Future Aspirations of Culturally Diverse Students

During my last meeting with T, I noticed she had the book Angels and Demons by Dan Brown with her, which she told me she was reading for fun. This surprised me, as not only is the book advanced, but she was reading it as a hobby, which many students don't do as often as they used to. This lead to a conversation about her collection of books still back in her old country, which her family goes back to every so often and allows her to bring more of the collection back, a little at a time. She also told me about a special country-wide book fair that draws hundreds and thousands to buy books from vendors every year. Hearing about this interest in books completely changed my view on other countries. As a world power, we are told most countries have little educational opportunities, which may hold true in some places, but they have plenty of passion to learn and succeed. This eliminates the preconceived notion that students from other cultures have less interest to learn in schools, and that they have the same drive other students have as well. To drive this point home, T also discussed her intensions of becoming a surgeon, and to try and attend the best school she could possibly get into, and during the time of the meeting, that was MIT. These high goals set up this student for great success, and I feel that she has the potential to get where she wants to be simply because she is sincerely working hard to be the best she can.