How International Students and TKCs overlap

Every square is a rectangle but not every rectangle is a square. This is probably the first inclusive/exclusive topics that one hears about growing up. Similarly, I would like to clear up a similar misconception that you might have if you're planning on moving abroad to delve into the International School game. This is a topic that I hold dear given that I myself was a third culture kid and it was crucial for me to understand about myself, which is unfortunately something that I never got to learn about it until I researched it myself.

First of all, it would be helpful to define what a TCK is. They are children who don't necessarily belong to either their parents' culture or the culture from where they are currently living. The reason for this is that they are too much of an outsider to be consider a local and too much of a local to be considered an outsider. The Venn Diagram below shows quite clearly the relationships various terms.



One other significant factor that is relevant for TCKs is the fact that their formative years or the majority of their lives involved living in multiple countries. This would include multiple groups such as children of missionaries, children of military, and children of diplomats.

Now that that's out of the way, let's go over how international students differ from third culture kids. International students can just be students who are studying abroad for a year or two. If a student from China were to go to the US for their junior or senior year of high school, they would just be considered international students.

Finally, let's talk about what that means for you as an educator who will be potentially working with third culture kids. More than likely, your TCK will be more flexible to change than other students. This could mean anything from being more adaptive to your teaching style to the student being a good leader given their ability to build strong connections with other students. On the other hand, a TCK may also be subject to a significant amount of anxiety about their identity, at which point your role can be to ask difficult questions, be receptive towards their experiences, and also continue to learn about TCKs and how you can support them as a teacher. More often than not, third culture kids are not aware that they fit that bill and nor will their parents. Consequently, one of the biggest things you can do is to talk to them and their parents about what it means to be a TCK and what some challenges may be while focusing on the strengths of course.

One book that I would highly recommend to learn more about TCK is Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds by Ruth E. Van Reken. Furthermore, I would also recommend this YouTube video which is a TEDx talk which greatly elaborates on the subject.

If you have any other questions about the topic, please contact me at l34d.ball00n@gmail.com