 "Photo: Joe Rehana")
Students enrolled in the social work program may have heard a German voice in some of their classes this week.
Fifteen German exchange students from the Munich University of Applied Sciences sat in classes at SIUC for four days to study social work and experience American culture.
Angela Kraft, a senior from Eresing, Germany, said she noticed that in Germany, social work is concentrated more in youth centers than in hospitals. Kraft said the reason is that children get out of school earlier compared to students in America.
"The problems are similar when immigrants assimilate to both the U.S. and Germany, like long hours and language barriers, but the policies that the U.S. and Germany implement are very different," said Katie Lenza, a graduate assistant who worked with the students.
Lisa Edelhauser, a junior from Munich, Germany, said this is her first visit to the United States.
"We were in another class yesterday, and the classes are very similar to those in Germany, so it doesn't feel that foreign," Edelhauser said. "People here are very kind."
SIUC professor Elisabeth Reichert hosted the students while Lenza coordinated the trip.
Lenza, a graduate student from Chicago in social work, said meeting with the German students has opened her eyes to shortcomings in the U.S. justice system. Lenza works for Land of Lincoln, a non-profit law service, and said legal counsel is only guaranteed if a case is criminal. Divorces and child custody cases are examples of situations that do not call for public defenders, she said.
"What I have learned is that in Germany, social workers have better access to attorneys," Lenza said.
While in the United States, students are also exchanging a small piece of culture.
German students said the types of food are very different, and Lenza said she is impressed with the German students' knowledge of languages. Lenza said a majority of the German students know how to speak German, English and French, whereas Americans tend to know only their native language.
Roles will be reversed when the American students have the opportunity to visit Germany as Reichert has planned a trip from Jan. 3 to Jan. 11. Students can sign up for this program during October.
"This type of program brings people together. Social work is similar in both the United States and Germany, but some things are very different, and in coming together we can learn from our differences," Reichert said.
Jennifer Butcher can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 274 or jennlb@siu.edu.
