Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I am the product of private schools. When I was thirteen, my family moved to Saudi Arabia, and that was the end of my public school experience. I went to an international school there and then on to boarding school in Switzerland for high school.
Living overseas was life-changing: I think it's hard for Americans to develop a true international perspective any other way, maybe because our culture is so dominant-- so loud and brash-- that it's nearly impossible for us to hear any other voices but our own. I don't mean that in an entirely critical way; it's simply that the vibrancy of our American life preoccupies us, leaving very little room for anything else.
As a teenager abroad, I missed the din of the States, and I brooded about how deprived I was living in the foothills of the Alps and traveling all over the world. I was convinced that all I wanted was a "normal" kid's life with Doritoes and Dr. Pepper and Friday night football games.
Yeah, I was an idiot (and on so many levels!), but losing out on all those things also meant that I never suffered through the downside of American public schools. Maybe that's part of the reason why, that to this day, I carry a fierce idealism about public education, despite how well-acquainted I have become with its flaws.
I spent two years (7th and 8th grades) in Lima, Peru and you are right about being the shadow of American culture but not immersed in it.
ReplyDeleteWe came back to the town where Stanford University was located and I went to school with professor's kids (I was one myself) so our school was top-notch, in the golden days of California's education--before we cut back drastically on funding.
Yet, being educated in schools other than US is a treasure, I think.
Elizabeth