Immigrant Students and Being Thankful to the United States

// August 12th, 2008 // Education, Immigration

I am yet to understand why I should be thankful to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA for my higher education.

Did the government pay for it? No.
Did they sit tests and write papers for me? No.
Could I have gotten the same education and made the same achievements anywhere else? Probably, given the amazing primary school education I received that enabled me to score at college standard when I arrived here. I always came in at Rank 1 from K-_____, whenever and that hasn’t changed. Studying in the United States, has nothing to do with it.

That does not mean I am not grateful for the opportunities this country has given me. I recognize them first-hand. I realize we are more ‘free’ here as women, our sexualities are less repressed, we may have more freedom of expression and more activities that we can do to distract ourselves.

I don’t see why I should be thankful to anyone besides my professors and colleagues, my parents (footing the bill) and myself (hard-work and intellectual acumen) for any of my educational achievements.

If you are an immigrant student, do speak.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

3 Responses to “Immigrant Students and Being Thankful to the United States”

  1. Iamashadow says:
    August 12, 2008 at 6:55 pm

    I am grateful of the opportunity to continue my education, someone is paying the bill but I earned that. I’m thankful to all my teachers and professors who helped in helping me reach the place I am at today. And I thankful to my friends, for being there when I needed it.

    Reply
  2. admin says:
    August 12, 2008 at 7:06 pm

    Fair enough and in agreement. Structurally the opportunity exists, but that opportunity would exist in most other places in the world, no? If not limited by mobility, would you still go to the school you eventually went to? I wouldn’t therefore I am not sure about thanking anyone for the opportunity. But I don’t deny the involvement and contribution of teachers/professors/colleagues and parents in my education.

    Reply
  3. Iamashadow says:
    August 12, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    I don’t know if those opportunities could be found in other parts of the world. I think I would still go to the same school if I was documented, most of the influential people in my life went to that school.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Anti-Spam Protection by WP-SpamFree