7 minute read
Relocating and Educating
Relocation & Education
WHEREVER asks Ruth E. Van Reken, co-author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds about the topic on every family’s mind – choosing a school.
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Ruth speaks internationally on issues related to global family living. She is co-founder of Families in Global Transition and a second generation Adult ThirdCulture kid (ATCK) not to mention the mother of 3ATCKs!
3. University choices
Depending on where your child chooses to go to university – will attending this school make it easier or harder for them?
8. Cost
What is the difference between local and international schools? How does each option fit your budget?
What would be your advice to parents making a move looking for a school? Do you favour the integration into a local school system or using international schools?
Making the best school choice is dependent on each person’s individual circumstances. I don’t personally believe there is a ‘one size fits all’ answer. I have seen positive results from local or international systems, as well as home schooling. Make the best decision for your particular circumstances by asking the right questions.
1. Duration
What are your long term plans? Is this a short international stint with an expected permanent return home? Are you planning on making ‘serial moves’ to various countries or is this expected to be a long term move?
2. Curriculum
How does this school system and its curriculum interface with the one in the country from which your children have come and where they may return to? How does it fit into the ‘flow’ of your overall academic plans?
4. Language
How does the language of the school mesh/ or differ from the language your child will be using at home each evening? Also, if different from home/ passport culture, how will you keep them fluent in that home language?
5. Academic standards
In some subjects there may be different emphases. Will your child be able to pursue further studies in university or other occupational training?
6. Academic style
Does it primarily teach by rote? By strong interaction with students? What is the take on homework?
7. Transition management
Is there an active transition programme to welcome new students and say farewell to departing students?
9. Specific needs
Are there particular needs your child may have physically or academically that need to be in a school’s curriculum or offerings? Perhaps you are making the move specifically because you want your children to have a true cross-cultural experience in their growing up years. You believe this will best prepare your children to function well in a globalising world. If you expect to live in this new place for just a year or two, you may feel attending a local school is your “Even when there is not a children’s greatest opportunity to learn a different language or language issue, often there be more fully immersed in are cultural differences another culture. Maybe you may plan to be in this new place that can create unexpected for many years and want your children to become more challenges for children.” aligned with the host culture, rather than living in the ‘bubble’ of an international school. And for some of you, a local school is by far the best choice for economic reasons - it is generally much cheaper than an international or other private school. While these are noble goals or reasons and can be part of maximising the gifts of a global childhood, there are also a
few cautions. If your child doesn’t know the language, that can cause much emotional distress during the period while they learn it. They will likely become fluent, but meanwhile, work with the school to have translators or tutors available so your child can be successful while they acquire fluency.
Cultural challenges - More to it than language barriers.
One of my friends moved to the USA from England and on the first day of school, her son stood up when the teacher walked into the room. All other students remained seated and snickered at this faux pas.
Also, the cultural approach to education may be quite different. Those coming from rote learning systems may feel a bit lost in a system where creative thinking is more encouraged. Or vice versa. Also, the educators and fellow students may not fully understand how it is to be the ‘new kid on the block’ if they have primarily been in this one school or place for a lifetime. It can take time to get used to new ways.
If the methods of teaching and homework requirements differ from previous schools, make sure everyone communicates. But, do not despair! I have seen many families navigate the challenges well to have very positive outcomes using local schools.
Of course, there are pros and cons to international schools as well, including the price. This can be a drain on your budget. Perhaps some of you may not want your children to be in what others may consider to be a ‘privileged’ environment. A few now adults who attended international schools have told me that while educators and administrators in such schools presume to be universally accepting of all cultures, the truth is that often international schools are based in Western thought and culture. For those from other backgrounds, their lives and cultures at home seem invisible to others in their school community. One told me how she developed an internalised racism against herself… that
‘if I only had blue eyes and blond hair, I would be fine’. Her unconscious message was that ‘West is best’ and, as an Asian, her background and home way of life and culture was second class.
On the other hand, for globally mobile families, an international school can be a tremendous asset, in particular if your lifestyle includes frequent moves. Many international schools offer the IB curriculum so that a transfer from one school to another is relatively seamless. A growing number are also offering strong transition programmes to help new students feel welcomed and quickly oriented. Perhaps one of the biggest gifts is that, while there can be students from many cultures and nationalities, they are sharing this experience of growing up cross-culturally in a world where mobility is a constant and there is an intuitive understanding of this way of life that is not present in a local school. For those interested in attending university in almost any country in the world, most international schools prepare them academically well for those transitions.
Ruth E Van Reken
Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, 3rd edition available on amazon.com Letters Never Sent updated, 2012, by Summertime Publishing available on expatbookshop.com
A word of caution. If your child has grown up in one place and culture and then makes their first international move as a teen, they can be a ‘hidden immigrant’ in this world of international school living where others already understand how life operates in this realm. For the new, more monocultural child, it can take time to get used to this new way of life just as others have this experience when repatriating to a world at ‘home’ they do not know. They generally make this adjustment in time, but it can create some resistance initially when they realise others expect them to know the ‘rules’ of how life operates in this space, but it is foreign to them.
One last word. Whether you choose a local or international school, don’t forget to consider if there are particular needs a child has, such as physical limitations or learning styles, does this school offer programmes that would meet those needs? Some families I have met choose home schooling for a time. If you are going to be making many moves in a brief period, it might be that home schooling offers your children more continuity to get through such a period when it may not be possible to settle into a new academic environment repeatedly.
Bottom line, each parent, each child, needs to consider carefully the situations listed above. Talk to others in your community, as well as those in your new place to find out what is available, what experience others have had, and make your best choice within that wealth of information.
I have seen over and over that thoughtful parents who know their children well, who research what is available in the new location, generally make decisions which help their children thrive in the end and develop their personal gifts, as well as the gifts that come with growing up globally. Follow Ruth @rdvanreken crossculturalkid.org
