The Foreign Service Journal, June 2005

S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT 92 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 5 Open 7:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Monday - Friday Open all year, closed federal holidays. Full-time and drop-in care for infants and children, from six weeks old to kindergarten. Computers, music appreciation, foreign languages, and dance. Tuition assistance available for qualified families. CFC (#7861) Contributions and recycling funds used for tuition assistance. U.S. Department of State Child Development Center 2401 E Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20520 (202) 663-3555 e-mail:ecdcdiplotos@yahoo.com CFC #7861 DiploTots Diplotots Child Development Center services State Department and federal employees Some issues are the same for this group as for foreign students, depend- ing on where they lived before coming to the U.S., Caldwell says. Some “don’t have a driver’s license or they may not know a TV program. They don’t know how to write checks or operate vending machines.” Yet the students look and sound “American,” so people might be less understanding of their situation, he adds. In addition, some teachers are not aware of what it means to have an internationally raised student in the classroom, so they might give examples based in U.S. culture. “Educating Educators” is therefore another goal of the GN students. Perhaps because of such obstacles, on average the academic performance of the TCK community at that college is slightly (0.2 percent) below that of the U.S.-raised student body on cam- pus, according to Caldwell’s research. California’s University of the Pacific in Stockton has been persis- tent in its efforts to recruit interna- tionally exposed students and lead the way in introducing a curriculum targeted at GNs, says Dr. Bruce LaBrack, professor of anthropology and international studies. The School of International Studies there offers one track for GNs and international students and one for Americans. “You can choose to be treated as an inter- national student and get those ser- vices or you can register like any other U.S. citizen,” LaBrack explains. “In general, most of the GNs come in and realize they just want to do the regular course of study,” he adds. “The curriculum is quite different. They don’t require that you go over- seas coming to the U.S. as an interna- tional student.” Furthermore, the type of cross-cultural training they receive is different. The school also seeks to actively recruit Glomal Nomads by promoting the program at conferences and over- seas schools. “We think GNs are a very interesting population. They’re the type of student you want because they bring diversity into the class- room,” he says. n Continued from page 90 Third Culture Kids, who are used to transition and a mobile lifestyle, on average attend three universities during their undergraduate careers.