Why are they talking about paying more in fees re: discrimination then?
I think it's more just highlighting some of the differences between international and local students.
It's a fair point that we are paying more. Why subsidise students who may not be staying in the country to contribute
to the country's skill pool? I just wish there was some kinda scheme out there that let you reimburse some amount of
funds that you have paid for education here if it is shown that you are contributing to the professional skill pool but that's a whole other issue to the one at hand...
DISCLAIMER: Please don't be offended by anything I post after here. It is just my opinion and not a generalisation. I'm also attempting to reply with about 5 hours of sleep and a 12 hour day at work so shhh....
As for the article, I completely see where it's coming from. This is my fourth year here in Melbourne and I will admit that there are still some groups that I try to get into but just feel walled away. I don't know if it's my personality or race but it's not something that I can control so I just let it be. You can't win them all.
Also, if you have an "us vs them" mentality, it's never gonna work out right. You might not get every single joke they crack but you learn over time. What I found is that if you are willing to go up and say hi, majority of the time they will respond. It's not something that will happen quickly and there will be many awkward silences but it's all part of it. As I said before, there will be groups that talk to you but you may not invite you into their circle but that's okay. It's still someone that you can consider an acquaintance.
With the jokes, you have to have an open mind about it. I found Aussie culture to be pretty chilled and straightforward so some jokes might seem a bit harsh but you can usually tell when they are seriously racist/insulting and when they are not. Just need to be a bit open minded about it. Again, from the other end of the spectrum, I have seen some pretty bad "jokes" so hmm.. It's difficult.
To be fair, there are some things that some International kids tend to do which make them pretty unpleasant and makes it more difficult to "merge the groups". Yelling out to another person in another language and strong smelling foods in libraries are never nice...
It might be because I did high school here so I saw it differently compared to someone who just started Uni here. To be fair, I do have a pretty good command of English and am generally quite outgoing so I probably found it easier. I can see how difficult it would be to have the confidence to start a conversation in a language you aren't extremely proficient in. It's all a learning process.
Please feel free to PM me if anyone wants to continue with this discussion. I would continue here but I worry that this doesn't really have anything to do with the thread...