Opinion: Chasing the American Dream — to China
Nancy Bruni's son, Alessandro, studies his Chinese in preparation for his trip to China. (Photo by Nancy Bruni)
Nancy Bruni, who moved to the United States from Taiwan as a child, works at a non-profit organization for arts education and lives in Brooklyn. A mother of two, she is a public education advocate, volunteer and mentor.
Has the “American Dream” gone abroad?
That is the question I asked myself after it was posed in the New York Times article, “Many U.S. Immigrant Children Seek American Dream Abroad.” From the anger of the Occupy Wall Street protesters – many of them out of work and unhappy with their station in life – it certainly seems that the American Dream is not working out for many people here.
We are an expatriate family. My husband hails from Florence, Italy, and moved here some 30 years ago. I came from Taiwan almost 40 years ago. We raised two children in Brooklyn, and we raised them to not be bound by borders when it comes to pursuing their dreams. So many immigrants have been unafraid to travel here in search of the American Dream. We figured, why not the reverse?
My son doesn’t know it, but we have been preparing him for this since he was in the 7th grade. We started by sending him five hours away to New Hampshire, then 10 hours away to Michigan — further and further from home. This summer, as a 15-year-old, he will travel to China to study Mandarin Chinese, as well as the country’s culture and economics, at the Beijing Normal University in Zhuhai.
Students in the the National Security Language Initiative for Youth show off their work. (Photo courtesy of the National Security Language Initiative for Youth)
He’s going with the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, all expenses paid and sponsored by the United States government. Our government has the right idea. For years, families from around the world have sent their children here to go to college or work, and then bring American wealth and ideals back to their home countries. In this ever-growing global economy, families here in the United States must prepare our children to go away, then come back to contribute what they have learned.
Jobs and industries have been on the move for years worldwide. Let’s take the Chinese in Italy, for example. Italy has long been considered the center of the haute fashion industry, and we pay big money for the “Made in Italy” label. In recent years, the label remains the same, but perhaps it should read “Made in Italy, by the Chinese.” Chinese factory owners and workers have settled quietly in Prato, slowly learning Italian, and taking what was once the pride of Italian industry and making it Chinese. What the Chinese have done, in short, is make their dreams come true in another part of the world — much to the chagrin of the Italians.
This is the reality that many Occupy Wall Street protesters are facing: an outsourced and changing job market, and here in America, a lack of training and educational preparedness. If I had a crystal ball, I’d say that this trend will continue, and our children will face the same predicament. So what to do?
Prepare them the right way – with the understanding that learning at least one other language is a way to make our children marketable and competitive. Unfortunately, foreign language learning is an area that America is at its weakest. In New York City’s public education curriculum, language classes are not required until high school, from age 14 up, and only for an average of two years — a period that is too short to learn any language in-depth.
There is also great resistance from students themselves. How many times have I heard from kids, “Oh, learning a language is way too hard?”
On this front, other nations are passing us by. According to the Asia Society, 21 of the top 25 industrialized countries begin the study of world languages in elementary school. And 21 of the 31 European countries require students to study another language for at least nine years.
Students in the the National Security Language Initiative for Youth. (Photo courtesy of the National Security Language Initiative for Youth)
I will admit that my son’s study of language started late, in the 8th grade — but living in a language-rich community has its opportunities. We are now in a hurry to get his other languages learned, so he is studying Mandarin at Bard High School Early College, and picking up Arabic at our local corner store. He goes to the Yemini-owned store to try out Arabic phrases, then off to the Shanghai restaurant, where he practices his fledgling Mandarin on unsuspecting waiters.
His NSLI-Y trip to Zhuhai, China, will help him to know Mandarin and the country more intimately. Next year, he wants to go to Jordan or Morocco to better his Arabic. So many languages, and so many places in the world to know!
The American Dream is still alive, but its center has shifted. For our family, America will always be our home, but for our children to realize all that was promised in the American Dream, they may have to first build their lives elsewhere.
Wow. Thanks for the link to NSLIY. What a great opportunity! Thank you for sharing.
I agree that we must prepare our kids for a future that includes the world.
Just looked up the NSLI-y program, I will definitely have my daughter apply for next year. Who knew that there were programs like this. I’ve been searching for traveling abroad programs for high schoolers and they usually cost an arm and a leg (avg. cost -$6000 for a month)! Who can afford them but the very wealthy.
Going to work, I’ve passed the occupy wall street crowd. While I sympathize with their cause, I can’t help but think they are just whining. As some one who grew up in the Caribbeans, my parents used to tell me, “suck it up, and work harder.”
Congratulations to the young man.
Hello Nancy, It’s great that organizations like iEARN-USA http://us.iearn.org is making the NSLI-Y program in China (and India, Morocco, Korea and Taiwan) available to students across the US. As someone who spent a year in Korea at age 17 and who is committed to education globally, I’m very pleased that your son will have this incredible experience.
Ed
Thank you, Ed, for your well wishes! Alessandro is incredibly excited to have this opportunity with iEarn and NSLI-Y to go off to China! He is counting down the minutes!!
As someone who traveled and who is into global education, is there any advice you can give to the young man before he sets off?
I would never have thought that the American Dream may not be secure but times have changed.
I was in a taxi last night and spoke to the driver who was from Croatia and he told me that in the 90′s he was able to pay rent and feed his children on the money he earned driving a taxi, but now it hardly pays anything. We talked about the American Dream and that it is harder and harder to realize.
I hope that parents will take a look at this and push their kids to learn a language. Maybe I will learn a language too.
I spent a semester of my senior year in Harbin, China with NSLI-Y. It truly changed my life. I didn’t start studying Chinese until I was in tenth grade. When I got to China I thought I would be okay, how hard could it really be to live in China? I quickly realized that my Chinese was more than lacking. However, I studied hard every day and now, Chinese is part of my major in college, I’m minoring in it, and my Freshman year of college at my University I took intensive advanced Mandarin Chinese classes, being one of only two who hadn’t lived in a Chinese speaking country for a couples years at least, and I was able to keep right up with the class. Without NSLI-Y and studying abroad, I would have never had the opportunities I’ve had and I would not be nearly as good at Chinese as I am. Now just to study again in China this next summer! I only have two regrets. I wish I had stayed for the year and that I had started studying Chinese sooner. Good luck to your son, he will have a wonderful time!