Every year, thousands of young people come to America to seek higher education. Some of these kids happen to rich, meaning their parents can afford to provide everything they need, even learning in the best institutions in the world. It is no doubt these kids find themselves in a different environment all together. In America where freedom of speech is as common as air itself, the rich kids often find themselves under scrutiny from the way they behave to the way they dress and even the way they talk.
Many people, from the broad sense, assume that rich kids are spoilt and they literally know nothing about life and surviving. Others consider them stupid, and they try to form friendship hoping to benefit financially or improve their image. Others completely ignore them all together, since they feel that there is no way they can understand each other because of different social class.
For rich kids, life is not a smooth sail, especially in America. They were sent here to excel and also make their parents proud. This puts them under a lot of pressure, and that is a difficult job especially if they do not have the same life ambitions as their parents had.
Many people think that life for them is easy, but from the pressure they receive while trying to fit in another, culture which is different from theirs, it becomes quite a struggle. They sometimes become isolated and to them they feel as if they are alone in this world, they feel as if they are the only child in the world. This is quite literal if the child is from China since their government regulates the number of children per couple.
The thesis of this paper is; life as a foreign rich kid in an American school is difficult in many aspects compared to native kids of any social class. This is true to some extent. The kind of life they will have in America most importantly depends on their personality and how much they are focused on their goals. It is possible for a rich kid not to be seen as spoilt, it is also possible for them to be seen as hardworking and important in the society. All that will depend on how they choose friends and how they regard others.
Am afraid though that in most cases, rich kids are spoilt and most of them do not end up making it in life on their own. Living in a life one gets almost everything he wants is not ideal when preparing one to face life. In this case, both the parent and the child are to be blamed. The by standers who watch and criticize are to be blamed too, but to some small extent. I mean whether you become successful or not people will always have something positive and negative to say.
Chi Hu is a student in Yale University, and he has been living with his uncle since he moved to America to attain his master’s degree in economics. When he left his parents in china, he promised to work hard and become as successful as they were. Whenever chi wants something he gets it since his father can afford almost anything that can be bought with money.
Everyday he is driven to school in a Bentley by his personal driver; he does not do housework since he has a Chinese maid to do all the house chores. Back in china, his father owns a big insurance company. It has been planned that once Chi finishes his master’s degree, he will start managing the company and one day, he will take over the company.
Many young men and women would desire to be like Chi. Conversely, Chi is fed up with his lifestyle since everything is planned out for him and everything is predictable. The situation becomes more complicated since he is not very fond of the business and insurance world.
As a way off adding spice to his life, he has tried to join sports teams only to be told by the coaches that he does not have what it takes. When other students are walking in the university compound, they all seem happy except for him, he feels like he is the only student of his type. Would you still want to be in chi’s shoes?
For chi and others like him, freedom from their parents and being treated like a normal student by his peers is the most important thing in his life. Parents of people like chi probably worked hard and went through a lot to build big businesses. It is understandable that they would want to provide the best for their children so that they do not struggle as much as they did.
As a result, they tend to be to be over protecting and keen on everything single thing their children do. Rich kids eventually end up having almost everything the other kids only wish for. Jealousy is bound to rise between the rich kids and their friends. Since they do not do much work, they will be considered lazy and irresponsible.
This discrimination of the rich has been there as long as humans have inhibited the earth. The Bible, one of the oldest books still present, has a verse saying that it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to get to heaven. It is obvious that the rich have been seen as unrighteous for a very long time. Even in 21st century the same perception is even more present since the gap between the rich and the poor is wider than ever.
When Chi realized that he does not have a life of his own, he decided to prove to his parents and himself and probably his peers that he can survive without his parent’s wealth. He moved out of his uncle’s resident and rented a small apartment near his university. Since he was a good cook, he got a job in a local restaurant to be working between 11pm to 3am. This meant he had to spend four hours at night every day 6 days in a week.
It turned out to be the most difficult thing he has ever experienced. To make it worse, some of his classmates used to eat at that restaurant and at one time they made a big mockery of his food. His job only took care of his everyday spending and he had no extra money to be going out and having fun. When the exams neared, he could no longer handle the pressure, so he went back to his uncle’s.
We can see clearly that Chi was not lazy. He did his best to provide for himself but it was not good enough. Sadly though not all foreign rich kids are like Chi. Most of them can hardly imagine a situation where they provide for themselves. The idea that a primary school kid in Senegal is the sole provider of his family is hard to digest. Recently, trends have changed; most rich kids like Chi have come to realize that working for what they desire is more self fulfilling.
One time, 21 year old Billy who hails from an average American middle class, said that almost all rich kids in colleges, got in through some dubious means; not by merit. Their parents have connections with the school authorities and they use money and intimidation to get their kids in the best colleges. To some extent he is right, one research did by the Educational testing services found out more than half of rich kids, who were mostly white, had failed to qualify to join their respective colleges.
This means some other kids who deserved those positions missed out. Billy is not the only one who feels offended by the ways of the rich; Chaz an African American friend of mine shared what he thought with me. He said the recession episodes that are now common are not caused by the poor people, it is the rich.
It seems that some people do have some strong negative feelings against the rich kids. After looking carefully on why some kids hate the rich one; it is all about the attitude they have. What most people hate is how they feel about themselves. The feeling of being on top of the world and that they can get away with anything is what is disliked. Others do not hate the rich kids, but their parents. They dislike how the parents offer them freedom and anything they want.
It is apparent that the rich kids, especially those who are not accustomed to American lifestyle, are not the favorites when it comes to making friendships. Who is to be blamed for the kind of life they live, is it their parents, the society or just themselves? In one way or the other all are to be blamed.
It is no doubt the way parents bring up their children, influence the type of people they will be in future. Whether they will turn out to be arrogant, obedient or responsible, their parents must have had a role in it. Ideally parents should expose their children to what life is all about; both the ugly and the beautiful side.
Parents should teach their children that they cannot have everything they want in life. What makes it even harder for foreign rich kids is their custom. Children born in rich families in China are treated and regarded as kings and masters. When they come to America, all that treatment disappears when they go to school. They find it difficult to comprehend why they are just like any other person and mostly worse.
There maybe a lot of excuses as to why the rich kids behave the way they do, but the bottom line is that they are usually not happy when isolated. The good news is that the rich kid only needs himself to be accepted by others. By changing his attitude towards others and respecting people from all walks of life will make him not be the only child, but be among many children.