This paper explores the interplay between Western conceptions of education and students from other educational traditions, most specifically Japan, through the lens of the author's practice in international education. He examines models of the private and public spheres and public discourse advanced by Hannah Arendt and Jurgen Habermas in relation to the purpose of education, and discusses the transferability of these concepts to cross-cultural contexts, through an analysis of the nature of the public and the private in Japanese society. Finally, the paper urges international educators to take responsibility for the message they send exchange students by providing the mediation necessary to put their exchange experience into the proper context. (Contains 1 table.)