Emily Hoeven | Going global

Growing Pains | Why wealth and travel experience aren’t always correlated with worldliness

By Emily Hoeven 11/02/15 11:59pm

As someone who grew up in California, I thought I would be something of a novelty at an East Coast university. But as I introduced myself to different people during my first weeks at Penn, I was overwhelmed by the variety of responses I got when I asked where they were from: “I grew up in Dubai.” “I went to high school in Egypt.” “Boarding school in London.” “South Korea.” “Panama.” Suddenly, California didn’t seem exotic — and it sure didn’t feel cool to tell people that I’d lived in the same suburb for 18 years. I felt this pressing need to globalize myself, to make up in college all the time I’d lost in suburbia.

I was not alone in this feeling. In a survey conducted across a random sample of Penn undergraduate and graduate students, 19 out of 33 students indicated that after entering college, they felt pressure to become worldlier. But what does it mean to be worldly? One student, Sophia*, predicted responses to this question: “Obviously many people will say all the international students or the ones who traveled are worldlier. However, I think we should define [worldliness] based on what you know about the world rather than who went to Lycée in NYC or traveled more.”

Student responses indeed reflected the two viewpoints delineated by Sophia. One group stressed that worldliness often manifests itself in external, materialistic norms; for example, 42 percent of respondents cited characteristics like being well-dressed and smoking cigarettes as evidence of what worldliness looks like. In this vein, Donna* responded that worldliness is made obvious in “accent, the way people dress (‘worldly’ people tend to be wealthier, are more fashionable, skinnier, prettier, sceney-er, et cetera).” She also emphasized that international Asian students are often excluded from common conceptions of worldliness because they are seen to be “FOB-y” rather than “worldly.” In her opinion, worldliness is often “restricted to European or white international students, which can be seen in Theta’s pledge classes.” Curtis* agreed that fraternities and sororities like Owls, Tabard and Theta appear worldlier than other Greek associations.

Additionally, for many respondents, the notion of worldliness was inextricably correlated with the stereotype of the rich international student. In Yolande’s* opinion, this was especially true “given that international admissions is need-aware, so there’s even more of a selection bias toward wealthy students.” College senior Jordi Rivera Prince added, “Many international students are very wealthy in countries with extreme economic disparities. They don’t intend it maliciously, but they can’t begin to appreciate that their way of life isn’t a given for other people.” David* agreed: “I think the type of global experience that many Penn students live by is a sheltered one — not necessarily a true embodiment of what it’s really like for the average person to live in those countries.” Other students cited “Facebook pictures of unaffordable vacations” or “endless talking about study abroad experiences” as further indicators of how worldliness and wealth are often connected.

The second camp of students acknowledged that while these external definitions of worldliness exist, true worldliness is instead reflective of deeper internal qualities. College and Wharton freshman Ruhy Patel underlined this by saying, “Worldly people have an inherent curiosity that, regardless of being well traveled or not, manifests itself in knowledge about and appreciation for other places in the world.” An understanding of different perspectives, as well as an innate desire to discover and learn about new cultures, were two qualities that this group of respondents deemed necessary for worldliness.

As our world becomes increasingly global, there is more pressure upon us to do the same. But this doesn’t necessarily mean we have to spend big bucks or travel extensively to become more global. We are surrounded by — we are ensconced in — diversity. Within our dorms, on SEPTA, our neighborhoods at home, any street on which we walk, we are brushing arms with so many different types of people. It’s similar to something I learned in calculus: As you count higher and higher, the numbers become infinite. But in between 6 and 6.000001 there is just as large of an infinity. As such, there is no “common” experience. Diversity can be discovered and globality attained in the smallest microcosm, just as it can in the world at large. All that’s required is an open mind, open ears and an open heart.

*student’s name has been changed to protect privacy

EMILY HOEVEN is a College sophomore from Fremont, Calif., studying English.  Her email address is ehoeven@sas.upenn.edu. “Growing Pains” appears every other Tuesday.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.