Fluent Essays

I picked this topic and my topic is income inequality. My argument is that income inequality causes high rates of morbidity. Running head: THIRD CULTURE KIDS: STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE; GROWING UP AMONG WORLDS 1 THIRD CULTURE KIDS: STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE; GROWING UP AMONG WORLDS 9 Third Culture Kids: Struggle for Existence; Growing Up Among Worlds Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Third Culture Kids: Struggle for Existence; Growing Up Among Worlds Growing up among worlds is both challenging and beneficial to children. Third Culture Kids spend most of their lives away from their homes. Consequently, these children never adapt their home or host cultures. Ruth Hill Seem, an American sociologist coined the term, third culture kids to these children because they spend most of their lives outside the cultures of their parents. Growing up as a third-culture kid is challenging. However, these children acquire international benefits due to the multicultural background. In fact, third culture kids reach high academic levels. According to research studies, approximately 90\% of these children obtain a university degree and 40\% proceed to pursue a doctoral or postgraduate degree. Researchers assert that third culture kids benefit from the intercultural experiences, which enables them to attain these academic achievements. In their struggle for existence, third culture kids tend to merge and mix the cultures of their birthplace and the adopted ones to form distinct cultures Cristina, I. (2013). The inner world of the immigrant child. Routledge. 5-22 In this book, Cristina narrates the story of a teacher who researches issues regarding third culture kids. Accordingly, this teacher goes through an odyssey to examine the inner lives of children from immigrant families. The teacher focuses on creating a learning environment that is in line with the feelings and needs of third culture kids. For this reason, she writes about the personal involvements of immigrant children such as their culture shock, uprooting experiences, and how they adjust to new environments. Moreover, the writer describes the academic, cultural, and psychological interventions of these children that enable their transition into new languages, learning environments, and culture. In these descriptions, the writer tackles issues regarding bilingual and multicultural education, foundations of learning, and literacy curriculum in the contemporary school environment. Consequently, this article can provide the research with information regarding the personal lives of third culture kids. Zhou, M. (1997). Growing up American: The challenge confronting immigrant children and children of immigrants. Annual review of sociology, 63-95. The over-flask of immigrant children has increased in America to form a diverse segment of cultural diversity. However, most scholars have been focusing their attention on adult immigrants and neglecting these third culture kids. Consequently, this trend has led to less knowledge regarding the second-generation individuals and its socioeconomic impact. For this reason, Zhou decided to tackle the issue regarding the experiences of children immigrants and their adaptation outcomes. Subsequently, Zhou conducted studies on the direct and indirect immigrant experiences and summarized them into a single excerpt for an easier understanding of immigrant individuals. The writer describes the trends and contexts that immigrants encounter in the new homes. Moreover, he discusses the contributions of these individuals to the sociology of immigration. This analysis will be crucial in the research because it contains the issues that immigrant individuals have to cope with in foreign countries. Pollock, D., & Van Reken, R. (2010). Third culture kids: Growing up among worlds. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. 179-214 Pollock and Reken discuss the experiences of third culture kids in their article, Third culture kids: Growing up among worlds. According to these authors, third culture kids are children who spend most of their lives living abroad. For this reason, Pollock and Reken discuss real life experiences and its effects on the developing and maturing of these children. These two writers assert that third culture kids grow and adjust to the identity and belonging of their host countries. Through these analyses, the authors enable the readers to understand the benefits and challenges of being a third culture kid. Moreover, Pollock and Reken provide suggestions and advice regarding the adaptation of these benefits for success. Moreover, these authors explain the challenges that third culture kids, whose parents work in organizations that require their presences away from home, have to deal with. In fact, the authors deeply focus on the effects that these separations have on the relationships of parents and their third culture kids regarding self-esteem and isolation. Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. (2003). Third Culture Kids. The multilingual mind: Issues discussed by, for, and about people living with many languages, 165. According to Takuhama-Espinosa, most individual in the world are multilingual. In fact, one person in seven Americans uses a different language from English at home. Consequently, the author believes that people who speak multiple languages need information about their variations on learning institutions, linguistic identity, and diverse literacy levels. Subsequently, Tokuhama-Espinosa combines his research with real life examples to bring about information regarding the experiences of individuals who can speak multiple languages. The author tackles the common misconceptions that claim, acquiring more than one language can lead to brain overload. In addition, Tokuhama-Espinosa believes the assertions that some languages are easier to learn than others is false. Lastly, this author argues against the common stereotyping that adults cannot learn foreign languages as fast as children can. Moore, A.M.; Barker, G.G. (2012). Confused or multicultural: Third culture individuals cultural identity”. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 36 (4): 553–562. By interviewing 19 individuals who have varied cultural experiences from six countries, the authors of this study claimed that third culture kids are more likely to have a multicultural identity. Notably, the purpose of this research study was to examine the identities, multiculturalism, sense of belonging, and communication competence of third culture individuals. The results from Moore and Barker’s analysis show that third culture kids lack a sense of belonging. However, belonging to diverse nations has advantages to the third culture kids. The authors assert that third culture kids are competent than children who belong to a single cultural identity. Consequently, this article would be beneficial to the research process because it analyses the limitations and benefits of third culture kids in the contemporary world. Hubbard, J. (2010). Service Learning with “Third-Culture Kids”: Preparing an Iftar in Egypt. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 23(2), 18-20. Most international learning institutions incorporate social studies in their curriculum. Subsequently, Hubbard believes that these studies portray the energy and nature that is emerging in schools and in young individuals globally. Moreover, Hubbard claims that the concept of international-facility learning is increasing. Nevertheless, the author asserts that diverse international learning environments have benefits to students. For instance, he claims that a third culture kid who attends an international school possesses a culturally varied background from his/her peers. According to the author, third culture kids share perspectives, collaborate, connect with the host kids, and discover similarities. For these reasons, third culture kids will develop skills regarding cooperation, commitment, and tolerance quicker than their peers do. This article is important because it provides recommendation regarding the strategies that learning institution can develop to ensure support of third culture kids. Ann McLachlan, D. (2005). The Impact of Globalization on Internationally Mobile Families: A Grounded Theory Analysis. Journal of Theory Construction & Testing, 9(1). 14-20 The author of this article examines the influence that globalization has on families that travel globally. In her study, McLachlan conducted a qualitative research in England regarding the characteristics of third culture kids in globally mobile families. According the author, internationally mobile families have developed complex and unique meanings of the belonging, home, and root concepts. For this reason, these families experience a dynamic process of interaction in foreign countries. However, most of these families deploy specific strategies to manage the transience and relocation of their children who find challenges in adopting to the new environments. Due to the analyses of internationally mobile families, the article will be crucial in the report because it will portray insight of international relations to immigrant individuals. Bushong, L. J. (2013). Belonging Everywhere & Nowhere: Insights Into Counseling the Globally Mobile. In this book, Bushong explains the steps to counsel efficiently adult third culture kids. Throughout the book, the author analyses the characteristics of children who have grown in a globally mobile life. Subsequently, Bushong incorporates stories, examples, resources, techniques, charts, and questions to help counselors working with third culture kids. Notably, the author discuss the challenges that both the third culture kids and therapist go through due to misunderstandings. She asserts that the hindrance towards understanding the depression of these kids is due to the consequences of their mobile lifestyle. Moreover, she believes that third culture kids have lives with much privilege because they lack traumatic events, historical depressions, or ongoing stress. For these reasons, individuals who interact with these kids do not believe that these children could have a cause of depression. Outline: Third culture kids: struggle for existence; growing up among worlds Thesis Statement: In their struggle for existence, third culture kids tend to merge and mix the cultures of their birthplace and the adopted ones to form distinct cultures I. Introduction Growing up among worlds is both challenging and beneficial to children. Third Culture Kids spend most of their lives away from their homes. Consequently, these children never adapt their home or host cultures. Ruth Hill Seem, an American sociologist coined the term, third culture kids to these children because they spend most of their lives outside the cultures of their parents. Growing up as a third-culture kid is challenging. However, these children acquire international benefits due to the multicultural background. In fact, third culture kids reach high academic levels. According to research studies, approximately 90\% of these children obtain a university degree and 40\% proceed to pursue a doctoral or postgraduate degree. Researchers assert that third culture kids benefit from the intercultural experiences, which enables them to attain these academic achievements. II. Body A. The over-flask of immigrant children has increased in America to form a diverse segment of cultural diversity i. Third culture kids grow and adjust to the identity and belonging of their host countries (Pollock & Reken, 2010). ii. The common misconceptions that claim, acquiring more than one language can lead to brain overload, some languages are easier to learn than others is and adults cannot learn foreign languages as fast as children can are false (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2003). B. Belonging to diverse nations has advantages and disadvantages to the third culture kids i. Third culture kids are competent than children who belong to a single cultural identity (Moore & Barker, 2012) ii. Third culture kids will develop skills regarding cooperation, commitment, and tolerance quicker than their peers do iii. Third culture kids lack a sense of belonging iv. Individuals who interact with these kids do not believe that these children could have a cause of depression C. Internationally mobile families have developed complex and unique meanings of the belonging, home, and root concepts. i. Internationally mobile families experience a dynamic process of interaction in foreign countries. ii. Most of these families deploy specific strategies to manage the transience and relocation of their children who find challenges in adopting to the new environments (McLachlan, 2005). III. Conclusion Growing up as a third culture kid is both beneficial and challenging. Children who grow up in a culturally diverse environment will find socializing difficult. In addition, these children can experience depression because they lack a sense of belonging. However, most of the third culture kids grow to become successful in their careers and life. This is due to the interaction with diverse ways of life. Nevertheless, research studies should focus on the methods of preventing depression in third culture kids during their formative years. Definition of Key Terms Third Culture Kids – These individuals part of their formative childhood in a different culture from that of their parents. Cultural identity – This is a part of an individual’s perception and conception that relates to his/her ethnicity, nationality, social class, religion, locality, and social groups. References Ann McLachlan, D. (2005). The Impact of Globalization on Internationally Mobile Families: A Grounded Theory Analysis. Journal of Theory Construction & Testing, 9(1). 14-20 Bushong, L. J. (2013). Belonging Everywhere & Nowhere: Insights into Counseling the Globally Mobile. Cristina, I. (2016). The Inner World of the Immigrant Child. Google Books. Retrieved 3 October 2016, from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xa3DuKvyno4C&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=Third+Culture+Kids:+Struggle+for+Existence\%3B+Growing+Up+Among+Worlds&ots=6hU8YFBKum&sig=0vpgjmY_qx4KVnUiP4VEpzipE0s&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Hubbard, J. (2010). Service Learning with “Third-Culture Kids”: Preparing an Iftar in Egypt. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 23(2), 18-20. http://socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/yl/2302/230218.pdf Pollock, D., & Van Reken, R. (2010). Third culture kids: Growing up among worlds. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. 179-214 https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=eYK8vsA8K8MC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=Third+Culture+Kids:+Struggle+for+Existence\%3B+Growing+Up+Among+Worlds&ots=tly3qyXV8y&sig=GJIepr3L8asHQniN93GSkgGvWEY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. (2003). Third Culture Kids. The multilingual mind: Issues discussed by, for, and about people living with many languages, 165. Van Reken, R. (2010). Third culture kids. International Encyclopedia of Education, 636-643. http://www.wis.edu/uploaded/Admissions/Third_Culture_Children.pdf Zhou, M. (1997). Growing up American: The challenge confronting immigrant children and children of immigrants. Annual review of sociology, 63-95.