The unwritten syllabus: Why academic success doesn’t fit in two checked bags for many international students

The unwritten syllabus: Why academic success doesn’t fit in two checked bags for many international students

In a Wichita State University aerospace engineering classroom, the silence isn’t always about concentration. For Aoi Ito, an undergraduate student from Japan, it’s a cultural hangover.  Back home, a classroom is a place of quiet reception; here, it is a theatre of participation. “In my country, there is a kind of pressure against offering (answers to) questions in class,” Aoi said. “But here, students want to answer them by themselves. It’s very…