Student
artifact
The
following is an excerpt from one student’s thirteen-page researched
manuscript:
There
are many obstacles the 1.5 generation1 has to overcome.
I have had to ask myself many times, “Who am I?” Growing up in
this unknown subculture was very confusing at times. Since ignorant
children and adults taunted and teased us, it caused us to hate
our self-image. We were called “slanted eyes”; “ching chong Chinese”
and they even made physical gestures pulling their own eyes apart
from the sides to make them slanted. So isn’t it natural for
a child to want to fit in? I wanted folds on my eyelids like the
American people had. In order to get those folds on the lid,
I used to take a sharp object and draw the line on my lid and
hope that I could make it fold.
My
best friend in the fourth grade in PS 71 in Ridgewood, New York,
was Japanese-American. Her name was Miyuki Saito. She was beautiful.
She was tall, thin, had straight black hair, and her eyes, they
were beautiful. They had perfect folds on them. I asked her
how she got her eyes that way and she said her mother did them
with an eye surgery kit she had at home. When I went over to
her house in Elmhurst, New York, her mother offered to do my eyes.
I was too scared, too scared of the knife, too scared of my mother,
and most of all too scared of my father. Some of us even put
tape on the lid or glue to get the lid to fold. This may sound
strange to non-Asians, but this is a known fact that the majority
of us have spent countless hours obsessing about that damn fold
on the eyelid!
One
summer in the late 70s, my mother went back to Korea
to visit her family. When she came back, she looked different.
Her eyes were swollen. She didn’t look like my mother anymore.
She had folds on her eyes. “Are you my Ahmmah? (mom)” I asked
her, while touching her new eyes. Years later, I came to understand
that it was my father who wanted my mother to get the eye surgery
so she looked more American. He naturally has small folds on
his eyes so he already “fit in.” His hair is also slightly wavy
and he already knew the essential curses to be an American.
The
eye was not the only physical trait we try to change. We also
want our hair to be brown or even blond. As I am writing this,
I am still struggling with this desire. I write this paper with
brown, auburn and blond highlights in my hair. We also want curly
hair. We didn’t want the pin-straight hair. I must have curled,
body-waved, and spiral-permed my hair two dozen times. I still
remember my first perm. I was thirteen and my girlfriend gave
me a home perm. I loved it! It was so new and different. I felt
free and refreshed. I literally walked around showing my hair
off and puffing up at the ends with my hands as you see in the
movies. I thought I was in! But that was an excited misconception.
No matter what I do with my physical looks I will always look
like an immigrant Asian.
—Eun
Hee
Student
reflection
“I
thoroughly enjoyed doing research and writing my paper on the
1.5 generation subculture. I was amazed how all we 1.5ers have
gone through similar struggles and in the process became the people
we are today. It was also great connecting with my family to
discuss our childhood. We mentioned our individual problems in
the past but never really connected with the fact that it was
mostly due to our complex cultural identity.
I
have learned to understand what has happened to me, and to make
my children’s lives easier, by helping them deal with closed-minded
people. I also want to help them embrace all three of their heritages
[Korean, Hungarian, and American]. I will make definite plans
to learn my Korean language and learn about our history and culture.
It has become my desire.”
—Eun
Hee
Teacher
reflection
Eun
Hee’s essay, her enthusiasm for the writing and research, and
the personal and cultural connections she made, all underscore
how relevant this essay assignment can be. She was able to research
her immigrant experience through interviews with family and friends,
drawing upon her own memories and recasting them within broader
historical and cultural contexts. She began to see her immigrant
experience in relation to other Korean Americans. She also began
to develop her definition of what it means to be an American.
Through her writing and research she developed a growing understanding
of individual experience within a larger community. Her work
represented authentic learning in the classroom.
Eun
Hee’s work captivated her classmates when she presented it, for
many of them were unfamiliar with her experiences. Of course,
her honesty and willingness to share these experiences were at
the center of her writing, but the essay assignment allowed her
to explore and document her immigrant experience, thus validating
its importance as subject matter. Her experience evokes so many
questions for all students to consider—What does it mean to be
an American? How do we try to “fit in” physically and emotionally?
How do we value one culture while adapting to another?
This
essay assignment has the breadth and scope to accommodate all
these questions and more.
What
I particularly like about this assignment is how it begins with
a primary research activity, thus creating a valid or authentic
experience for the writer/researcher. When students move to secondary,
expert sources, they begin to see their topic in a fuller context—framed
against historical or community-related issues. In short, they
begin to see culture at work in their personal lives. This transformation
is suggested in Eun Hee’s reflection when she considers that she
and her family had discussed individual concerns but never “really
connected with the fact that it was mostly due to our complex
cultural identity.” I consider that growth and new understanding
a significant step in this student’s education.
Curricular
Crossing
--
This project could be narrowed in focus to examine different cultures
that inhabit either a school building or the surrounding community.
Class members might begin by interviewing other students, which
process could also allow the interviewed students to become more
aware of their own cultural identity and to delve into their family
history and customs. See “American Immigration Project.”
--
This project could also be a school-wide interdisciplinary effort.
■
Science students research a particular area of environmental
concern in their community
■
Social Studies students research different significant historical
events of the community
■
Fine arts students research local cultural artifacts
■
English students research language development, i.e. dialectical
usage
■
Technology students might help design multi-media presentations
of the collated information
--
See Deborah Mitchell and Traci Blanchard’s “Critical
Reading, Imaginative Reading, and the Me Montage” for further
research suggestions.
--
See “Thematic Content” link, “Shifting Landscapes, Converging
Peoples” section at http://kcac.kennesaw.edu
for PowerPoint presentation of local suburban research.
