Xiaochen Su
Xiaochen Su had moved between China and Japan three times before he had finished the sixth grade.
After elementary school, he moved yet again. This time his family came to the US.
Su, now a sophomore at Yale University, remembers being nervous. “I really didn’t know anything about the States back then,” he said.
He also knew no English.
“I had to pretty much start from scratch,” he said.
Learning a foreign language wasn’t new for Su. Although he was born in China and lived there until he was six years old, he again had to pick up his native tongue when he returned to the country after living for several years in Japan.
Su quickly learned the difference between the styles of education in the two parts of the world.
“In America, schools teach the students to obtain individual success by utilizing all the possible resources available to you in the society. … On the other hand, East Asian education stresses the importance of cooperation with others as sign of success,” his essay reads.
