20 Cause and Effect Essay Topics: Top Issues Related to Chinese Students’ Discrimination in the US

Topics and ideas
Posted on December 17, 2015

New students who come to America either for a full scholarship or even a partial study abroad program face many forms of discrimination in the classroom and outside the classroom.
Below are some topics on the subject matter to help you select a cause and effect essay topic for your next assignment:

  1. How Some Chinese Students Who Do Not Read or Write in English at Fluent Levels Are Unable to Properly Understand Any Forms They Are Required to Fill out, often Resulting in Misunderstandings about Things such as School Policy or Legal Matters
  2. How Chinese Students Do Not Receive Interpreters and May Be at a Disadvantage in terms of Medicinal Treatment They Need while Attending School in the United States
  3. How Chinese Students Face Barriers in Their Belief System
  4. How Chinese Students Might Find It Difficult to Find the Medical Attention They Require
  5. How Chinese Students Are Mocked by Other Subgroups in the Classroom
  6. Racial Slurs and Racial Discrimination Chinese Students Face in and out of the Classroom
  7. Discrimination against Chinese Students in the Food Available through Student Food Programs and on Campus
  8. Discrimination against Chinese Students in the Sports and Athletic Options Available to Students, such as Football and Soccer but Not Thai Chi or Kickboxing or Yoga
  9. Discrimination against Chinese Students in the Form of Ignorant Comments and Questions
  10. Discrimination against Chinese Students by the Government or Authority Figures Who May be Suspicious That the Student Is Conducting Cyber Warfare
  11. Discrimination against Chinese Students after They Complete Their Education, by Not Allowing Them to Get Jobs in and Remain in the United States, Forcing Them to Return Home with All of the Knowledge They Learned for Free in America
  12. Discrimination against Chinese Students in terms of Housing, Whereby Many Are Placed with Other Study-Abroad or International Students, often from Conflicting Cultures as a Way to Force Immersion
  13. How Chinese Students Face Social Differences without Any Guide of Proper Behaviors, Turns of Phrase, and Demeanors in America
  14. How Chinese Students Might Be Unaware of Proper Greetings or How to Use Body Language and Physical Contact
  15. How Chinese the Fact that Students Might Not Understand Colloquialisms and Proper English Taught in Schools May Be Grounds for Mocking
  16. How Chinese Students May Be Limited in Their Transportation Abilities
  17. How Chinese Students Face Discrimination in terms of The Classes They Can Take, often Only Allowed to Select from a Predetermined List for International Students
  18. How Chinese Students Face Discrimination by Teachers and Administrators Who May Have Cultural Conflicts.
  19. How Chinese Students Face Discrimination by Military Personnel Who May Be Biased because of the Cyber Warfare with China
  20. How Chinese Students Face Discrimination in terms of the Language and Terms Used by Culturally Centric People Which Might be Offensive to Someone of Chinese Background

Sample Cause and Effect Essay on Cultural Barriers to Medicine

Today, many students spend time abroad for their education. Whether a student is visiting for one semester or for many years, there are some forms of discrimination they might face which are not always as noticeable as things such as racial slurs but are just as trying and challenging for Chinese Students to overcome. One of these items is access to medicine. Many Chinese Students who are in America might find that at some point or another they require medical treatment. This might come in the form of an emergency treatment or in the form of simple healing herbs to stop a cold or cough. In such situations cultural and communication barriers can inhibit the student from getting the medical care they need, which is founded in discrimination against Eastern medicinal treatments. It is very difficult for Western medicine to accept the legitimacy of Eastern medicine, even if some treatments have scientific evidence behind them or are backed by insurance companies and the FDA.

Communicating medical needs is one part of this discrimination. Not all medical facilities have the funding to supply full time interpreters in a variety of languages. In fact, most hospitals who are unable to afford such staff members will seek instead to hire employees for other roles such as that of nurse who can also speak another language. Then that person is called upon in the event that a patient needs a translator. However, the level of fluency here often fluctuates as there is no standard to which such translation skills are held, in addition to which most hospitals will only have employees who can interpret for the most common languages they have among their patients. Students from China who are studying abroad in the United States might become ill and need medicinal treatment while they are abroad, and without their parents, friends, or family, or even regular practitioner and medical records nearby, they might have problems communicating their needs and the doctors may have similar problems communicating the treatments. Even with someone to interpret, something that would only be afforded if many Chinese migrants—for example—visited that medical facility, there are still many medical terms that might be unfamiliar.

Another issue with communication is that of cultural barriers and not just linguistic ones. The student may have strong beliefs that do not align with some medicinal treatments, and may be unable to find a local Chinese practitioner who can provide them with the herbs or other Eastern medicinal treatments preferred such as cupping. While a Chinese Students might prefer a simple herbal tea, the western practitioner who is assigned—often by the school—to offer treatment may only be authorized to provide antibiotics or other pill treatments which the student may not want or need.

With each of these, there is a need to help mitigate the discrimination faced by Chinese Students.
This starts with recognizing that each culture is different and that students from all over the world may require different treatments. But it also requires people not to look at others through the lens of their own culture.

References:
Bourne, Peter G. “The Chinese student—acculturation and mental illness.”Psychiatry 38.3 (1975): 269-277.
Goto, Sharon G., Gilbert C. Gee, and David T. Takeuchi. “Strangers still? The experience of discrimination among Chinese Americans.” Journal of Community Psychology 30.2 (2002): 211-224.
Hanassab, Shideh. “Diversity, international students, and perceived discrimination: Implications for educators and counselors.” Journal of Studies in International Education 10.2 (2006): 157-172.
Lyman, Stanford M. “Chinese Americans.” (1974).
McClain, Charles J. In search of equality: the Chinese struggle against discrimination in nineteenth-century America. Univ of California Press, 1994.
Rosenbloom, Susan Rakosi, and Niobe Way. “Experiences of discrimination among African American, Asian American, and Latino adolescents in an urban high school.” Youth & Society 35.4 (2004): 420-451.
Spencer, Michael S., and Juan Chen. “Effect of discrimination on mental health service utilization among Chinese Americans.” American Journal of Public Health 94.5 (2004): 809-814.

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