On February 19, 2004, 15-year-old Jaewon Cho stepped out an airplane at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, dazed and tired from a gruesome 14-hour plane ride. Some 6,220 miles away from everything he knew, he stepped onto the unfamiliar ground of a new country while looking to his parents and older sister for support.
“I felt strange and weird that I was in different country – half excited and half nervous,” Cho remembered.
His parents’ sole reason for moving from South Korea to the U.S. was to give “me and my sister a better education.” Cho knew he would face many obstacles. The language barrier was the first.
Even though Korean students start learning English in the fourth grade, “It is totally different,” explained Cho, now a junior at Eden Prairie High School. “We usually focus on grammar and reading, not mainly on speaking and writing.”
Knowing the fundamentals of English helped him with schoolwork, but his accent and unfamiliarity with spoken and written English made it hard.
Vidihi Patel, who moved from India to America six months ago, faced the same challenge.
“Language is a big one,” said Patel, who also attends Eden Prairie High School.
The next boulder in Cho’s path was starting school in the U.S. as a high school freshman. The start of high school, intimidating to many 14-year-olds, was even more so to Cho.
“It was hard to make a lot of friends at first,” he said. “But then it got easier.”
“When I first came here, most of students did not care about me, but I didn’t give up with making friends.
Now, I can easily make friends. Also, I can communicate well with other people.”
Cho hopes to become a pharmacist when he grows up.
The United States has seen an unprecedented increase in immigration. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, more than 30 million immigrants have come to the U.S. since 1970. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, at least 700,000 more immigrants are added to that number every year.
Rushi Patel, a junior at Eden Prairie High School and Vihdi Patel’s cousin, moved to America in 2002.
“School is much easier here,” he said. There is less homework and students’ entire future doesn’t rest on how well they do on one test, as it does in India.
In India, 12th grade is when students take a nationwide test that decides what they will for the rest of their lives. This test tests the students and places them in categories. Medicine and engineering are the most highly sought and the hardest to achieve. With a fes exceptions, there are no repeats. What you score on the first try is what you have. Period.
In the United States, on the other hand, people can even start college unsure about their majors and still be ok.
“There is a lot less pressure and not everyone is competing to become a doctor or an engineer here,” Rushi Patel said.
If schools are easier here, then why do parents insist on moving here for a “better” education?
“American education is more free, efficient, and more useful . . . Here we can do academics and other activities. In Korea, it is just education,” said Cho. H enjoys being involved in Key Club, National Honor Society, and swimming, things he wouldn’t have been able to do in South Korea.
A big part of teenage culture in the U.S. is dating and relationships, which starts at a much younger age and and is often more changeable than in other countries.
“Dating [in South Korea] is more heart-to-heart. Here it’s more on-and-off relationships, no heart-to-heart,” said Cho. “[My] parents still find it difficult to adapt. The language, atmosphere, everything is kind of still new to them. But I help my parents understand. . . and explain what other cultural values are here.”
The culture, tradition, language and social patterns are all different, but people continue to immigrate to America to provide a better future for themselves and their children.
wow...
strange…I moved here the same year.
Adabting to another culture
Adapting to another culture is the hardest part of moving to one. I think Cho did a nice job of fitting in and was kind to his parents enough to help them adapt as well. Language is the biggest thing in any culture, the simplest things can be a big deal someplace else, and I think Cho did well in not letting the unfamiliarity of the culture get in the way of his plans for the future.
try hard
All is true. I remember when I came to the U.S, it was so hard, but good thing I started from first grade. Imagine that you just start something new, everything new and not know anything about it? That has to be the hardest thing for anyone to do. Like reading and writing, it is hard, but who really knows what new word will come up next?
I wish all the best of luck to all those kids. And to keep up.
I agree with Cho
I agree with Cho that moving to another country is hard. Mainly adapting to the new culture and the trend (especially for the teengers) is extremely difficult because at first, you want to impress people but you don’t know what would be accepted by them. The great thing about moving to another country is getting to know other people, but what’s not so great is that you forget little bits of your own culture as you live in that country longer.
hardship in crossing borders
There is so much hardship when it comes to crossing borders and people who truly went through that experience know that. Many people do not realize how hard is to cope with new environment,language and place. I believe American education is very useful and efficient unlike the education in many other countries. In many parts of the world like in Africa and Asia they focus too much on cramming and memorizing, whereas in the American educational system focuses more on comprehending stuff and applying what you learn practically in your daily life.I beleive most immigrants didn’t come here only for the good education but also they came for jobs and the opportunity America provides.
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