THIRD CULTURE KIDS

There are two types of third cultured kids (TCK):

A child that has lived in one place but whose parents come from another. This is a child who knows two cultures. For example if a kid lived in Dar and his/her parents both come from England then that kid would know the culture of Dar and the culture of England.

A child who travels a lot becomes a culture blended kid, which means that they know many cultures and is comfortable in each one.
Third Culture Kids tend to be strong individuals, due to the fact that they constantly have to meet/leave new people and adjust to a new geographical atmosphere and community. They also tend to have a wide variety of friends of different races, cultures and nationalities mixing/socializing a lot with them, regardless of their physical features. Third Culture Kids have been proven to be one of the world’s savviest communicators (personally and language wise), as well as being one of the most unique and knowledgeable groups of individuals. They have the significant advantage of being able to learn different languages and academics from lots of different perspectives.

OK, so you probably realized that there are many TCK's who come to IST. It makes school more interesting and fun because we learn new things about different cultures everyday. As you walk around school, you can see people teaching each other different languages or gestures from a different country, and you might be surprised to find that even though people have the features of a person from a certain country, he/she might be able to speak a different language from a different culture fluently!

Two seventh grade class members discussed what culture they think they are and why they think they are of that culture:

“I consider myself as a Third Culture Kid, because I have travelled the world a lot, having lived in 4 different countries, as my mom is a diplomat. I have experienced a lot and have therefore picked up different aspects of different cultures, and combined them together to form my own culture, a Third Culture. My parents are of different nationalities, races and religions, which puts me in a situation where adjustments to certain things such as racism, and acting prejudice against certain people should be avoided,” says Jamal Abdullah, a student in 7S who has lived in Canada, Italy, India and Tanzania and is on his way to Thailand next year. (His parents are Swiss and Malaysian).

Humayra Ahmed made another remark, being a Third Culture Kid, as she said, “Well, I am quite much like Jamal, having parents of different races, nationalities, religions and mother-tongue. I have also lived in many different countries (Bangladesh, Tanzania and Malaysia), and adapted to the cultures of the countries I have lived in. I enjoy travelling around the world!” Her parents are Bangladeshi and Malaysian.

The advantages and disadvantages of being a Third Culture Kid:

Some of the basic advantages of being a Third Culture Kid are as follows: You are able to communicate in an orderly and respectful manner with those peers of yours that you unite with during the day. You are able to judge an individual by their personality, rather than their physical appearances. You have the significant ability to communicate in many different languages and understand the customs of other people.

As well as having many advantages of being a Third Culture Kid, there are a number of various disadvantages, (especially if you are in your teenage years): It can be depressing leaving your friends behind and starting a new school, if you don’t know what to expect. Having to leave your school studies and start and adjust to a whole new school system can be challenging, and result to moderate grades as opposed to the excellent ones one could have accomplished before. Having to learn a new language from scratch, and having to modify to an unsure atmosphere within the duration of a few days.

If you would like further information about Third Culture Kids, log on to www.tckworld.com