Teens at Risk Presentation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9lev9739zQ

I was a little confused by the message of this Tedx Talk. I understand that the presentation was about Teens at Risk. The woman in the Tedx talk spoke about being a misfit who discovered Marvel comics and became a cartoon editor. She explained her misfit life and how she connected with the Marvel characters who hid behing their masks as misfits but were heros.

I have taught these girls for years. My children are like this girl and so is my wife. The girl in the Tedx talk is a third culture kid.
She will never fit in beacuse she is caught between 2 cultures. It is a common phenomenom in international students. Their parents are of one nationality an culture and they are living in a different one. Where is home? Who are they? They try to be one but are really the other, yet they resist it and don't even understand it.
In the video she claimed that she is a misfit. She regulary commented about her clothes as a child. A south east asian girl would not do that.
Her parents chose to go to America. They are setlled with being south east asain in America and don't fit in. The girl struggles to fit in but is born and bred within this struggle. Her children will probably not experience the struggle.

My wife was born in Africa. She is Dutch but has Canadian citizenship. My children have an English dad and lived in China and Tanzania. They are third culture and will struggle to fit in. we moved here to give them a homebase.

The girl in the Tedx is not at risk. Her parents are immigrants and work hard to be successful. Expectations on these immigrant children are high and they are high achievers. The are not at risk. They learn the language quickly and usually achieve far beyond their 'adopted nation' peers.

This is a great book to get into this topic.

Thanks,
Simon