This is really a small world. Your decision of studying abroad may be influenced by the elections in other countries.
Election Triggers Tention
For example, in 1997, international students from Asia avoided Australia due to the white supremacist policy of the ‘One Nation Party.’ Pauline Hanson, the founder of the party, gained great support from the Australian government for her racist movement. The sensational news lovers like the media followed Hanson’s attacking Aboriginal rights, immigration and refugees rights. During the academic year 1997-1998, the number of international students in Australia dropped 3.7%.
Now let’s take a look at what is happening in the U.S. presidential election 2016. Donald Trump, the presumptuous nominee for the Republican party, viewed as a bigot and racist by many, is going to affect your decision in studying in the U.S.
Trump’s problem is he does not feel comfortable with color people. As a matter of fact, his racism has become his biggest asset to his supporters. The mainstream media in the U.S. are often attracted to Trump’s bigotry and racism. It is sad to see that the U.S. media would rather report Trump’s highly controversial and racist remarks than report a morally correct statement from Bernie Sanders, who is running as a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.
No wonder that some media has compared the rise of Donald Trump to that of Australia’s Paulin Hanson.
Who is in the White House Matters
We think that the decline of international students is inevitable in the U.S. if Trump becomes America’s president. On June 20, 2016, the Education News of GoodCall.com published an article titled ‘Donald Trump Presidency Could Cut International Student Enrollment at U.S. Colleges,’ also pointed out the hypothetical outcome of America’s presidential election.
The report is based on two surveys of a sample of 1.2 million international students. Among them, 40,442 people responded to the surveys.
The result shows if Trump were U.S. president, more international students were not coming to the U.S. compared to a Hilary Clinton presidency. ‘This is particularly true of Mexican and Latin American students.’ according to the article.
The article further states ‘student respondents, who came from 118 different countries, 60 percent said they were less inclined to study in the U.S. if Trump is the next president. A Hillary Clinton presidency would result in 3.8 percent of respondents staying away from the U.S. for their college pursuits. Among Mexican respondents, 79.8 percent said they were less inclined to attend a U.S. school if Trump is president compared with 4.2 percent under Clinton.’
Let’s pay close attention to the U.S. presidential election this year and hope that the majority of Americans will have a right sense to choose the best candidate for the country.
(Author: Tanya T. Gray; Editor: Thor Gray)