Exchange students live American nightmare

[Liberal_in_LA]

Source: CNN

By Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston
CNN Special Investigations Unit

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- They came from around the world hoping to spend a high school year immersed in the culture and joys of America.

Instead, five young foreign exchange students found themselves caught in a nightmare of neglect, malnourishment and abandonment by those supposed to protect them.

Now those five -- natives of countries stretching from Norway to Tanzania to Colombia -- are back home telling friends of a different America than they expected. And their brief visit reverberates in America as a United States senator demands accountability and reform, a Pennsylvania district attorney seeks criminal charges and the U.S. State Department concedes it failed to protect kids coming to America.

----------------

Carlos Villarreal's family, however, paid their son's way to America from Colombia, giving Aspect $13,000 for him to study here. Villarreal said he lived with a family that housed ex-convicts and that he had very little to eat. He said his mother's repeated contacts with Aspect about his situation were ignored.

"I lost a lot of body weight, and an unsafe environment which I felt uncomfortable living in, and it was nothing like I had envisioned my experience in America," he said.

The Rev. Elmer Smith told CNN he took in Villarreal as a favor to Aspect's local coordinator, Edna Burgette, and denied he failed to feed him.

"The boy had no place to go, so I took him in and I fed him," Smith said. "He had a television in his room, he had heat in his room, he had air-conditioning in his room."

Another woman who hosted students said she was sitting on her porch when Burgette walked by and asked her if she would take in a child. Like Smith, the woman said that she was just trying to help a student whom she was told had nowhere else to go.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/15/us.exchange.students/index.html

[knitter4democracy]

1. Way more common than people want to admit.

We took in an exchange student when I was in high school (my mom was the art teacher) whose host family had been abusing her. They'd lock her in her bedroom every night after dinner, unlocking it to let her out to go to school. It was disgusting, and we made it our mission to show her as much of Michigan as we could and that not all Americans are like that.

[lindisfarne]

17. Even happens with homestays for college kids who come to learn English. I haven't seen it as bad as

you describe, but I certainly saw college kids whose families did the absolute minimum (provided food & a bedroom) only because they wanted the fee they got to house the kids. They didn't support the kids, provide a family environment, or anything else you might expect a host family to do.

This was at an English program at Seattle University (may have just been renting space but still, it reflects on the private Catholic institution). They were always scraping to find host families & would take almost anyone, including, it turned out, families who had been complained about by prior students who stayed with them.

[crim son]

2. Painful to read.

I am ashamed.

[Tempest]

3. The Bush deregulation legacy lives on

Casey said Aspect knew in October the students were in trouble and chose to ignore it. But he saved most of his anger for the State Department, which allows groups like Aspect to police themselves.

[Aragorn]

4. US families

are sometimes the problem. Some families treat their own kids this way and see no reason to change. One of my toughest psychotherapy cases at present is a child living with her g-parents, who used to coordinate an area exchange student program. They are the meanest people I know. Other families have used a stipend (when one is provided) to meet their own expenses, shorting the student. I have hosted a few and entertained more, showing them US sights and culture.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. If the families were paid for hosting, that might attract one kind of bad apple,

and if they weren't, that might attract people who would use that as an excuse to consider the student a burden.

Rotary and AFS have good reputations in the international exchange community, but I had a student who was sent to Japan on a less reputable program as a high school student and was placed with a family who did give her three meals but otherwise ignored her entirely, to the point of taking the rest of the family on trips and leaving her at the house alone.

[timeforpeace]

Student exchange programs are absurd in any event. Learn about a new culture after you've graduated

and grown up.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. I disagree--going on a GOOD exchange program can be a life-changing experience

Even the experience of spending five weeks in Europe with my parents and grandmother at age 17 changed my entire way of looking at the world.

[primavera]

10. I absolutely agree

Being exposed to other cultures, ideally with the intensity only immersion can offer, while one is still at an age young enough to be really open to it in the way that only the young can be, has to be one of the most beneficial and positive development experiences I can imagine.

[Dappleganger]

12. In agreement too.

Both of our older teens have gone abroad and have enriched in great ways--if they had done so later it would have cut into their college time.
We've hosted kids as young as 13 and they always take away a lot from the experience.

[sledgehammer]

9. Hmmm....

I grew up in five countries before moving to the US as a college student. Now, I was with my own family so it was different.

But being so young and non-judgmental made me assimilate so well, to the point that I didn't even have to make an effort to learn about the cultures I was living in. It just came naturally, and has been a huge part of my development.

Plus, the limited responsibility at that age makes it easier i.e. someone else (family, govt, non-profit) is paying for it. Once you graduate you are expected to make your own money, so doing an exchange program is not a very inviting concept.

[rollingrock]

15. The US is a cultural wasteland

American students visiting other countries will have a positive, enriching experience.

Foreign students visiting the cultural wasteland that is the US, not so much.

[Dappleganger]

18. This is simply untrue.

We have taken our students on many, many trips where they have learned so much, not to mention that they have learned many positive things about our culture. The US has MUCH to offer and it doesn't need to be thousands of years old in order to be considered worthwhile. If the US was indeed a 'cultural wasteland', then these exchange programs would be all but gone. Now that Bush is out of office, families are even MORE anxious to allow their kids to come here as long as they know they are coming to a safe place.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

20. yeah, and the world lusts after it

Say what you like about it, but Southern California is an amazing place to be young.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

21. Oh, please

Another "Amurikka sux" cheap shot.

You have no clue as to what this country has to offer a foreign student when you've lived here all your life and made up your mind it sucks.

[XemaSab]

22. Say what?

I think American culture has a lot to offer, and a student from anywhere in the world should be able to have a solid, enriching experience here.

[LanternWaste]

16. Isn't high school the perfect time to learn...?

Isn't high school the perfect time to learn about foreign cultures...?

Regardless, what precise aspects of it lead you to believe it's absurd?

Ed: spelling

[sledgehammer]

6. At least the State Dept admitted it failed

This is certainly a change from the past. Dubya's admin would probably have said: "it's better than Gitmo!"

Accepting failures/mistakes is so important to moving forward.

[WriteDown]

8. Sounds like "Edna Burgette" is the problem. nt

[Dappleganger]

11. As a frequent host family, this is very saddening.

I've only known of one case in which a student didn't work out due to huge religious differences (and she was consequently placed with us). We have had multiple students stay here and we go out of our way to give them the best American experience we can afford, along with making it a great one for us. We keep up with all of them via email and FB, and love to watch them grow. Some of these are as much family as my own kids and we have grown to love their extended family as well as hosted their siblings.

Just wanted to share that there are thousands of positive experiences that I know aren't being reported, but am frustrated with these idiots who think they can do whatever they want and get away with it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. Yes, I knew a couple in Portland who hosted a Dutch exchange student

in the 1960s, and they STILL visited back and forth.

[provis99]

14. these host families should be charged with enslavement

Because thats all they were. And that "Reverend" Smith should be locked up for life.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

19. My parents hosted a Japanese exchange student 25 years ago

We are still in contact with her and the whole lot of us will be seeing her, her husband and children next year at the Vancouver olympics. I have visited her a number of times while in Japan on business since then.

Unfortunately much like foster care there are a large number of people who are more than happy to take the stipend, but have no intention of actually doing anything other than boarding the child in question.

[JimWis]

23. I have a friend who is a teacher who, in conversation with an

exchange student in her class, found out her host family was also abusive. She had to do all the housework and had no time for any extracurricular activities at school. She was never allowed out except for school. This student, a girl from Germany, was extremely depressed and lonely. Thankfully, my friend the teacher did something about it. She got the student taken away from the family and she took over as the host family and brought her into her own home. She also spent alot of time showing her around and showing her the good things about our country. After the students year here, her parents came over from Germany to visit my friend and thank her for the action she took and her excellent and kind care she gave their daughter.

I was angered to hear this goes on, and glad for the happy ending in this case.