Why Should We Host
International Students?
By Jon Keith
O
ccasionally people ask, “Why should the Ameri-
American students in math and science as well as dem-
can Christian high school have international
onstrate a focus and study discipline not always evident
students as part of its student body?” I believe
in our Xbox world. As American students are challenged
there are actually many great reasons. Let me share a few.
International Students Improve Our Education
and Prepare Our Students to Think Globally
A Wheaton Academy alum and third-year college student
by the study habits of their international classmates and
their potential interest in highly competitive universities,
and as their perspectives are changed through meeting
the challenge, they will be more prepared to compete in
college and beyond.
at a large secular university stopped and greeted me with
cant high school class experiences. During his senior
Our Schools Make an Impact on International
Students
year, when I had brought two of our Chinese students
As I entered my office after school one day about two
with me to his Advanced Placement (AP) government
years ago, there was a young international student sitting
class, I had shared some observations about the culture
on my couch waiting for me with tears running down her
and governmental influence during my recent travels
face, but she was also smiling ear to ear. She blurted out,
throughout China. The Chinese students also shared
“I don’t know why I am crying.” As the tears of joy contin-
some eye-opening perspectives, much from their parents’
ued to flow, she said, “I finally said yes to Jesus!” I joined
and family’s perspectives. The alum stated, “You guys
in her tears and assured her it was well worth crying
rocked my comfortable suburban American world that
about. She came to understand the Truth very early in her
day!” He explained how all through his K–12 Christian
time at our school, but it took her nearly three years to
classroom experience he hadn’t really talked and shared
say yes to Jesus because she had to reconcile the reality
perspectives openly with people from around the world.
that her whole family was going to hell if she accepted
Referring to his AP government class, he added, “That
the Truth. It is now her mission in life to bring her family
exposure to a different world perspective prepared me to
with her to meet God face-to-face someday. Yes, we go
hold on to my faith and share my faith more confidently
on mission trips. Yes, we work in the food pantries. Yes,
in the face of amazing diversity in my secular university.”
we give money to the needy. These are all good things,
Although all diversity our children encounter will not
but we also believe God is calling the Christian school
match biblical standards, we do have a responsibility as
to open its doors enough to allow us to share our faith
Christian educators to equip our students to “always be
openly day to day in our homes, in our churches, and on
prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to
our campus.
a big thank-you as he recounted one of his most signifi-
give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15,
NIV). He continued, “Being challenged to think about
my assumptions and understand people different than
tors is to equip our students to share the good news that
me, whether it was regarding a form of government or
brings the ultimate great joy. We can seize those oppor-
my denominational preferences, was a really valuable
tunities today within our Christian schools to a strategic
experience.”
number of nonbelievers who are open to learn about
Like universities, the future workplaces of our
32
While many of us are “covenant schools,” let us not
forget that one of our primary goals as Christian educa-
faith. We believe that sharing our homes, our churches,
students will inevitably include globally diverse popula-
and our Christian schools is one of the most powerful
tions. American students may learn from an international
forms of lifestyle evangelism. While many of our inter-
friend about class and study expectations for a six-day
national students have a deep faith that is often already
week and twelve-hour school day without cocurricular
tested and strengthened by hard-to-imagine pressures
opportunities. Additionally, international students, while
and realities of other cultures, some will find Jesus while
often starting behind in English skills, competitively push
in our school community.
2012/2013 .
cse Volume 16 Number 3
. Why Should We Host International Students?
International Students Make an Impact on Us
that through a life-shaping experience within a Christian
Before becoming a host parent myself a number of years
high school and an American university, many interna-
ago, I used to lump a whole lot of “stuff” in my “Christian”
tional students will be well equipped to take positions of
category. Now, after years of hosting and interacting
significant influence around the world to make an impact
with international teenagers, I have grown, and I have
on and bring transforming change to their families and
changed. Now, I have multiple categories—what I like to
communities … to their Jerusalem “and in all Judea and
call my three Cs: Christian, culture, and convenience.
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Much of my previous Christian “stuff” is now reclassified
as culture or convenience. For instance, the way I prefer
to worship is really a cultural thing and something not
shared by many other serious believers from around the
world. As the international children I hosted made an
impact on me, I realized that focusing on what is distinctly Christian means focusing on what has kingdom
influence. School parent and host mom Judy Duncan
shares about the impact of international students on her
family: “You are opening up your home, but your home is
also being opened up to something new and enriching.
You gain more than you could ever anticipate.”
Nate Leman, history teacher, comments: “The smallness of the world is becoming very real, and it is a good
thing to expose teachers and students to a global perspective.” We learn about the history of the world from
new perspectives. Though we can study the Korean War,
it takes on new meaning when we speak with a Korean
teenager who has never met his North Korean cousins
even though they live fewer than 50 miles apart. An
African boy challenges our expectations about food and
comfort when sharing about true hunger and living in
daily danger. The personal interaction with international
students in our schools and in our homes changes us for
the better.
International Students Attract Great People
“One of the reasons I love working at Wheaton Academy
is because of its global vision. Having international
students on campus excites me. I love how they change us
as we invest in them,” remarked Kevin McDonell, math
teacher. We find that dynamic educators are looking for
schools that have a global vision. They want to be a part
of something big. They desire to make a global impact.
Outstanding teachers and staff see an international
student program as a kingdom opportunity!
At the end of
the day, our schools
don’t belong to us;
they are His. We
believe that He has
given our schools
“five talents” and
that He will expect
a healthy return
on His investment
when He returns
(Matthew 25:20).
The personal
interaction with
international
students in our
schools and in our
homes changes us
for the better.
We are thrilled to
have the opportunity to make
International Students Help Expand Our
Influence
an impact on the student body, including international
students that He brings us each year, believing that as
We know that many countries around the world have a
we are diligent and faithful, He will use our school to
shortage of biblically based leaders. Where will they come
prepare a generation of leaders to make an impact on the
from? Who is best prepared to train and equip the leaders
world for His purposes. In the words of the late Reverend
of the future in our world? It is worth reflecting on the
John Stott, “We must be global Christians, with a global
fact that Kim Jong-un, the young leader of North Korea,
mission, because our God is a global God.”
while being educated in a Swiss boarding school, fell in
love with Western culture and NBA basketball. What if
he had attended your school and instead fallen in love
with Jesus? How different might North Korea be today?
How different might our world be today? Sound crazy?
Maybe not. International students are dying to come to
America for a Western education. They are open to be
taught. Their worldviews are not final yet. We believe
As chief operating officer of Wheaton Academy, Jon Keith, MBA, oversees
its International Boarding Program and simultaneously serves as the
administrator of WAnet, an association of Christian schools that shares
homestay consulting and student placement services. Mr. Keith also leads
WAnet’s Summer English Institute, attended by hundreds of international
students each July, and annually hosts HomeStay Symposiums for Christian
schools each fall around the country.
Why Should We Host International Students? .
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