School smarts but you don’t know that game? WHAT???

TCKs cultural rights tend to be respected within the culturally diverse educational area of their lives. They generally get to choose what language they want to study in and what kind of school suits their needs the best (local, international, boarding…). There are many disadvantages to moving from one school to the next every couple months (integration, making and losing friends, adapting to standards).[i] However it doesn’t seem to have such a negative impact on a majority of TCKs as they tend to perform well. A study conducted by sociologists/ anthropologists: Drs. John Useem and Ruth Hill Useem, Dr. Ann Baker Cottrell and Dr. Kathleen A. Finn Jordan, has found that 81% of TCKs graduate get at a minimum a bachelor’s degree compared to 21% of Americans .[ii]

On the flip side, studies also show that many global nomads experience a prolonged adolescence. While not being “callow youths”, TCKs often feel out-of-synch with their peers whether at home or abroad. This can be largely attributed to the fact “They are extremely complex people who are weaving together their memories in a rapidly changing present for an uncertain future.”[iii]

There is still room to study what might be done to facilitate TCKs integration and the expression of their differences.

[i] Pollock D. C. and Van Reken R. Third Culture Kids. The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds (Yarmouth Maine, Intercultural Press 1999), 215-236.

[ii] “International School Services – Services – Articles, News Resources – Third Culture Kids.” 26 Nov. 2007 <http://www.iss.edu/pages/kids.html>

[iii] Ibid. <http://www.iss.edu/pages/kids.html>