Recently, I saw the news that ICE has shifted the guidelines for international students to the USA visas. As I understand it international students in the USA cannot be enrolled only online beginning in the fall semester of 2020. If their university is only open online, they must leave the United States or transfer to another university. Hybrid enrollment is possible, but only on a limited basis. My social media network is obviously concerned.
Their concern is quite understandable. It is quite an undertaking to be admitted to an American university, discover the needed resources to pay for the education, acquire a visa, and then live and study in the United States away from the familiarity of home. That difficulty has been escalated by the coronavirus. Many international students like American students this spring and summer are taking online classes. Their universities and health officials are crafting plans to reopen classes this fall. It seems to me that what is needed is great flexibility and discernment to continue education while keeping students, faculty, and their community safe. Imposing rigid guidelines can easily lead to both poor academic and health outcomes. If students and their universities are unable to keep students healthy with ICE guidelines some will likely be forced to leave the United States. Yet, travel outside of the USA is problematic as even the European Union is cautious about receiving visitors from America. It is reasonable to foresee international students stranded in locations where they have few connections and are quite vulnerable.
For me, this issue touches many parts of my life. I have a multiple of hats I wear. Let me speak to this issue from 3 hats. At times, my perspective will seem contradictory. Some may consider it unique.
The first hat is of a missionary parent. I spent 19 years outside of the United States and have spent the last 8 years serving African Diaspora communities within the United States. I am old enough now that I bridge generations. My children have served as missionaries outside of the United States while I remained within the United States. I on occasion sit with Christian parents as we process what is the best way to educate our children and place them in locations where God’s glory can most be magnified. As such I see the United States as a mission field. Sociologists describe America as “post-Christian.” Christian influence is declining in the culture. Much of American Christianity is syncretistic and partisan. Discipleship is woeful in most churches. There simply are not enough skilled and gifted Christian laborers in America. Outside help is desperately needed. America needs missionaries.
Thus, I am eager to get as many international students from Christian families into the United States as possible. We need voices of faith in secular academic environments. We need volunteer laborers in local churches and campus ministries. We need diversity and depth of Christian leadership. Missionaries have frequently entered many nations on student visas. American needs missionaries on student visas. Until the last few months if a Christian family outside of the United States had a child considering studying in America I’d do all I could to open the door for them to come simply to just strengthen Christian witness in America.
However, today I would issue a missionary travel warning to America. If your child can take a gap year academically that is a good choice. If they have academic options in other nations, you would be wise to consider sending them there. If your child comes to America expect chaos. America is politically polarized. A portion of the population is fearful and angry. You never know what will happen when you step out of the door. Missionaries with black and brown skin are consistently reporting ugly bigotry. The health care is expensive and inconsistent. Corona-virus cases are increasing. The risk of sending a child to America just to study is too great to come on a flippant hope of a better education and future.
Only put your child on a plane to America if you can hug them goodbye at the airport and be at peace with them not returning. Only put them on a plane if you are prepared to hear of them being mistreated for their accent and skin color. Only put them on a plane if you can truly send them as a missionary in which you believe their journey and witness is more important than their markers of academic or professional success. The recent decision to make student visas more difficult to maintain an academic setting that is safe for their health confirm that America is not an easy mission field for the faint hearted. Only the most disciplined and dedicated youthful servants of Christ should even attempt to come to America on a student visa.
My second hat is an international educator. I have taught missions one year at a Christian university in America (Oklahoma Christian University). I have taught ethics 6 years at a secular university in Rwanda (KIST - Kigali Institute of Science and Technology - Now part of the University of Rwanda system). I facilitated over 300 Rwandan students to attend over 10 different university in the United States. I was part of a founding board and a chairman for Kigali International Community School. Though it has been about 8 years since I have been in academics, I still feel confident I understand the landscape.
As an educator this visa decision is nuts. Let us put aside footnotes and decorum to be candid like us academic people can be in a confidential meeting. Here are 3 things I am confident about that confirm the nuttiness of this policy.
First, only a small portion of the international students who come to the United States come on full scholarships. For those that come on full scholarships, America wins. Those kids are smart and disciplined. They test well. They get good grades. They boost the academic success of every institution where they land. They increase the outcomes of research universities. Their faces look good on university development brochures. Even with their costs being covered by a full scholarship, America wins with these kids. Frankly, let them in and do not mess with a winning combination.
Second, most international students come from nations where the middle-class economy is rapidly growing but education institutions have not caught up to the growth. Parents send these kids to America to get the best education in the world that can be bought. These kids are cash cows. They pay full tuition. Many even pay fees higher than local American students. Most international students pay tuition that subsidizes the costs of American students. Again, this is winning combination. Do not mess with success.
The third reason this policy is nuts is that academic institutions during a pandemic require flexibility. No one really knows what the fall will bring with coronavirus. If we redo the Spanish Flu, cases will increase, and many will go back to sheltering in place. We can prepare, plan, and hope for a better outcome. Yet, prudence tells us to stay flexible and prepare for ways to make academic progress in the worst-case scenarios of a pandemic. This is not a time for rigid government control. These decisions are best made by local health officials and individual university leaders. The winning combination will be full of Yankee ingenuity and devoid of authoritarian control. Do not mess with potential success. Trust the American people to do well when they are given flexibility.
My third hat is conservative American Christian. I hesitate most to make these points, but I believe I must. It is become far too easy in America when one critiques our current government leadership to resort to name calling. You need to know my policy commitments and history. Some Generation Z friends describe me as “the most conservative reasonable person they know.” I have voted almost a straight Republican ticket until the last 4 years of my life. I usually vote in Republican primaries. I read the Wall Street Journal and National Review. I prefer the Chicago Tribune to the Chicago Sun-Times. I prefer the Saint Paul Pioneer Press to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. I have never been a big political player nor close family or friends with one in Republican circles. Yet, my family has voted Republican since the Civil War.
I believe America should provide global leadership. I believe capitalism is the best economic system when compared to other options. I support building and maintaining institutions and traditions. Supporting international students in America is a consistently conservative agenda. I remember all the Walton Scholars Sam Walton scholar supported at Harding University over 30 years ago. I remember listening to Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe advocate for Rwandan students to study at Oklahoma Christian University. I remember reading editorials in the Daily Oklahoman advocating for more international students.
Frankly, for the last 4 years I have been politically homeless. I have felt my principles have been repeatedly betrayed. I am at times thoroughly embarrassed. As a conservative I believe in personal responsibility and active citizenship. Thus, I have voted more independently than I have ever before. I have written my government representatives and made phone calls like I never have before. I am active on social media in these conversations and continue to try to find ways to rally likeminded conservatives. As a conservative American Christian this student visa policy is another issue that will get my time. If you share my philosophic framework and American citizenship, I suggest you also make your perspective known by both communication and voting.
So, if you are reading this blog as a friend of mine from overseas considering sending your child to America to study know I feel your tension. I probably would not put my kids on a plane to America this fall. Yet, if you do you are in my prayers and call me if something comes up with your kid where you think I can help. If you are reading this as an educator who must keep an element of decorum when you are frustrated know I understand a portion of your journey and have your back. If you are reading this as a conservative American Christian, I imagine you feel as betrayed as I do by the last 4 years. Let us make our voices heard and trust God to go beyond our feeble efforts. America is a great mission field. God has called us here. May His glory be seen through our service to others.
