‘d better teach the truth. Eunsoo‘s experience suggests a possibility of study abroad in challenging international students to examine their previous ideas, comparing and contrasting the state of things in their home and host countries, and further developing a sense of responsibility to be informed and tolerant. Although the initial meaning of study abroad to Eunsoo was a calculated strategy for class reproduction and social exclusion, Eunsoo began to form civic awareness and take civic responsibilities through her learning experience in social studies classroom. When probed, Eunsoo shared her dissatisfaction with the social studies class in United States history because ―teachers and students often talk about something that I never heard before. And they just assume that I would or should know. But this is my first time actually learn about United States history in-depth.‖ Although Eunsoo was more proficient in English than many other students in the study, her lack of background knowledge in American history and society created a challenge for her A social studies classroom, which is full of engaging and student-centered pedagogy, as well as academically rigorous content designed to develop critical thinking and multiple perspectives, can be irrelevant or ineffective for international students, if it does not take into account the possible lack of background knowledge of the international students. However, at least the social studies course indeed made a positive impact on Eunsoo in terms of broadening her perspectives on race and racism, which is important for global citizens. Taehee‘s story was also telling in this regard. When I asked her about social studies classes that she took in the United States, Taehee said: Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 30 Spring/Summer 2011 One day, we were learning about Vietnam War era. The teacher had students to discuss how they (American students) would feel about the war if they were the Vietnamese at that time. It was ―wow‖ to me. It‘s like in Korea a teacher asks us to think about Japan‘s colonization of Korea from Japanese point of view! Can you believe it? I never had a teacher who taught things that way. I never thought what we think about our history is just one way to look at! Taehee‘s case evidences that social studies has the potential to challenge students to rethink nationalism in the age of globalization. Especially in a classroom where international students are present, teaching a nation‘s history from comparative, international perspectives would help not only local students but also international students develop a better understanding of history and examine nation-centric views of the world. Indeed, multiple perspectives are basic skills for citizens who live in inter- connected worlds (Banks, 2004; Gaudelli, 2003; Merryfield, 2001; Noddings, 2005). Unlike Taehee and Eunsoo, the majority of the participants in the study did not experience a social studies class in United States schools as ―eye-opening.‖ Rather, it was one of their least favorites. In many students‘ words, ―like in Korea, teachers in America also teach in a boring way—it‘s all about memorization, lecture, note-taking! Well… they use PowerPoint, or sometimes movies or discussion but… I can‘t relate to that.‖ A social studies class, which engages students in active learning of multicultural and global awareness, did not seem to be the rule, but rather the exception. In addition, several students disliked social studies classes because of their degree of fluency in English or the level of their background knowledge, as indicated by the following statements: ―my English is not great, and it‘s hard to understand what the teacher says‖ and ―I don‘t have background knowledge as much as American kids have.‖ Discussion and Conclusions Findings of the study suggest both possibilities and limitations for study abroad in the development of globally oriented citizen. In a positive light, this study shows that although pre-collegiate international students may venture to study abroad for strategic interests within the global economy with little concern for global civility or solidarity, study abroad can provide a terrain for challenging motives driven by a neoliberal perspective of globalization, broadening their horizons, and developing locally/globally responsible citizenship (Matthews & Sidhu, 2005; Ong, 2004; Rizvi, 2005; Szelenyi & Rhoads,2007). A few students in this study appreciated their intercultural learning through meaningful interaction with students from different backgrounds. Two students particularly shared an ―a-ha‖ moment in a social studies class that helped them to broaden their views and strengthen their ability for the critique of racism or nationalism. These skills and dispositions are essential for them to become more globally oriented citizens of an interconnected world (Banks, 2004; Gaudelli, 2003; Merryfield, 2001; Noddings, 2005). Going abroad to study, however, does not automatically turn this possibility into reality (Matthews & Sidhu, 2005; Ong, 2004; Rizvi, 2005; Szelenyi & Rhoads, 2007). Due to a lack of English skills, cultural differences, or local students‘ Journal of International Social Studies http://www.iajiss.org _________________________________________________________________________________________ Volume 1 Number 2 31 Spring/Summer 2011 indifference or all three, most students in the study kept to themselves and their experience reflected little socialization with non-Koreans, and thus, lessened opportunities for intercultural learning. Many students struggled to fully engage and understand course content ,social studies in particular, due to lack of English skills and/or background knowledge. Thus, even if the curriculum was designed to raise global understanding, they would not likely benefit from such courses. Students‘ experiences in United States schools revealed that they rarely received support from teachers to comfortably engage in intercultural dialogue in and out of class. As previous research suggests (Ong, 2004; Rizvi, 2005; Szelenyi & Rhoads,2007) , conscious effort from the schools and teachers seem critical for international students to experience meaningful intercultural learning so that they would have a chance to reconsider their initial yearning for a neo-liberal variant of global citizenship. As Rizvi (2005) suggests, international students are participating in economic exchange and are likely to be concerned less with moral civic dimensions of global citizenship than with its strategic economic possibilities. Indeed, a global citizenship including global awareness and engagement for local, global justice must be developed and engaged in within a broader pedagogical framework (Dolby, 2004; Falk & Kanach, 2000). Although the increased arrival of international students might be a challenge to local teachers and school, it can be a great opportunity for teachers to teach about citizenship in this era of globalization. By inviting international students to share their stories of why they left their homes to study abroad, a teacher can help not only international students feel welcomed, but also both local and international students examine their desires for global citizenship, and investigate the complexities of globalization and the sweeping changes it has brought so far, such as growing inequities in local and global economies brought by a neoliberal globalization. As citizens living in a global age, both local and international students need to learn the civic skills necessary to direct globalization in ways that will protect and promote democracy in local and global systems (Branson, 1999). After all, today‘s interconnected world and the increasing number of pre-collegiate international students call for a global citizenship education that would assist both local and international students in recognizing the interconnectedness of local and global intersections of power, discrimination, and identity, and in participating in action for local and global justice (Banks, 2004; Ho, 2009; Merryfield, 2001; Myers, 2006). References Al-Sharideh, K. & Goe, W.R. (1998). Ethnic communities within the university: An examination of factors influencing the personal adjustment of international students. Research in Higher Education, 39 (6), 699–725. Banks, J. (2004). Introduction: Democratic citizenship education in multicultural societies. In J. A. 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Zhao, C., Kuh, G. & Carini, R. (2005). A comparison of international student and American student engagement in effective educational practices. Journal of Higher Education, 76 (2), 209–31 ______________________________________________________________________________ About the Author Sohyun An is currently an assistant professor in the Elementary & Early Childhood Education Department of the Bagwell College of Education at Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia