As a student and as a professor, I met many graduate students. Some were classmates, some were students in my classes, and I advised the thesis research of some. I met people from all over the world and discovered many cultural similarities and differences. Experiences with people from outside the United States established that people from other countries are much like those from the U.S.; some are awesome, some are jerks, and most are somewhere in between. I think the percentage in each category is relatively consistent around the world.
There were undoubtedly cultural differences, but I believe that has more to do with the environment and society where each person spent their formative years. Besides the European and Australian students, the most culturally similar to the U.S. students were those from Korea and Taiwan. The Indian and Middle Eastern–mostly Iranian–students were also quite similar, but the Indian students, in many cases, overestimated how similar the cultures were. This overestimation often exposed itself with phrases and terms they assumed Americans would know. For example, Indians called the top student “the topper,” and I often heard this. I’m not sure if it’s slang, but they assumed Americans would know what it meant. Likewise, Indians call erasers “rubbers,” which they would quickly learn did not mean the same thing to an American.
Something I found fascinating and unexpected was the Chinese students’ general selfishness. I’m not saying that all the Chinese students I met were selfish or more selfish than most Americans. However, coming from a communist society, I assumed they would have a more socialist attitude with everyone helping and contributing to the whole. As a graduate student, these attitudes caused some tension in the lab. The Chinese students would never take the initiative to do things for the good of the lab, like purchase toner for the printer or other supplies we all used. We didn’t pay for this, but writing and submitting purchase orders took time. The Chinese students argued that it was more difficult for them because they were not native English speakers, and this was true. It didn’t seem like they were interested in contributing to the group’s needs.
One Chinese student that was particularly unhelpful when it came to this type of thing got particularly upset when he was desperately trying to print his thesis to give to his thesis committee before a deadline. The printer in the lab was out of toner, and he was mad that no one had noticed and bought some before he needed it. The rest of the lab told him that if he knew he needed to print a lot, he should have checked and done the work to order some. Instead of ordering some after using the last of it, he printed everything in another lab. We were glad to see him graduate.
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