Perusing the preliminary rosters for my first-year college writing courses, I thought half-humorously that I could easily have been looking at the United Nations staff directory. Most of the names were of Middle Eastern, Indian, Pakistani, or East Asian origin, with a sprinkling of African, Hispanic, and Eastern European backgrounds. Common Anglo-Saxon surnames were conspicuous mostly by their absence.
And sure enough, when I showed up for the first day of class, I was greeted by a sea of brown faces.
I teach at a branch campus of a large state university located in a tony suburb of Atlanta—“one of America’s sparkling neighborhoods,” as novelist Marc Fitten described it a few years ago in the New York Times. The university has other branch campuses located in less affluent areas with large immigrant populations, not to mention our main campus in downtown Atlanta. But the community where I teach has a median home price of nearly $900,000.
I’ve worked on this campus for 15 years. During that time, I’ve watched the student demographic slowly transform from mostly white to a mix of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian students, to mostly Asian—using the term broadly to include anyone from that continent.
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Initially, as the foreign-born population grew, I faced some challenges with second-language speakers. I also noted that many of the young people maintained their cultural identity, as reflected in their dress, etiquette, and attitudes. For example, the Middle Eastern women almost all wore hijabs, and the Middle Eastern men could be very vocal about preferring male teachers.
As the years have passed, however, I’ve observed something rather remarkable: The foreign population has become markedly more American. Indeed, today, most of my foreign students are not actually foreign, nor do they cling to their culture—or perhaps I should say, to their parents’ culture. Because it really isn’t their culture anymore. In dress, speech, and behavior, they appear every bit as American as the white kids I used to teach on this campus 15 years ago.
It can be a little disorienting to see a name on my roster like “Vishnu Ramiswamy,” observe the student himself sitting in my classroom looking as Indian as a Bollywood extra, then have him come up to me after class, in his faded jeans, Atlanta Braves tee shirt, and Nike trainers, and ask me a question in a North Georgia accent.
Look, I’m as opposed to illegal immigration as anyone. I believe it has contributed to high crime in many areas, driven down wages for American workers, caused a strain on our schools, hospitals, and welfare system, and led to electoral disparities and, in some cases, outright voter fraud. The Trump administration is right to deport thousands who are in the U.S. illegally—especially those who committed additional crimes after committing the crime of entering the country unlawfully—while discouraging thousands more from coming here to begin with.
I’m also, at this point, not high on legal immigration. At the very least, I believe it should be paused for a few years while we get a handle on it. Particularly concerning is the so-called “chain migration,” by which people allowed into our country for supposed humanitarian reasons are then permitted to bring family members over. This creates situations like the ones we see in Dearborn and Hamtramck, Michigan, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, where entire communities seem intent on replicating the culture they fled rather than assimilating—electing, for example, majority Muslim city councils, who have amended noise ordinances so that mosques can publicly broadcast their calls to prayer at five times a day.
Meanwhile, issuing large numbers of student visas can lead to a situation on college campuses where American students are denied admission in favor of foreigners who can pay full freight, as Minding the Campus’s managing editor Jared Gould has argued. And importing professors not only shuts out American Ph.Ds who might have gotten those jobs but can create problems for native students who have difficulty understanding their professors in class. No doubt those are among the reasons Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) is proposing to limit universities’ ability to hire via the H1B visa program.
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All of those very real problems aside, however, I don’t think we should underestimate the assimilative power of American culture. The kids in my college classes clearly want to be like all the other American kids. They wear the same clothes, listen to the same music, pull for the same sports teams, and use the same slang. Ten years ago, my female Middle Eastern students were decked in long robes and head-coverings. Now, they sport wide-leg jeans and midriff-baring tank tops. Except for skin tone, Aisha is virtually indistinguishable from Riley or Tamika.
To be sure, these are kids from affluent homes, whose parents most likely work in the burgeoning local tech industry or own small businesses. That may help explain their embrace of American culture—they can afford it. Still, I can’t imagine this is a welcome development for many of their more traditional parents. It’s just inevitable. The lure of American culture is simply too strong.
We, multi-generational Americans, often complain about the decadence and insipidity of our culture. And it’s true that there is much to find objectionable in our music, fashion, art, and film. But it’s also true that our culture, for good or ill, is what unites us. And I believe it may be what ultimately saves us from extinction, as immigrants who come to this country with no intention of adopting our ways find that, when it comes to the second generation, they really have no choice.
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