Fulbright U.S. Student
Grantee Newsletter

Rebutting the Myth of American Pie

I was surprised to hear my voice quiver as I stood in front of the noisy, crowded classroom and began to introduce myself. I was eager to explain to the students what had brought me to their high school in Indonesia and, more importantly, my motivations for becoming an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in the first place. This opening interaction needed to go smoothly.

Within a few minutes, the conversation turned to the United States. Before arriving, I had anticipated many questions about my way of life, my political views and, more generally, American culture. I was determined to meet these questions with tactful and insightful responses. The first question about American life, however, caught me a bit off guard:

“Is all of American society like ‘American Pie’?”

I thought to myself, ‘This is what they think about America?’ I did not even know where to begin. My immediate answer was, “Of course not,” but I knew this was only a partial truth. The problem with the question is that, in some ways, the movie — about four American high school boys’ frantic attempts to lose their virginity before graduation — accurately depicts certain traits of American teenagers, albeit in the form of distorted satire. While most Americans readily understand the absurdity of the portrayal, my Indonesian high school students struggled to separate fact from fabrication.

Jamie Stewart, 2007-2008, Indonesia

To my astonishment, the next three classes I visited all referenced "American Pie," and most of the students had seen the film. I tried to explain that its creators took certain artistic liberties in order to sell movie tickets, that few American high school students would view it as an accurate representation of their everyday lives. But the students had trouble fully understanding that American classrooms aren’t filled with variations of Jim, Kevin, Ostreicher and Stifler.

The classroom visits that first day helped me realize the full responsibility inherent in teaching English in a foreign culture. Beyond explaining the nuts and bolts of grammar and expanding their vocabularies, I am charged with providing a more balanced perspective on American life.

Three months after those initial introductions, progress is being made. My students still struggle with tenses and prepositions, but the questions about "American Pie" have been replaced with questions that reflect a more informed view of Americans. The students are beginning to see and appreciate a version of America not usually portrayed by Hollywood. In me, they see an American with whom they can identify and connect, one fascinated not with the dynamics of high school but rather with the dynamics of other countries. Although the American high school students presented in "American Pie" may exist, I am determined to provide what I believe to be a more accurate picture of my country. If I am successful, then perhaps next year’s ETAs in Indonesia can spend more time talking about the reality of life in America and less time rebutting the myth of Stifler.

Approaching the Fulbright Experience with an Open Mind

Right before I left for Ecuador, I met with a former Fulbrighter. Her parting advice was, “Do not try and predict what your experience will be like, in all likelihood it won’t be anything close to what you are currently imagining, but it will be great.” She could not have been more right.

I came to Ecuador to join a project investigating Chagas disease in a rainforest province. And I am doing this, some of the time, but I am also working on numerous other tropical infectious diseases and learning more than I had ever hoped. I am taking a course in immunology from the medical school associated with the laboratory I work in and I do not think I could have lucked into a better combination of learning, Spanish practice, and meeting new people. The family I had planned to stay with a month, before moving into my own place, has turned out to be such a good fit that I now intend to remain with them for the duration of my grant; my experiences with them have constituted some of my fondest memories here.

Michael Wauters, 2007-2008, Ecuador

Prior to coming to Ecuador, I thought I had my life mapped out pretty well. But even in the few short months I have been here, I have found myself changing. I had previously hoped to become a doctor and at this point I still intend to apply to medical school; yet, the longer I am here, the more I realize merely being a doctor will never be enough. As I start to comprehend the magnitude of the suffering, the injustice, and the pain in our world, I cannot just blink and make it all go away; it is being burned onto my retinas. I do not know exactly what this continuing revelation means for my future, I only know I cannot be a bystander. Perhaps working with an organization such as Médecins Sans Frontières or Partners In Health, maybe blazing my own path; there are so many unknowns at this point it is hard to see what is best. And each time these thoughts cross my mind I wonder, can I really go through with this? Do I have what it takes to serve to this degree? And more and more the answer is yes, without a doubt, yes.

So, my advice to Fulbrighters of the future is that which was given to me. Go at it with an open mind; your experience will not be anything like you predicted and will mark you indelibly, but it will be great.