Language of social etiquette worth learning
- The fallout from students at an American university who spoke Chinese, not English, in lounge areas shows the cost of not following common-sense advice
When political correctness meets racism, you get a wholly avoidable furore like the one at Duke University in North Carolina.
Sadly, such clashes of value and culture are not all that unusual on North American campuses these days. Nonetheless, Chinese students overseas should take this incident as an opportunity for self-reflection, rather than endorsement of their social etiquette, or rather the lack thereof.
Following an outcry, a director of a graduate programme has had to step down and the dean of the medical school issue an apology as the whole incident became international news.
The incident began when two faculty members complained that several international students were speaking Chinese “very loudly” in student lounge areas. They said they wanted to take down their names to blacklist them for future intern or other applications.
Well, professors, how about confronting those students there and then and telling them to quieten down? That seems to be the acceptable response – rather than writing to the director of graduate studies, an assistant professor in biostatistics called Megan Neely, to threaten to ruin their careers.
US tutor steps down in row over Chinese students not speaking English
In response, Neely wrote a general email to advise foreign students to “commit to using English” and suggested that not doing so might harm their careers.