Category: FIB

We Belong Everywhere and Nowhere

To what extent does moving around affect a child’s growth?

         When the world is our home, when we seek happiness in learning about new cultures, when we grow up in foreign places, we are a third culture kid. A third culture kid, defined by TCK World is someone who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture (The Official Home of Third Culture Kids). They usually associate themselves with more than one culture even if they do not have entire possession over any of them.

         TCKs, also known as third culture kids, was a term made by Ruth Hill Useem, a US sociologist. It was introduced during the 1950s to refer to children who have grown up in foreign countries Mayberry, Kate. With Singapore being a very diverse city, consisting of multiple races and cultures, TCKs are more common. 64% of Singapore’s population is made up of foreigners, including Permanent  Residents (PRs) The Singapore Daily. Foreigners here still face multiple difficulties as well as opportunities living in another county to their homeland. These kids which grow up in foreign lands tend to be offered a completely different view while growing up. Moving around is great for the exposure of children but could lead to a loss of identity. However, this brings up the question; To what extent does moving around affect a child’s growth?

         Having a ‘home’ everywhere can have multiple benefits for the child regarding their growth. They are able to learn about the diverse nature of humans and the cultural differences. They can also learn new languages or develope multiple social skills through these constant switches and have to adjust to the people and environment.There was an interview with five FIB students. These people were Idan, Annie, Isabela, Briana and Aamya. Every single one of them speaks one other language than their mother tongue which they learnt through their time in different places. Living in different places has allowed them to expand themselves in terms of language and socially. Through the constant social engagement, many of them say that they consider themselves friendly and approachable.

         “I haven’t really ever been shy but moving schools has opened up my thoughts and views on certain people which have made me more understanding. I also think that my speaking skills and confidence have risen since my switch [in schools]” – Idan

         Idan has changed schools twice recently and has noticed a change in himself and his social skills. He is now more outspoken and comfortable with more people. As a child, sufficient self-esteem is crucial for mental development or growth as they would have some sort of drive in them to reach an expectation or goal (Roberts, Holly L.). This would allow the child to be more comfortable in trying new things and being outgoing. Children and teenagers often feel nervous to meet new people but moving around and being forced into this situation could improve ones comfort around people. This skill is extremely handy for adults too, if they adopt this tool as a child, they would have no problems in meetings, speeches, interviews and many other social situations.

         “My mom always tells me to make friends with Indian people because she thinks they would have a good influence on me but I don’t make friends based on that” – Aamya

         Amaya is an Indian who has lived in 6 different countries. She thinks that friends should not be based on race. She has a strong respect for different people, cultures, religions. Her enthusiasm about learning about different peoples beliefs, the little habits they have or the superstitions they have because of their culture have interested her throughout her life in multiple countries. She is utterly fascinated by the different accents people have too. Aamya has an open mind towards diverse cultures which is another trait that TCKs develop unconsciously. They meet all these people from different places and begin to understand and connect with many different cultures. TCKs tend to be more understanding towards cultures and tend to not discriminate people based on where they are from, the colour of their skin, their thoughts and beliefs, the food they eat, the cultural habits of people and much more.

         Although moving around allows children many opportunities, it does not enable them to fully identify with a specific country as home. Many of them don’t have a specific culture, country or home they call their own. As a kid, this could be very difficult as they do not fully know or understand themselves as well as their home. Growing up, it is crucial to know yourself in order to develop on that basic identity of where they are from (Benefits and Challenges of TCK Life). When asked where they are from,

         “What my passport says? It says I’m British because both my parents are Scottish but I’ve never lived in Scotland.” Annie replies

        “Well my birthplace is Mumbai” Aamya responds

         The fact that they associated where they’re from with their birthplace and passport instead of how long they have lived there or their family members homes, illustrates their disconnection to where they are from. This is the main question (Where are you from?) people usually have a direct and clear response to, but not for TCKs. They have to think of a few places and which is most officially their homeland.

         Another question I presented to them was ‘Where would you say your home is (what country)’

         Idan says that he thinks his home is Israel but he has lived in Singapore all his life. When I asked why he said

         “First of all I’m Israeli and I genuinely connect with the people in Israel, they are so nice! I also identify with the Jewish culture because of the food I eat and the language I speak [Hebrew].”

         Idan did not think Singapore was his home and instead thought Israel was his home although he has never lived there. The idea of the familiar habits and culture made Idan feel that a country he has never lived in, his home. When asked the same question Annie replies with

         “Well I feel the most at home in Hong Kong because of my strong circle of friends and I had the most fun, and accepted there. Like kind of lived my best life there, but London’s home as well because it gives me a connection to Britain that I don’t feel through Scotland”

         She associated home with how she felt when she lived there and her experiences in Hong Kong. However, she did mention again that her home is what has most connection to where she is from based on her passport even though she has never been there or directly influenced by London. Everybody has their own definition of home and why they think that place or country is their home but TCKs have to identify indirectly because they are not from one place specifically and have been impacted emotionally, mentally, culturally, socially and many more ways which influence how they answer many of these questions. Whether they are impacted beneficially or whether it was a drawback, these children have many more opportunities to discover other places and people even though they have to sacrifice their own identity through the constant switch and loss of personal connection.

Bibliography

TCKWorld: The Official Home of Third Culture Kids (TCKs), www.tckworld.com/tckdefine.html.

Mayberry, Kate. “Capital – Third Culture Kids: Citizens of Everywhere and Nowhere.” BBC, BBC, 18 Nov. 2016, www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161117-third-culture-kids-citizens-of-everywhere-and-nowhere.

“Foreigners Make up 64% of Singapore’s Citizen Population. Should We Panic?” The Singapore Daily, singaporedaily.net/2016/09/28/foreigners-make-64-singapores-population-panic/.

Roberts, Holly L. “Why Self-Esteem Is Important for Children.” LIVESTRONG.COM, Leaf Group, 13 June 2017, www.livestrong.com/article/175620-why-self-esteem-is-important-for-children/.

“Benefits and Challenges of TCK Life.” Expat Child, 24 May 2016, expatchild.com/benefits-challenges-tck/.

Marc Nair is a poet from Singapore but he does not feel Singaporean due to his mix in culture and race he was brought into. He talks about many situations in his poetry and mentions deep topics but his poetry is kind of making fun of certain things. He makes fun of how people would the positives of having an island made of plastic.

one thing I took away:

I myself was born and raised in Singapore and don’t feel belonged in this country because of my different culture and race. I identify with his feeling of estrangement and admire the way he is committed to writing to illustrate his thoughts.  I found it very impressive when he said he finished a book full of poems in 3 months, his dedication and drive motivates me to be just as genuinely interested in my job in the future

Christina Lau is an inspiration to people with and without disabilities. Her traumatic experience allows her to build herself up from the start after being paralysed by her accident. She spoke to us about herself before and after her accident and how she made decisions throughout her experience.

She used to be a prison officer and mentioned that she was a perfectionist who loved to take control of things and plan out how they turn out. However, this accident and her paralysis was an utter shock to her and it affected her active lifestyle dramatically. She was able to get back into sports by starting up table tennis recently, in 2015. She also began to discover her creative side by becoming a mouth artist where she paints beautiful paintings of flowers and scenic portraits. She mentioned that she did not want to be a burden to her family and that was her push to start progressing her capabilities and not limiting herself because of her disability. She said that her disability was more of a push than a set back because she learnt to never take a short way out.

what I took away:

I admire the way she had an extremely impressively positive outlook which was a complete inspiration to me. She says that despite her disability and change in lifestyle, she took this opportunity to spend more time with her loved ones which she was hardly doing before her accident. I also loved that she wanted to act on her disability in a positive manner to develop her skills form the start.

Steve Dawson is incredibly passionate about sports. He’s been so since he was little and pursued in a few careers in this area. He is a journalist and sports anchor for Fox Sports. He has interviewed many people throughout his life as anchor and journalist. Steve provides an insight into the world of sports as well as journalism.

How did this clarify my views on of being a journalist/ sports anchor?

I used to think that journalists didn’t have many things to worry about regarding the information on the topic or person they are writing about. However, as Steve Dawson elaborated more about the tips on being a journalist, I learnt that journalists require a strategic approach to getting their information. A great example would be when he pointed out that asking 2 questions, one after another, doesn’t usually get you an answer to both questions. I have been through a similar situation and when he mentioned the point, I imagined the situation as a journalist.

What do I take away from this session?

The main thing I would take away from him would be his honesty as a newsman or journalist. I think this is because when you have so much power in the informative world, it is easy to be swayed by your own opinions and bias but he recognised the importance of telling people the facts and letting them have an opinion themselves. Another thing I admire about him is that he does what he loves. I think that I relate to this because when I think of the future, I want to do what I love but there are many doubts which come in the way (such as salary or the happiness I would get working in that area). Steve Dawson, however, eliminated most of those doubts by accepting a job if his previous job was of similar salary which I think is very balanced because he takes into consideration his income as well as his joy. Another thing he said was that he didn’t feel like he was working because his job was so enjoyable for him and was better than when he was an accountant. This made me feel like I would definitely aspire to have a similar mindset and approach to my passion as he really inspired me.

    This activity was to allow us to understand the trading system between countries to a deeper extent and to question its fairness. This activity made us recognize the state of MEDCs, LEDCs and NICs as well as their disadvantages and privileges in terms of wealth and resources. We had to make and then cut out different types of shapes which cost different amounts and varied based on oversupply. The shapes had to be made with the resources and they had to be of good quality and accurate size. Each group represented a country and depending on their resources, their development was established. The groups were allowed to trade with one another to gain items in their interest for items other groups could benefit from. Some groups representing an MEDC had more valuable resources than other groups. However, the challenge was to see which countries would produce most effectively and earn the most by using their resources wisely.

• What country did you represent?

    I feel like my group might have represented an MEDC since my group’s envelope had 3 pencils, a protractor, 2 rulers and some more types of rulers, a compass and we also had 2 scissors. However, we did have very little paper (1 or 2 pieces). We were more equipped with resources as compared to the other countries which would suggest that we were an MEDC. However, we lacked paper which would greatly impact our output as we only have a limited amount of paper to work with.

• what materials did you have in your envelope at the start? What kinds of goods do you think these items represent? Does this mean your country is an MEDC, LEDC or NIC?

    We had 2 scissors, 3 pencils, many types of rulers including protractors, triangle rulers and 2 sheets of paper with a compass and around $600. I feel like the 3 pencils represent the people they have working in this area as without a pencil, making the shapes is basically impossible and would take time. The pencils also constructed the shapes so I feel like the pencils are the country’s workforce. The rulers and types of rulers represented the country’s resources and determined to what extent they could produce accurate shapes. Since we had many types of rulers, this could suggest that the country is highly equipped with high tech and varieties of manufacturing methods. The protractor could be a more costly resource as I think we were the only group who had it. The protractor could have been a form of a valuable tool of production. The paper represents the land or the goods and services of a country as we were told to sell this by making it into different shapes and sizes.

• How did you feel about being an MEDC, LEDC or NIC? Write about one or two incidents that happened during the game and how these made you feel.

My group was quite confident as we had basically everything we needed except for paper which was most of what we needed. Frankly, I thought that if we had so many of each thing, we might as well sell it to other for money instead of making the shapes as it was quicker and easier. However, I soon realised that this was a mistake as we were only allowing the other countries to produce more efficiently which allowed them to make more shapes and money in the end. This also slowed down our process of production as we could have been cutting shapes at twice the rate but since we only had one pair of scissors, our production rate decreased greatly.  As the game continued we realised that the compass, protractor and the triangle ruler were not needed and were quite irrelevant but quite valuable to have as they seemed quite rare and costly as a resource. Instead of these extra items, we would rather have paper as we had a limited amount of it. We ran out of paper very quickly, as we only had 2 sheets. So, the other members of our team tried to fix this by going to other groups and trying to trade our extra items for the paper. However, this was quite challenging as some of the other countries also did not see the value in these items which delayed our trading and production process. We took our items and position for granted as we were too caught up in thinking that we basically already won the game because of the money and resources in our envelope.

• How fair was the game? Is this game a true reflection of the world’s trading system?

I feel that the game was not very fair as different groups had very different items and resources provided, some had more and some had less. However, this makes the game fair as in real life, countries have different resources available and have different amounts of money and wealth available. Honestly, I feel that the resources (scissors, protractors, compass, rulers, papers) really made a difference to the state and level of trade for the country but it all came back to how the country decided to use these items. Some countries which had access of some things traded those for items another country could use which benefited both parties. However, sometimes the deal wasn’t very fair as a group who is desperate for a ruler would probably take the first deal they could due to the little knowledge on better deals other countries could offer. Another instance could include, when I just gave away the scissors for $100 as I did not think this item was very relevant as we had another pair of scissors. This is quite a real situation as country A, for example, which has some resources readily available could see these goods as less valuable and thus exchange it for something of similar worth based on its knowledge on the worth of the good. However, this resource could actually be very valuable and useful for country B which could easily take advantage of country A  by trading items with less worth for items that are actually more valuable.

• What sort of emotions might be felt by nations who are disadvantaged by the Global Trading system?

They would fear being left behind in the trading world as they are not producing maybe as fast or products with much value and reliability. Since they might have less money and resources, it is harder to compete with countries that have the wealth and development to progress. However, if a country which is disadvantaged in some aspects, could still offer resources that could be helpful for other countries in exchange for money or equipment. I felt that disadvantaged countries could not prosper more than an MEDC because they lack some resources, however if they are efficient and strategic  with the bare minimum that they have, they could make more money than the countries with more advantages. An example of this would be Tomi’s group as they had very little at first and once they had a pair of scissors, they managed to manufacture a steady supply of a certain simple shape which was their strategy to success and they managed to make the most money from a simple but efficient plan.

• How do you think the world trading system could be changed to make it fairer?  What do we mean by ‘fairer’? What sort of things would a ‘fair’ trading system prioritise/achieve do you think? How does your understanding of ‘fair’ compare to the person next to you?

I feel like a fair trading system would include equal communication methods with different countries as well as mutual knowledge on the worth of different items so as to avoid unfair trading. This would allow trading to be more equal and balanced so as to allow countries which are disadvantaged to still communicate and establish their needs and what they have to trade for those needs. The main priority of trading is the equality of the exposure each area is given in the trading world as all the countries should have equal opportunities to offer what they have in order to develop effectively and sustainably.

LIFE EXPECTANCY

India:

The starting of the life expectancy was the lowest out of all (between 20 and 30) , however it also has the largest population compared to Switzerland and Niger, which could probably the main reason to its extremely low rates of life expectancy. Life expectancy rates start to rise drastically from 1920 onwards probably due to the development in areas such as health. This could be possible as technology increased as well as equipment to tend to illnesses. It seems to have a relatively consistent improvement in life expectancy with no sudden huge drops or inclines in the model.

Switzerland:

Switzerland has the highest starting life expectancy (around 40) out of the rest of the options. This would probably because it was more developed technologically and more equipped with the materials and knowledge on health related topics. This country also has cnotistenxt growth in terms of life expectancy over time because of improved healthcare. Switzerland also is generally known to be a richer country which could be the explanation to why it has the highest life expectancy (around 80 years)compared to India(60 to 70 years) and Niger (around 60 years).

Niger:

Niger by far took the longest time for the rates of life expectancy to incline perhaps due to the delay in money or equipment with materials or knowledge. However, it began with the life expectancy of around 30 years an stayed at this until the early 1940s while India and Switzerland and India’s life expectancy rates began raising from the late 1870s till 1920. This proves that it had the slowest development out of the 3 countries. However in 2015, its life expectancy rate has caught up to India’s in a short amount of time. However in the 1920s, the rates dropped very drastically which could be the reason for the delay in the rates.

C02 EMISSONS

India:

India doesn’t produce excess C02 until around 1910, which was probably when factories or the use of non renewable sources of energy was introduced. Before 1910 tho the rates of emissions were 0 which suggests that they have more control over their environment in terms of pollution. In total the emissions for India is not as high as Switzerland.

Switzerland:

Switzerland has been producing CO2 since 1860 which could probably the time industries discovered probably because it was more advanced in technology and development. Switzerland has a quite sudden drop during the 1940s probably because the pollution decreased a large amount. However, the general trend of it is not too inclined as it produces about the same amount of CO2from 1960s to 2013 and in the years before it hasn’t risen drastically.

Niger:

Niger compared to Switzerland and India was way behind in the missions of CO2 emissions. This could be due to the lack of technology and development which were the main causes in the excess of CO2. Even though it produced very little CO2 during 1980, it went back to producing no CO2 which is more likely to be due to the lack of technology or money in that country.