International Studies Seminar

Dr. Harland Rall

Angela Heiderich

April 29, 2005 

When I lived in Brazil, I felt like I knew who I was.  Ever since I have come to college, though, and people ask me the typical “Where are you from?” question, I never know what to say.  I was born and raised in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, where my parents were missionaries—they are still missionaries, only they have moved further south to Curitiba.  I did not start speaking until I was two years old and had a chance to hear only English while we were on one of our furloughs.  Upon our return to Brazil, I quickly jumped into Portuguese and probably surpassed my parents’ capabilities in no time.  One thing that was unique about my family and probably most families like mine, was that we never spoke pure English nor pure Portuguese.  We would mix them together and use the words in whichever language that was quickest or had that exact meaning that we were looking for that could not be found in the other language.

            In 1989, when I was almost six, my mama, dada, and almost-two-year old little brother moved “back” to the U.S.—the States—for my parents to get further training.  I say “back,” because all of the people that my parents knew and that I was supposed to know from all our furloughs would ask me how it felt to be back home, and after a while I just wanted to scream.  I wanted to scream, because no one understood that I had just been ripped away from everything I ever knew, from my home.  I became a much less outgoing child, very insecure and preferred to play alone.  My brother and I absolutely refused to speak Portuguese anymore—for some reason, we were so embarrassed by it.  It was not long before we seemed to forget it completely, and our parents used it as their secret language around us.

                I do not remember this, but my parents say that the decision was unanimous to move back to Brazil three years later—just when I was finally starting to...Well, I never fit in, really, so maybe I did agree, a chance to start over again, to belong again.  The problem was, I never did fit in again.  First of all, I had to relearn Portuguese.  It only took me about six months, which seems amazing when you think about it, but six months is plenty of time for third and fourth graders to make fun of you and make you cry all the way home every day.  I did not really feel at home and belong among my classmates until I was in high school and my class was too small for any of us to have exclusive friendships.  I finally felt “normal” again.

            Then, it was time for college.  Since the day I was born and Royce and Pam Money sent me a little ACU onesie, there was no other option in my mind but to move to Abilene, TX.  I was so incredibly sad to move away, especially when my parents decided that they needed to move out of Brasilia too.  Now I could really never go “home.”  Moving to the States again was a real adventure—scary, exciting, and five times as hard as the first time I had done it.  God put amazing people in my life; people who did not completely understand me, but that loved me anyway.  They helped me through the rough transition, but they could not make it easy.  Living in the States has made me a very anxious person, worried about always doing something.  I am both more and less sure of myself, of who I am.  Sometimes, I feel so completely alone, because no one else is like me, no one really understands me, except for in those unique moments that I have the chance to spend time with someone else who has lived abroad.  I am a third culture kid. 

If you came back, you wanted to leave again; if you went away, you longed to come back.  Wherever you were, you could hear the call of the homeland, like the note of the herdsman’s horn far away in the hills.  You had one home out there and one over here, and yet you were an alien in both places.  Your true abiding place was the vision of something very far off, and your soul was like the waves, always restless, forever in motion.[1]

            This is the life-long dilemma of most third culture kids, or TCKs.  In the words of one TCK, Ruth Van Reken, who wrote a book along with renowned TCK expert, David Pollock, it is “like always being a square peg in a round hole.”[2]  Contrary to the belief of many when first encountering this term, third culture kid does not refer to a child from a third world country; the term third world country itself is outdated.  It refers to being a mixture of two cultures and becoming a third culture that is yet distinct from both.  Being a third culture kid is a permanent characteristic, whether one is seven or seventy, and applies to a broad scale of individuals, from children of military men and women stationed temporarily overseas to children of missionaries who spend most of their lifetime abroad; from an American living in Thailand to an Ethiopian studying in Germany. 

            There are a wide variety of third culture kids who have earned this title through the different occupations their parents have.  The first kind of TCK is often referred to as a business brat, or a corporate kid.  It is mostly used to refer to children of business men and women, from the heads of international companies to technological supporters working overseas.  It has been used, however, to refer to children of businessmen in general.  Then there is another type of brat, a military brat, which obviously refers to children of men and women in the armed forces.[3] 

There are military brats that spend their whole lives jumping from country to country and those who only spend a very short time abroad; the important fact in making them a TCK is that they were influenced or transformed by the relocations.  Another category which does not really fit into either of these is that of diplomat kids, who, like military brats, may spend a year or a lifetime abroad.  There does seem to be a drive nowadays, though, to steer away from the term “brat” and include all three of these groups in the category of children of Foreign Service workers.

            There is one other type of TCK which will be a heavy focus of this paper—missionary kids, or simply MKs.  MKs are children of men and women who have decided to dedicate their life’s work to bringing the lost to God in foreign lands.  Most MKs tend to live most of their lives, or sometimes only a few, in one culture other than that of their parents, although there are cases in which missionary families have jumped from continent to continent in their mission work.  There was, for example, a “missionary in residence” at ACU, Brad Willits, whose family lived in an RV and traveled around Italy for years.     

Although this third culture group encompasses a broad range of individuals, a widely accepted definition of a third culture kid can be found in further reading of Pollock and Van Reken’s book:

A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture.  The TCK builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any.  Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the TCK’s life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background.[4]

According to these authors, the best way to explain this is to take a look at each part of the definition.

            The term “third culture kid” was first coined in the 1950s by Drs. John and Ruth Hill Unseem while conducting research in India.  They first went for a year in 1952, funded by the Hazen Foundation, to study people who had received a higher education in Western countries. Later in 1958, they returned with their children to study Americans who worked overseas as anything from missionaries to technical aid workers.[5]  During their work, they discovered people other than Americans who had also emigrated there from other countries and cultures, known by some as expatriates.  They realized that “each of these subcultures [communities of expatriates] generated by colonial administrators, missionaries, businessmen, and military personnel—had its own peculiarities, slightly different origins, distinctive styles and stratification systems, but all were closely interlocked.”[6]  In other words, these expatriates had created a way of life distinct from their home culture and the one they found themselves in, a unique culture that they all shared in that setting.  In Dr. Unseem’s own words, “we began to use the term ‘third culture’ as a generic term to cover the styles of life created, shared, and learned by persons who are in the process of relating their societies, or sections thereof, to each other. The term ‘Third Culture Kids’ or TCKs was coined to refer to the children who accompany their parents into another society.”[7]

            TCKs are also known as “hidden immigrants,” in the sense that externally they look the same as those in their home culture and tend to blend in, but internally they are very distinct from those around them.  The most common synonym for TCKs is “global nomads.”  The term global nomad was first coined by Norma M. McCaig at the first International Conference on Missionary Kids held in Manila in 1984.  McCaig is the founder of the organization Global Nomads International and president of Global Nomad Resources, which have rapidly expanded.[8]  It would be important to mention here some other terms that have popped up since TCKs have become an interest.  The term home culture refers to the culture in which a TCK feels most at home, but it is most widely used to mean what is called one’s passport country, which is where one was born and has citizenship, usually the home culture of a TCK’s parents.[9]  An American missionary kid, who has spent the majority of their 18 years in Kenya, would have the U.S. as their passport country, and most would consider this also to be their home culture.  The country that they move to with their parents would be considered their host culture, although in the hearts and minds of many TCKs, this is in fact their home culture.

            TCKs come from all different backgrounds and their experiences are highly individualized and unique; they are, indeed, a very strange breed.  What binds them together, however, is the next part of Pollock’s definition of a third culture kid—they have all spent a significant part of their developmental years outside the culture of their parents.  The first part to take into consideration is “significant part.”  As mentioned before, the significance of a period spent abroad varies from person to person, depending not only on their own personality and perspective, but also on the values and attitudes of their parents and on the goals and objectives for living abroad.  Missionary kids can be completely immersed in a culture and come as close as possible to being accepted as a native, while some diplomat kids, unfortunately, remain within the Americanized confines of the embassy. 

What also affects the child’s experience is which portion of their lives they spent in a foreign culture.  As Pollock points out, a child that lives abroad from age six to age ten will be affected differently than one that relocates at the age of ten and returns to his passport country for college.[10]  This brings us to his next point, concerning developmental years.  Although the age of the child and the length of the stay may vary, the key point is that they were abroad for a portion of their lives where they were still forming their “identity, relationships with others, and view of the world.”[11]  Pollock also makes the interesting point that living outside of one’s “parents’ culture” does not necessarily mean living in another country.  He believes that children such as those who move with their parents to live on an Indian reserve or on a military base deserve to be called TCKs,[12] for they experience a different culture or subculture and experience the same culture shock as any other TCK when they return to “normal civilization.”

The last portion of Pollock’s definition of third culture kids speaks to their rootlessness and restlessness.  In the words of Ayla Delin, “Their emergent lifestyle produces a third culture that lacks national or cultural boundaries...They fit in everywhere, nowhere in particular.  They are simultaneously insiders and outsiders.”[13]  The phrase often used to describe TCKs is that they are “partly at home everywhere, but not fully at home anywhere.”[14]  Basically, TCKs do not know what the word “home” really means.  Both the questions “Where are you from?” and “Where is home?” are very confusing questions to a TCK who may have been born in the U.S., moved to Russia when he was five, the left for college in England at 18.  It is even more confusing for the generation of missionary kids who were often sent to boarding schools across the globe while their parents worked abroad.  One TCK writes:

“Home” might refer to the school or dormitory or the house where we stayed during the summer, to our family’s home where our parents worked, or, more broadly, to the country of our citizenship.  And while we might have some sense of belonging to all of these places, we felt fully at home in none of them.[15]

One common reaction to rootlessness is to build strong relationships, to “define their roots relationally rather than geographically.  They move quickly through superficiality into deep emotional investment.”[16]  Some tend to take the opposite route and run from relationships.  They experience attachment to many different people in their highly mobile lives, especially since they often go to international schools where friends tend to come and go.  These TCKs also experience many separations and losses and so they become too independent, too isolated and will not risk deep intimacy; “like trees transplanted too often, their roots may never grow deep.”[17]  Perhaps these feelings and sensations are best described in the words of an MK:

I am a mix of many cultures and my roots extend very far.  My strongest roots do not lie in a place but in relationships...When I move I make my home, not by putting down geographic roots, but by building friendships.  The more connected I am to people, the more connected I am to a place...Saying goodbye to good friends is extremely painful, but I would rather suffer that kind of pain, than the pain of loneliness.[18]

TCKs are citizens of the world, but it is very difficult to ever feel comfortable in a place when one has such a broad definition of home.  This leads to a restlessness in these children that lasts well into adulthood.  Pollock and Van Reken describe this well, as a constant “migratory instinct.”  Everything always feels temporary and they are often unable to settle down.  There is a certain dissatisfaction—what is happening in the present is never quite good enough, for something is always lacking.  They always expect the next place, the next phase of life to feel like home, and this feeling always keeps them moving.[19]  In further study done by Dr. Unseem and her colleague Dr. Cottrell, they found that only half of the TCKs that attend college complete a degree.  Also, on average they will change colleges twice.  They usually “stop out” during their college careers to pursue further international travels.[20] 

Although TCKs are so restless, they are a good target for American colleges and universities.  There is a tendency for diplomat kids to end up in the Washington, D.C. area for college, while “bis kids” tend to attend college on the west or east coast and MKs are more likely to choose a Christian college.[21]  Dr. Unseem also discovered that TCKs attend college at four times the rate of their monocultural peers.  For any university that wants to recruit outstanding students for their campuses, these kids are the way to go—“Many have attended international schools where the curriculum and expectations are very high.  And so when they come back to the U.S. they’re used to studying hard and being pushed.  So they do want an academic challenge.”[22]  A TCKs international flare is also a very sought-after feature, for they tend to be “cross-culturally savvy and add to the campus’ diversity of viewpoints; they are “negotiators or cultural bridges,” very “good at mediating.”[23]

There is an excellent book written by Ruth van Reken called Letters I Never Wrote, which addresses the hardships of schooling prior to college, more specifically boarding school.  The trend of boarding schools is quickly passing as kids are now attending much improved national schools, international schools, and even MK schools.  There are at least 130 MK schools in 56 countries, containing more than 15,000 students.  However, there are an estimated 300,000 adult MKs living in the U.S.[24] and many of these attended boarding schools.  Van Reken addresses this issue and the cycle of grief that MKs and TCKs in general that go through this system experience.  The first stage is protest—“I couldn’t stop crying on the airplane...When I got to school this afternoon, I was still crying.  I couldn’t do anything to make me stop.”[25]  Then the despair sets in—“I’m not crying at bedtime as much...I guess the teachers probably think I’m better adjusted.  They don’t realize that I’ve just given up.  I can only stand so much pain.”[26]  The last stage is detachment, but it would probably be better labeled in this case as repression.  Van Reken writes in her book, “Outside I look pretty happy.  But way down deep inside there’s some kind of sadness that seems to stay there...With the knowledge that nothing can change your being gone or my being alone, I have to shut you out of my life.  It’s as if I have to count you as dead.”[27] 

The pain does not end there, though, for most boarding school kids.  This cycle is repeated over and over, with intermittent periods where the child is able to spend vacations with his or her parents.  Each of these periods are filled with a mixture of separation anxiety and anticipatory grief.  In van Reken’s own words, “I can’t let myself get too close when I know I always have to be leaving.”[28]  The worst part of this constant turmoil for TCKs is that they are not normally allowed to express their grief, because their parents were never taught to deal with it.  Missionary care has only been recently developed, and Columbia International University in South Carolina is the first university (only this year) to develop a graduate degree in missionary care.[29]  Returning to van Reken, one finds the best description of the repression that was necessary throughout childhood.  She still cries herself to sleep every night, and the other girls make fun of her if they hear her.  She experiences homesickness with embarrassment and shame.  Instead of being acknowledged and validated, her grief is hidden.[30] 

Unresolved grief is a very real problem for most TCKs, sometimes for the very fact that they have had such rich, adventurous lives.  They experience a great number of losses throughout their lives and James Gould in his review of van Reken and Pollock’s book on TCKs outlines the main areas of loss.  The first is “loss of a world,” because every place, friend and activity that the child once enjoyed is at some point taken away from them due their high mobility lifestyle.  The second is similar—“loss of lifestyle,” where all the patterns of “normal” daily life are stripped away.  There is, of course, “loss of possessions” along the way, and one of the most impacting experiences is that of “loss of relationships.”  A very drastic or even abrupt move can also cause in a TCK “loss of identity;” for example, as a TCK returns to their passport country and realizes that it is not their home country anymore, that they are not like everyone else.  Finally, there is a “loss of the past,” for they must give up the past they knew and also grieve the past they missed out on by moving in the first place.[31]

Other books and memoirs on the lives of boarding school MKs have become popular recently, such as All the Way to Heaven by Stephen Alter, Minor Heresies, Major Departures by John Espey and  A Lifetime in Every Moment by Joseph F. Littell.[32]  The author of a review on these books comments that in a time where most American memoirs deal with self-confession and highlight the most dysfunctional aspects of family life, it is interesting that these books “pay tribute to family and friends rather than castigate them...These books reflect awe and astonishment rather than the anger, bitterness or resentment”[33] that secular society would expect from MKs.  Dale Hawley produced a study of 31 of the most recent research publications, from 1983 to the present.  Most of them come to the same conclusion—that the parent-child relationship is the single most important factor in determining how a TCK will fare.  After reviewing some studies done specifically on MKs and boarding schools, Hawley says that “family dynamics were the most important factor in how MKs adjusted to boarding school.[34] 

Returning to Dr. Unseem, her understanding of a third culture kid has evolved to include more than just those who live in expatriate communities.  This third culture has become a lifestyle shared by many, but known and understood by few.  In his article, “The Homeless VIPs,” Andy Fletcher describes them as “one of the most neglected, and most influential, unreached people groups.”[35]  This is a worrysome statement, for TCKs have been molded into the ideal citizen for today’s globalized world.  As the world becomes more globalized, there is an increased demand for young men and women with international experience, especially those who have “broken the language barrier.  International experience and multilingual capability are more valuable than degrees in today’s marketplace,”[36] says one TCK.  Ann Baker Cottrell, a sociologist at San Diego State University who worked with the Unseems, says that, “In short, they are a dream come true for international businesses looking for future employees.”[37] 

These kids in general are used to being outsiders and view themselves as global citizens.  They may be fluent in more than one language, and often in many; they have a better understanding of different cultures than any outsider could ever have; they adapt quickly to different environments; and because of their highly mobile childhood, they can move from one country to another with much more ease than a typical person.[38]  The author of a graduate study done on adult third culture kids, or ATCKS, says, “it is essential that the field of psychology prepare itself for the treatment of the world citizens of this era and the unique problems associated with the multiple transitions of language, culture, and relationships which these people experience.”[39]

Most characteristics of TCKs are both an asset and a challenge; there is a positive and a negative everything.  First off, they have an expanded worldview that they experienced first hand, not in books like many who live in monocultural societies.  They experience a variety of geographical, philosophical and political perspectives, along with different views of time and interpersonal relationships.  The downside to this expanded worldview is that TCKs usually have a confused sense of loyalties; they are confused on issues of politics, patriotism and even values.  A situation that many TCKs can relate to is that of Jean Fritz as an American in China going to a Brittish school.  Every day they would sing the Brittish national anthem and she would refuse to sing it because it was not her national anthem.[40]  Similarly, I refuse to put my right hand over my heart and sing the American national anthem.  First of all because I never learned all the words, and secondly because patriotism has become something completely negative and counter productive in my mind.  This is an indication of the ignorance that these kids end up having of their own culture.  A TCK’s upbringing leads to a three-dimensional view of the world, in the sense that they have actually experienced the world, but this also can lead to a very painful view of reality.[41]  The people involved in a great flood in a South American country might have been friends of a TCK now living in the U.S.  Global horror stories are so much more real, even if it does not occur in one’s host country.  Their expanded worldview makes them more aware of what is going on in the world and they have a greater sense of how it affects different populations.

TCKs are what Norma McCaig calls “cultural chameleons,” for they have skills in “intercultural communication, linguistic ability, mediation, diplomacy, and the management of diversity.”[42]  One very important asset of third culture kids is that they have an amazing adaptability.  Again in McCaig’s words, they are “participant-observers who take note of verbal and nonverbal cues a readjust accordingly, taking on enough of the coloration of the social surroundings to gain acceptance while maintaining some vestige of identity as a different animal, an ‘other.’”[43]  This characteristic not only keeps them from being the source of ridicule, but it also enables them to adapt more easily to big changes than most monoculturals.  Adaptability, however, may make it difficult for TCKs to have very firm cultural boundaries and beliefs, leading them to become extreme relativists.  Another way to look at it is that TCKs are able to blend in easily, not only culturally, but they may even look the same as the people around them.  This is where the term hidden immigrant is so relevant.  On the other hand, some of these hidden immigrants react once they realize that they will never quite be the same as those around them.  It causes them to form an “anti-identity,” which may not be who they really are, but it distinguishes them from those around them.  The problem with this is that, “as TCKs scream to others, ‘I’m not like you,’ people around soon avoid them and they are left with a deep loneliness.”[44]

The list of positive and negative possibilities does not stop there, though.  In an ideal situation, TCKs will have less prejudice than an average person, because they have observed and participated in different cultures and come to the understanding that there is probably a reason behind the things that people do which may be different from what one is used to seeing.  Most TCKs, however, experience living at a higher status than those around them in a foreign country, and this in turn may cause them to become more prejudice, to have a superiority complex.[45]  Which way a TCK will sway is usually determined by the attitudes of his or her parents.  This can also lead TCKs to appear arrogant, whether they are or not.  They can develop a sense of superiority not only over other cultures, but in general over non-TCKs.  Or, just by claiming that they are different, many people might understand them to be saying that they are also better.[46] 

One of the greatest problems that third culture kids face, a topic that has received a great deal of attention in the past few decades, is reentry.  In her extensive study of TCKs, Jennifer Huff says that, “readjustment to the primary culture is postulated to be more difficult than the culture shock experienced when going abroad.”[47]  In other words, for most of those who have experienced a great international relocation, or several, adapting to a new country is easier than readapting to one’s home passport country after acquiring third culture characteristics.  It is necessary, though, to discuss the term culture shock before explaining reentry and reverse culture shock. 

The term culture shock first appeared in 1958, to describe the feelings of sadness, loneliness, anxiety, anger and confusion that accompany moving to a new environment, a new country.  Culture shock usually sets in within the first few weeks of arriving at a new location, after the initial euphoria which experiencing something new usually brings—known also as the “honeymoon stage.”  Culture shock goes far beyond simply feeling homesick.  It includes also a loss of many foundational, essential characteristics, such as a sense of direction, knowing what is appropriate and inappropriate, not being able to communicate with others, and not knowing how to do the most simple things, like use money, get food, call for a taxi, or even to ask for help.  This is the second stage, the actual shock.  Other symptoms of this stage include pains, insomnia, irritability, resentment, idealization of old culture, loss of identity, insecurity, stereotypes of new culture, obsessiveness and feelings of being lost or even abuse.  When the third stage comes, these negative feelings diminish as a person becomes more used to their surroundings, learns how to conduct their life daily, and begins to understand the culture surrounding them.  There is a fourth stage where a person becomes more objective and begins to integrate the good of the new culture into their life and personality.  The last stage, which has been referred to as reentry, is a whole other cycle of shock and readjustment that must be faced.[48]

One fact that makes TCKs who they are is the full knowledge that after their time spent abroad, they will eventually return to their country of origin, their parents’ country.[49]  They expect another great change to come about, but rarely do they expect it to be harder than their move abroad.  They expected to have trouble with a different language, perhaps the religion and lifestyle in the new country, but never did they expect to have trouble going “home,” with all the meaning that the word entails.  As Dr. Austin says, “Who would ever expect to feel like a stranger in his own country?  Yet, overidealized expectations about ‘home’ are a puzzling paradox.”[50]  It is interesting that, while in their host country, TCKs idealize their passport country, and upon their return they begin to feel nostalgic and idealize the former.  Another false expectation is that people will be interested to hear the foreign stories of the returnee, which leaves them disheartened when they realize that most do not care or simply cannot relate.  Upon returning to the U.S., one missionary said, “We discovered that most people were not interested in hearing the stories we were most anxious to tell.  Oh, they listened about five minutes!  Then they continued to talk about the Dallas Cowboys.”[51] 

There are other things that make reentry so stressful, beyond simply being unprepared for it.  Pollock brings up the fact that these kids usually enter a new culture at a stage in their life when they are most adaptable and have to leave at a much more difficult point in their development, such as during adolescence or at college age. [52]  Some TCKs may have not been born in their so-called home culture or have even visited the country in the meantime.  Studies show that teenagers that have lived overseas are less secure and optimistic than those who have only lived in the U.S. and that they are more lonely and restless.  This does not automatically lead to the conclusion that they are less psychologically stable, but that they are more searching and open, leading them to be more likely to admit potentially disturbing affects.  They are even likely to experience adolescence much later than their monocultural peers, even into their twenties.[53]

TCKs in the process of reentry are often not as excited to “come home” as those around them would expect.  As has already been discussed, they go through many losses and experience the grief of losing a world they have come to love, the well-known discomfort of once again being out of balance, and the struggle to “fit in” again in a unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people.[54]  Besides this, they are leaving an often exciting and exotic world to return to the mundane.  There are, however, ways to avoid an extremely painful reentry.

In the words of some MKs at a reentry seminar done by David Pollock, “We get good at saying goodbye...But you never get used to it.”[55] Werkman emphasizes the importance of saying goodbye.  He says that some may try to avoid the pain of saying goodbye, but it is not worth the ensuing “anxiety and guilty sadness.  Unfinished farewells may return to haunt the memory of returnees.”[56]  Another author writes, “Today I must say goodbye.  Goodbyes are important.  Without a meaningful goodbye, an effective closure, there cannot be a creative hello, a new beginning and hopeful commencement.”[57]  Both Werkman and Austin stress the value of family and an effective support system throughout the process.  Most important is that the family prepare ahead of time for reentry, six to twelve months in advance, going over reentry materials together, being open and honest about possible difficulties they might encounter and keeping up to date on current events in their passport country, among many others.

A very important side effect of being a third culture kid is great linguistic skills.  There are some disadvantages to this, such as difficulty with the spelling of words in different languages.  Some claim that learning other languages limits one’s abilities in their native tongue.  This can be true in some cases, but this does not mean that TCKs cannot rapidly learn the deeper nuances of their native tongue, especially upon their return home.  In most cases, the opposite is true--learning a second language or multiple languages has actually proven to enhance one’s abilities in their own language.  According to the reports of the College Entrance Examination Board, students that have taken four or more years of a foreign language score higher on standardized tests in English.  People who begin learning a foreign language at an early age are said to have “improved overall school performance and superior problem-solving skills.”[58]  This refutes any argument that foreign language learning may hinder a person’s English ability.  In fact, studies have proven that children who are learning a second language show no long-term delay in their English development, and actually learn more about English through “learning the structure of other languages.”[59]  Dr. Jeannine Heny, an English professor, says that learning other languages early in life can not only sharpen thinking skills in general, but also help these kids achieve academically above their grade level.[60]

In today’s multicultural and globalized world, the importance of bilingualism and multilingualism cannot be overemphasized.  Since TCKs are usually great cultural bridges, they usually choose careers that involve or require international experience.  Global nomads will more often than not win out over any other candidate for a job simply for the fact that they have language skills.  Although the U.S. might be the last country to recognize the trend, more and more companies are becoming multinational and require international experience.  One of Dr. Unseem’s studies show that 56% of TCKS have incorporated an international dimension into their occupational, whether they work overseas or simply share their international experience with their students.[61]

Third culture kids have existed since the dawn of time.  Alfredo Smith gave a speech at the second International Conference on Missionary Kids, saying that he considered Abraham to be the first missionary.[62]  To explain this claim, he quotes Genesis 12:1, “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show you.”  As it says in verse 4 of this same chapter, “So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him,” in the same way that so many missionaries and Foreign Service men and women do today.  He uprooted his family and moved to a foreign land, making his children the first missionary kids.  In the case of the Israelites, they had third culture kids for years to come after their exile from Egypt and in many other cases throughout Jewish history.

            It could be argued in a way, though, that the first third culture kid dates back to the time of Adam and Eve.  We do not know much about their developmental stages when they were cast out of Eden.  Perhaps they were still learning to live in their new world, for that process never really ends.  When they were cast out by the Lord to toil over a very different world, they were cut off from everything they had ever known and forced to readjust, to adapt, to create a new way of living that was not completely of this world, but not completely of their former world either—a third culture.  They were God’s first third culture kids.

            Although TCKs have existed for ages, the actual concept only really began to be understood about fifty years ago with the work of John and Ruth Unseem.  It is imperative to include in this study a list of the people and organizations over the past half century who have helped so greatly to bring forth further knowledge about the world of third culture kids.  The best place to start is with an elaboration on Dr. Ruth Unseem’s accomplishments in the TCK field, who herself has three third culture sons.  Between 1952 and 1985, with the support of the International Studies division of Michigan State University, she conducted studies on expatriate communities, overseas school, and TCKs in a total of 76 different countries.  During this time, she also worked with the Office of Overseas Schools of the U.S. Department of State as a consultant on TCK education.  Besides this, Dr. Unseem also taught at the university level at Michigan State University on “combining sociological, cultural anthropological and social psychological perspectives for understanding individuals in their social/cultural/economic settings, particularly when those settings are undergoing rapid change and conflict.”[63]  Dr. Unseem was also helped in her studies by Drs. Kathleen Ann Finn Jordan, who is a guidance counselor for overseas students, and Ann Baker Cottrell, professor at San Diego State University.  Dr. Cottrell has done a lot of work on adult TCKs, especially women, including a study in Italy on female reentry students compared to American reentry students.[64]

A man who has done amazing work in the field of reentry, with a bent towards missionaries and their families, is Dr. Clyde Austin, who currently resides in Abilene, TX.  Dr. Austin produced in 1983 what is considered by many to be the book on re-entry, called Cross-Cultural Reentry.  In the words of Craig Storti, author of The Art of Coming Home, “Anyone who writes on readjustment is automatically in Clyde Austin’s debt.”[65]  In this book, he compiled a list of about 300 books on reentry into an extensive annotated bibliography, and later edited a book of articles on the same topic.  Austin worked for an 18-month period as Director of Guidance at the American Community School in Buenos Aires, Argentina and most recently worked as a professor at Abilene Christian University.  He is most known, however, for the many workshops that he has done in Argentina, Brazil and later in the U.S. for missionary teams on interpersonal relationships and reentry.[66]

Mission Resource Network is an organization located in the Dallas/Forth Worth area dedicated to missions, including missionary care.  Dale Hawley was the Director for Missionary Care and is now the associate director, as well as Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.  He has recently created an extensive annotated bibliography of resources on missionary children, along with a chapter in Families in Missions that pooled together 31 different studies on missionary kids.  The current MRN Director for Missionary Care is Dorris “Dottie” Schultz who was herself a missionary, along with her late husband.  Dottie did her dissertation on missionary families and reentry and has done private counseling with TCKs and MKS throughout her career.  Along with MRN, she helped put together the first TCK reunion at the World Mission Workshop at York College last year and plans to do the same thing this year at Harding.  Dr. Schultz also worked with Clyde Austin and the American Baptists Mission Board, counseling their evacuated missionaries from Haiti and former Zaire (now the Congo) in 1992.[67]

The simplest paper on TCKs could not be written without talking about the late David Pollock. Dr. Pollock is “recognized around the world as an authority on third culture kids, transitions and internationally mobile families.”[68]  His interest in TCKs began in the mid-1970s and from 1980 on he served as Executive Director of Interaction International, which he founded.  The mission statement of Interaction International describes the organization as a “resource working cooperatively in the development of programs, services and publications to provide and contribute to an on-going flow of care that meets the needs of third-culture kids and internationally mobile families.”[69]  Pollock helped put together many more organizations, such as Global Nomads, MuKappa, CCTECC (Christian College Teacher Education Coordination Counsil) and Youth Compass.  He did an infinite number of workshops, seminars, speeches and wrote many articles about TCKs, transition, pre-field orientation and reentry.  Pollock himself was a missionary in Kenya from 1975 to 1980 and had four MKs of his own, and worked with many churches across the U.S.  He was an Associate Professor of Sociology in Intercultural Studies at Houghton College in New York from 1986 on and also served as Director of Intercultural Programs beginning in 1992.[70]  Dr. Pollock was a man whose shoes will probably never be filled and who did so much more for TCKs and humanity in general than is possible to express.

It is essential to mention the three International Conferences for Missionary Kids (ICMK) held in the Philippines in 1984, Ecuador in 1987 and Kenya in 1989, which were co-directed by David Pollock.  Each of these was a meeting of adult MKs and MK teachers, parents, counselors and more.  The first ICMK was hosted by the Children’s Education Department of Wycliffe Bible Translators (led by Paul Nelson) and Interaction International and focused on the concerns of educators and others involved with MKs.  Its basic purpose was to raise awareness about the differences between monocultural children and third culture children.  A book was produced from this encounter, called Compendium on the International Conference on Missionary Kids, a compilation of the speeches given at the conference.[71] 

The second ICMK was hosted by Alliance Academy and the HCJB radio station and focused on the implications of those differences within the missions community.  Two volumes of speeches came out of this meeting, called Understanding and Nurturing the Missionary Family and Planning for MK Nurture.  In an Interact newsletter, the following was said:

Adult MKs at the Quito conference indicated that they felt a new sense of purpose and identity.  Some parents of MKs gained new insights into the life-long impact that growing up in a cross-cultural environment has on their children.  Educators in MK schools were challenged to expand their curriculum to enhance the potential of the clientele they serve...the climate is right to make some significant changes in the way missionary families are impacted by cross-cultural service, and ICMK is continuing to serve as a catalyst in this process.[72]

The third and final ICMK discussed how to enhance the advantages and minimize the disadvantages of an MK life.  A final compilation came out of this conference, though much later, called Raising Resilient MKs, which has been an important resource over the past few years.  The most valuable outcome of these encounters was that they raised awareness about who MKs and TCKs are, how they are unique, and how they can be helped towards a future that will benefit not only them, but the whole world.

            Some important organizations, such as Interact International, have been mentioned, but the number of them dedicated to third culture kids is innumerable and at least some of them deserve to be recognized.  MuKappa is an association created “by MKs for MKs,” played off as a type of nationwide social club.  It has various resources available, including a listing of events such as MK or TCK reunions that are going on across the nation.  MKs have said that it is:

Like a family away from home ... provides the support and assistance I need ... is a way to meet people who are from a similar background ... gives me a circle of friends with whom I can have good talks ... is people who understand & care, especially when I'm homesick ... provides an environment which encourages spiritual growth.[73]

MuKappa is supported by Barnabas International, an organization dedicated to serving the mission community.  It was created to “equip, edify, encourage, and enrich God's servants” through counseling, seminars and retreats for missionaries, pastors, women and MKs.[74]

            Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon is known for its dedication to TCKs.  They began a program in 1992 called TCK Advisory Board which help support TCKs as they try to adjust to the Lewis and Clark campus, because they receive about 100 new TCK students per year.  The board meets regularly to create career workshops, discussions and social events, among other things.[75]  Liv Halvorsen, who speaks four languages, has lived in seven different countries and interns at the college as the TCK coordinator says that TCKs are “uncomfortable about staying in one place too long,”[76] so the college must work extra hard to make these kids feel included.  They are a part of the two-day international student orientation at Lewis and Clark and are given special attention for two reasons: first of all, getting TCKs together to see that there are others like them increases the likelihood that they will become integrated and have a positive college experience; and second, it makes the faculty and staff aware that they exist, that they have unique assets and difficulties, and creates more resources for the TCKs who need help.[77] George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia also has a division of Global Nomad Programs and Services dedicated to TCKs and claims to be the first to have offered these services.  It offers a vide variety of assistance to TCKs, from counseling to a global nomad library.  This program also sponsors Global Nomads International, an organization founded by Norma McCaig, the woman who coined the phrase “global nomad,” who goes across the continent doing conferences on and for global nomads.  Since GMU’s initiative, many other global nomad chapters have sprouted up in the U.S.[78]  

            There are so many more organizations that work with TCKs and their families.  Another on of them is Families in Global Transitions, Inc., which helps families with the relocation process, whether moving abroad or “coming home.”[79]  There are also a number of Christian ministries geared towards TCKs, which reach out to fill the needs of these kids and help them reach their potential.  Most of them belong to the Coalition for International Communities Ministries, such as Young Life, Military Communities Youth Ministries and Emerging Young Leaders in Colorado; Christian Associates International located in Amsterdam and California; and Network of International Christian Schools, which encompasses 14 schools, among many other organizations.[80]

A simple poem written by MK Ruth Goring sums up the TCK experience well:

One life is navy blue

one life is sunshine yellow

I am green

            Is there a place

                                    where

                                                I can be green?[81]

The message of Philippians 3:20 offers third culture kids like Ruth a message of hope, a message that takes on meaning beyond what it would for a monocultural Christian.  This passage says that “our citizenship is in heaven.”  TCKs may not ever fit in or feel at home here on earth, but Paul assures us that heaven will bring all the feelings of love and security wrapped up in the meaning of home.  The chorus of a song written for MKs by Daniel Johnson, an MK in Equador, gives these unique kids the ultimate hope in Jesus Christ:

And you know, Jesus loves you—

You’ve heard it all your life.

And when you were young

Jesus made his home inside of you.

And he knows you,

And he’ll always understand.

Heaven is your home.

Jesus is your friend forever,

And he’ll never let go of your hand.

You’ll never be alone—you’ll always have a home

With him.