Student Camp At Spencerville

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31383, 31 May 1967, Page 11

Student Camp At Spencerville

Students from Asia, Africa and the Pacific should be accepted as individuals, and not just thought of as Asian students or overseas students, said a number of speakers attending a residential seminarcanro at Hibburt Park, Spencerville, at the week-end. The students from other countries wanted to be accepted as ordinary students.

“New Zealanders do not understand that a lot of gatherings over tea and biscuits come to nothing but polite conversation,” said an Asian student

The camp, attended by about 60 students from Africa, Indonesia, Fiji, Malaysia, Vietnam, England and New Zealand, was aimed at examining and understanding the attitudes of overseas students to New Zealanders and of New Zealanders to overseas students.

New Zealanders were ignorant, with little knowledge other than of their own country, and regarded civilisation as "eating bread and butter,” an African woman student said.

A long period was spent discussing social invitations extended to the students. Many people asked the students to their homes because they regarded them as "ornaments,” several said. When invitations to coffee were refused by students, those offering became offended but did not realise that in many cases those Invited were too busy with s'udy, and would be pleased to accept at another time. There was a general expres-

sion that it was up to the host to prepare for entertaining students from overseas by trying to find out something about their homelands beforehand and to refrain from asking stereotyped questions. Other subjects discussed during the week-end included different religions and the particular outlooks of people from particular countries. Several speakers stressed that it was wrong for students from overseas to accept New Zealand culture and ways of doing things completely. This caused problems of integration when they returned to their own countries. An example given was that of carrying cut lunches to work. While this was an accepted thing in New Zealand, it would be laughed at in Malaysia.

Those attending the camp decided to ask the Overseas Students’ Liaison Committee, which organised the camp, to consider bolding a local international congress in Christchurch next year, and. to bold a second camp later this year.