Globalization and International Arabic Students Research

Globalization can be described as the interplay across cultures of macro-social forces. These forces include religion, politics, and economics. Due to the changes brought by globalization, there has been a great need for individuals with higher education. Education is becoming more invaluable to individuals. In today's environment, education provides us with a better chance of employment, which in turn leads to a better lifestyle, power and status. Thus, countries that have been left behind with the fast developments are now striving to have good quality of education. It is also to enable the citizens to have a better living.
The Arab nation, which is comprised of 22 different countries, experienced a lot of revolution in which political corruption is being blamed. The said corruption has brought negative effects on the countries and most especially, to its people. The Arab nation is said to have a high rate of individuals who are under the age of 20 and have a high rate of unemployment which is caused by the low quality of education. The youth in the Arab countries have protested to get the quality of education they deserve.
With the numerous and great effort of aiming for a reform in the education system, the government of these Arab countries are granting scholarships for students and some of them are granted to study abroad. The number of Arab international students has rapidly increased over the years. One of the countries where they get higher education is the United States of America which is one of the most developed countries. However, being in a different country brings a different effect to some. Having a different culture and language, Arab students are experiencing culture shock where they have difficulties in coping up with the culture in other non-Arab countries.
Culture shock is a feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who has come to live in a place with different culture, tradition, and way of life. With this condition, sadness, feeling lost, changes in mood, irritability, depression, lack of confidence and longing for family are some of the symptoms which are affecting the learning of the students. Today, this is something that is still experienced not only by international Arab students, but also other nationalities that have sought education or work in abroad for a better living. Most of the international students study in countries like United States of America, Canada, Australia, and others which mostly have different cultures with the Arab world. These host countries, especially the United States, are largely diverse in terms of ethnicity, culture, language, and religion. Since culture shock is brought by the differences in the way of life of the students to their host countries, it is important to know and understand what certain aspects in their culture cause the condition.
First of all, the countries that belong to the Arab world have Arabic as the official language and it is widely spoken. It is also mainly the reason why they are called Arabs. The language is used in literature and poetry, and in the Qur’an which is the Holy Bible of Islam. With the great difference of Arabic and English (the spoken language of the host countries), it became one of the barriers for the students to adapt easily. It has become a challenge for them to be able to read and write school works in English. Also, learning the dialects, slang, humor, and accent for them to interact was a struggle as they have used Arabic in everything they do since childhood. In order to overcome the language barrier, the Arabs are encouraged to make new friends and converse to others especially with the locals to whom they can learn the dialect or language of the region. According to some studies, enrolling in public schools to study English is also a way for the Arabs to learn the language.
The Arab nation is known to be intertwined with Islam which is a religion for Muslims. While most of them are Muslims, there is also a large number of Christians and some chose to have other faiths. Religion, especially Islam, has a great effect on the personal, political, economic, and legal lives of the Arabs. This has made them dependent on fate which is a belief that humans cannot control all events. Since Islam is divided into two different sects, Muslims from each sect has some differences in the beliefs from the other sect. Normally, these people are not living side by side. When they study abroad, the diversity in religion is one factor for culture shock since they should learn how to interact with people of different faiths. The Arab students should learn to keep an open mind and not to judge other religions negatively. Joining groups with the same religion and going to one’s church will be best. It will also enable them to do their church obligations and keep their faith.
Family is the social structure that is the most important in the lives of the Arabs. Accor...