social inclusion

Social inclusion

人生 Daily thoughts

Food for thought and discussion:

I hope this is not too much of a touchy subject.

It is natural that people of similar background befriend each other.  

For children of Chinese heritage who pretty much speak English all day long (which would be the majority), I think (I may be wrong) it is often the case that many, if not the majority, of their close friends are of other heritage, Asian, or minority children, particularly if they live in areas with good percentage of such ethnic/racial groups.  

For heritage children with parents like us trying so hard to raise our children to learn Chinese well, do you think that prolonged heavy exposure to CLE (Chinese Language Ecosystem) and diligent Chinese instruction into the teens can lead to decreased social inclusion in groups formed by members of majority ethnic/racial group, namely Caucasian, who do not share such upbringing and ecosystem?   Not to mention that many of us probably want our children to do well in various academic and extracurricular activities, with their own time commitment.  (I suppose sports can bring some of the kids together, particularly boys.)  I am not suggesting that there is a preferred choice of association.

In my prior blog entry, based on informal survey of fellow parents, I noted that a child need to spend a minimum of 2/3 of the waking hours in CLE between the age of 4 to ~ 8 or so to achieve a ILR level three or above in Chinese proficiency (listening, speaking, and reading).  Please note that full time English only school takes up about 25% of the waking hours averaged over the entire year (180 days of school).

What are your experiences so far?   I would love to hear thoughts from our non-heritage parents as well!  Thank you in advance!