If you cannot read and write as well as other students, does that mean you will fail in school and life?

Talk with Laura Grey, who has dyslexia, a learning disability that can mix up letters and make reading, writing and spelling difficult.

She is proficient in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian and German.She is also learning Russian, Mandarin Chinese and Dutch.

“I was an early reader so nobody thought that I was dyslexic for a long time,” Grey said.“They had just thought that I had terrible handwriting and was a bad speller. Not living up to my academic potential.”

The National Center for Education Statistics says 13.8 percent of students learning English in the United States have a disability.The statistics include both physical and learning disabilities.

Disabilities can be mild or severe.People can have trouble reading, writing, spelling or understanding text.They may have a hard time processing sounds or calculating numbers.

“Every dyslexic learner is different,” said Priscillia Shen, assistant head of DAS Academy, which is part of the Dyslexia Association of Singapore.Students with mild dyslexia may do well in primary school, but face problems in higher education.Lessons need to fit the needs of individual students, she said.

Brenda Bernaldez, a specialist for the Office of English Language Programs in Mexico, has taught English to students of all ages, and suggests a multisensory approach to learning English could help students.This method includes using visual, auditory and kinesthetic tools, the last being activities in which students move, play or act.

Vocabulary words can be taught with pictures to show how words are formed, she explained.

Must love reading

Students with mild learning disabilities need to “develop the love for reading,” said Lía Kamhi-Stein, a professor at California State University in Los Angeles. She helps students struggling to read.They should read what they want, whether it is comics or books about animals.Reading with someone else can help students hear how words sound.

In addition, she said students should learn text structures, or how words are arranged or ordered. Students who understand structure can identify information faster because they know where to look.

Vocabulary should come from the readings, and the words need to be repeated.Learning one word at a time is not as useful, she said.

Lessons for learners with disabilities

Although Laura Grey speaks many languages, she struggles with writing and spelling, which usually affects students’ grades the most. But Grey tapped into speaking and listening, which affect grades less.

Another way to adapt is to use technology.

“If you are, as a student, trapped in a situation where you cannot ask for anything, I would say try technology to help you deal with it,” said Bernaldez.

For students struggling to read and write, Bernaldez suggested using voice recorders to take notes.She said there are apps like Evernote that let students record and organize voice notes.

Apps like Quizlet are useful because students can learn vocabulary by reading and hearing words and looking at pictures, said Lía Kamhi-Stein.

Laura Grey said she likes the app Duolingo. “If you’re willing to keep going and keep doing it, you’re going to get there,” she said.

Dyslexia in other languages

Learning disabilities are not limited to any one language.Difficulties learning one language will likely show up in another. For example, Grey said she is a terrible speller in any language.

Chinese language learners with dyslexia have similar difficulties to English language learners with dyslexia, Shen said.While some students learning English may write ‘d’ instead of ‘b’, some students learning Chinese may reverse Chinese characters.

Chinese language learners with dyslexia may mix up stroke patterns, add or forget strokes.Some students may confuse words with the same sounds, but different meanings.

Shen said color-coding Chinese characters may help.

Many Chinese characters have semantic and phonetic parts.Semantic parts tell the reader what the word may mean, while phonetic parts tell the reader how to pronounce it.

Shen said writing semantic parts in one color and phonetic parts in another color may help.

Diagnosing disabilities

Wealthier people are more likely to have learning disabilities diagnosed than poorer people, Bernaldez said.

Learning disabilities are not well understood in Latin America, she said, and students often go without help.

“I think sometimes it’s even a relief for the father and mother or the family to be like ‘Oh, he’s not slow, he actually has something we can deal with,' ” Bernaldez said.

Laura Grey said she did not fear being judged by others when she was diagnosed.She had been frustrated before because her undergraduate grades were not good.Getting diagnosed gave her an official reason why she was having trouble.She now attends graduate school.

“You have to do it every day. And if you do it every day, it’s definitely not so hard," she said. "But if you don’t do it every day, it’s almost impossible.”

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It’s tough to gain admission to Yale University, and it’s getting even tougher for international students as standout students from around the world set their sights on Yale.

The Yale Dale News, the campus newspaper, takes a look at the situation here.

Read the full story here.

Ruth Chane, a computer science major from Ethiopia, writes about her experiences settling into student life at Whitman College in the U.S. state of Washington.

"The community at Whitman College made sure I felt welcomed even before I stepped foot on campus," she says.

Read her essay here.

In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.

Read the full story here.

Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.

Here, the school interviews Jonathan Sutton, director of international student services. He talks about his job and the opportunities for international students on campus.

Read the full article here.

Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.

Among the tips to apply and thrive at Morehouse:

• Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
• Turn to the school’s Center for Academic Success for tutoring, support and more
• Immerse yourself in campus life via clubs and societies

Read the full article here.

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.

Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.

"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.

An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."

House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."

Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.

Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.

The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.

"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."

The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.

STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)

U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.

Read the full story here. (January 2025)

A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.

Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.

Read the full story here. (December 2024)

Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health reaches out to international students by detailing the international student experience at the school.

Learn more about housing, life in Boston and more here.

China issued its first national action plan to build a "strong education nation" by 2035, which it said would help coordinate its education development, improve efficiencies in innovation and build a "strong country."

The plan, issued Sunday by the Communist Party's central committee and the State Council, aims to establish a "high quality education system" with accessibility and quality "among the best in the world."

The announcement was made after data on Friday showed China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with the number of deaths outpacing a slight increase in births, and experts cautioning that the downturn will worsen in the coming years.

High childcare and education costs have been a key factor for many young Chinese opting out of having children, at a time when many face uncertainty over their job prospects amid sluggish economic growth.

"By 2035, an education power will be built," the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that China would explore gradually expanding the scope of free education, increase "high-quality" undergraduate enrolment, expand postgraduate education, and raise the proportion of doctoral students.

The plan aims to promote "healthy growth and all-round development of students," making sure primary and secondary school students have at least two hours of physical activity daily, to effectively control the myopia, or nearsightedness, and obesity rates.

"Popularizing" mental health education and establishing a national student mental health monitoring and early warning system would also be implemented, it said.

It also aims to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas to improve the operating conditions of small-scale rural schools and improve the care system for children with disabilities and those belonging to agricultural migrant populations.

The plan also aims to steadily increase the supply of kindergarten places and the accessibility of preschool education.

The Open Notebook, a site focusing on educating journalists who cover science, has complied a list of U.S. graduate program financial aid information for international students.

Read it here.