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Terrence MacTaggart is the former chancellor of the University of Maine System and co-author of “The New College President,” which describes the advantages of hiring leaders from diverse backgrounds.
The overheated debate over whether America invites too many students from certain countries to our colleges and universities misses the point. Smart, hard-working immigrants have always been good for America. Canadians coming south in search of a better economic future, the Irish fleeing poverty and famine, Asians from the other side of the globe and immigrants from more than a hundred other countries contribute mightily to the enterprising spirit that defines this country at its best. All this is especially true for international students, many of whom apply their advanced education to the betterment of their families and the rest of us in their newly adopted county.
There are plenty of solid public policy arguments in favor of international students. But I have personal reasons for making the case. As an international student myself, I experienced firsthand the benefits of studying with people from other countries and cultures. My story begins with decisions my immigrant father made.
My father emigrated to the U.S. with his family from Canada early in the 20th century. One of the first military draftees in 1940, he waded through the carnage of Omaha Beach two days after D-Day. Six months later he became one of the more than 40,000 allied wounded in the Battle of the Bulge, the last decisive and one of the bloodiest battles on the western front. He bore shrapnel scars for the rest of his life.
Although foreign born, Joe MacTaggart remained in the U.S. Army after the war. A veteran master sergeant on the one hand but with limited formal education on the other, the military offered opportunity that would have been denied him elsewhere. While stationed in Japan, he and my mother (herself the daughter of immigrants) sacrificed from their serviceman’s pay to send me to one of Tokyo’s international schools.
Saint Mary’s International School attracted students from around the globe. China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and many European countries. Americans were in the minority. Competition was the name of the game on the athletic fields (soccer and baseball) and in the classroom (algebra, geometry, French from the early grades on) with every student ranked by name on Fridays. Challenge, accountability, hard work were the hallmarks of the educational experience, but I don’t remember a harsh word between the students of different countries, many of whose parents had fought against each other a few years before.
Years later I asked my father why he sacrificed to send me to this relatively expensive option when the military offered free schooling on base. I wanted you to make friends with people from other countries, he told me. This wounded veteran added “some of these people came from countries that were our allies, and we would like to keep them that way. Some were our enemies who we need to understand better and, who knows, maybe they become allies too.”
Inviting smart, hard-working people to study here and contribute to our economic prosperity would seem to be sound national policy. The State Department-sponsored Open Doors Report says there were over 1.1 million international students here during the 2023-2024 academic year. Most of them come from India and China, though many other countries are represented as well. STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — and other quantitative fields attract over half of these visitors. It is no surprise that the majority enroll in research universities with strong programs in these fields. The Open Doors Report estimates that international students contribute about $50 billion to the nation’s economy.
There are many logical reasons why international students are a good thing for America. But the most compelling for me comes from a combat veteran who knew the consequences of not making friends with people from other countries.
