Since I was young, I thought about the differences between Foreign Youths and Thai Youths. I always wondered “Why Foreign Youths who are only 18 years old are different from us? (Thai Youths)” Foreign Youths are self-sufficient, they live without family control.I got many answers from others who claimed that they knew the answer. Foreign families do not love each other as much as Thai families that why parents dare to liberate their children. The answer did not satisfy me, I disagreed. Because if we looked back at Thai families, youths who are 18 years old still could not do anything beneficial for their family, and are often a burden upon their parents.
At that time, I thought that it is my time to learn more about the real world. I applied to a Work and Travel Program in America for 3 months, when I was 19 years old. Finally, I got the answer when I lived alone without my family. I worked so hard, cooked food, etc…. No one woke me up in the morning, no breakfast prepared. Everything I had to do by myself. It was a very memorable time there. Eventually, I got the answer “how Foreign and Thai Youths differ!”
We are educated differently by our family based on each culture. Foreign Youths are educated to be ready for all circumstances that may occur. Thai youths are educated to respect seniority, eveything depend on their family and so on. There is nothing wrong with each way, only cultural differences. Where foreign youths seek to solve problems themselves, guided by parents, Thai youths get elders to solve the problems for them based on the elders experience.
It is interesting how the differences in family dynamic are interpreted by people from different cultures. I have heard similar opinions my Thai colleauges and friends - we (American) people do not have a strong sense of family and that is why children are sent out of the house and also why children do not take care of their parents.
ReplyDeleteAs you correctly note it is not that simple. It has much to do with how we are raised and the value systems we internalize. For US people a lot of it has to do with independence and freedom - these are core values and are reflected to a certain degree in the fact kids desire to leave the house at a relatively early age. Further, or common mythology is that successful people have mostly 'made their own way' in life and thus the young people want to get out on their own to try and be successful without family support. Sometimes this way of life works and sometimes it does not. I think in the current economy you see a lot more extended families living together in the US then when times are good.