Expat parents in Shanghai often complain about the exorbitant price of international school tuition, but another significant cost often goes ignored. Although I am half-American and half-Chinese, growing up here, I often thought of myself as fully Chinese. Every day, I sat in front of the television with my nainai (grandmother) engrossed in the adventures of the Monkey King while wolfing down homemade congyoubing (scallion pancake) and speaking Putonghua before leaving for my all-Chinese kindergarten.
上海的外籍家长经常抱怨国际学校学费过于昂贵，但另外一项重要就读成本往往被忽视。虽然我一半是中国人，另一半是美国人，不过在这里长大的我一直觉得自己就是中国人。我每天坐在电视机前面，与我奶奶一起边看大闹天宫，边狼吞虎咽地吃着自制葱油饼，我用普通话与人交流，然后离家前往我就读的，全中文教学的幼儿园。
Claire Yang，照片由作者提供
When my parents finally enrolled me in a local international school at the age of 3, I could barely speak English. Suddenly I was spending my entire days with foreign teachers who had only been in Shanghai for a year or two. Going to international school every day was more like visiting a bizarre, isolated suburbia utterly devoid of Chinese culture or its people. We were literally banned from speaking Putonghua, even in the playground. A huge rift opened up between school and my world at home. It made me feel that being Chinese was something to be ashamed of.
在三岁时，当我父母终于将我送到一所本地国际学校时，我几乎不会说英语。突然间，我整天都与那些外籍老师待在一起，他们来到上海也不过才一两年。每天到国际学校上学就仿佛是来到一个光怪陆离、完全不存在中国人/中国文化的郊外孤岛。学校严格禁止我们说中文，即使在操场上也同样如此。家庭环境和学校之间出现了一个巨大鸿沟。这让我对自己是一个中国人感到羞耻。
Many other Chinese students attending Shanghai international schools share my feelings and experiences. These institutions make little to no effort to incorporate their societal surroundings into our education, which alienates its student body from their host culture. They advertise internationalism and diversity in their brochures and websites and glossy ads in the back of local expat magazines, but the reality is that any Chinese children who are enrolled in these schools are placed under enormous pressure from their teachers and their Caucasian peers to "Westernize" ourselves.
许多就读上海国际学校的中国学生有着和我同样的感受和体验。这些学校没有做什么像样的努力来结合我们的教育与所处的社会环境，从而使得学生群体脱离主流文化。虽然学校在宣传手册、网站上，以及在外籍驻沪人员的杂志上宣称其国际性和多样化，但实际情况是学校里的中国孩子经受着来自外籍老师和白人同学，让自己变得更加“西方化”的巨大压力。
Some insiders might argue that measures are already being taken to resolve this rising concern. Putonghua classes are now offered, and we take trips to different locations in China. Of course these are just superficial, token efforts to placate local parents. Most foreign and second-language learners feel that Putonghua is pointless, as their expat families constantly relocate to different countries according to their jobs; foreign students usually give up on Putonghua when it ceases to be mandatory. For native language students, the classes serve only as a way to maintain our current language level, as opposed to improving it.
某些内部人士可能认为已经采取措施解决这一日益严重的问题。学校现在提供普通话课程，学生被带到全国各地旅行。。。但这些举措仅仅只是安抚本地家长的表面功夫。大多数外国或者非中文母语的学生觉得学习普通话毫无意义，由于外籍家庭根据工作需要在全球范围内不断异地而居，如果不是要求必修的话，外籍学生通常选择放弃学习中文。对于母语学生来说，这些中文课程仅仅只是维持，而不是提升现有语言水平的一种手段。
Annual "China Week" trips are also met with a distinct distaste by foreign students. While they may enjoy hiking, there are constant complaints about the food, accommodations and other less-glamorous local features that they are unaccustomed to. It would be hugely beneficial if, instead of field trips to other locations in China, students were taken around to lesser-known parts of Shanghai, which would lead to a different perception of Shanghai than just our gated compounds, the Bund and shopping malls.
外国学生对于一年一度的“中国周”旅行活动表现出明显的厌恶。虽然他们可能喜欢徒步旅行，但对不熟悉的食品，住宿和其他不那么引人入胜的当地特色一直持续抱怨。与其在各地走马观花，还不如让学生深入到上海本地那些不为众人所周知的地方，那么他们有机会领略到除了封闭校园、外滩和购物中心之外上海的别样魅力，这样肯定更有收获！
This issue is not unique to Shanghai. In virtually every elite international school across Asia, students are pressured to conform to Western ideals or else be ostracized. In Beijing, Bangkok and Manila, I have encountered others struggling with the same stigma, as these international schools consistently fail to uphold their promises of inclusive, international communities.
这个问题并非上海独有。在亚洲几乎所有的精英国际学校里，学生都倍受压力使自己符合西方的理想标准，否则即被排除在外。在北京，曼谷和马尼拉，我遇到了其他陷于同样困境的学生，因为这些国际学校一直都没有遵守其对包容性国际社区的承诺。
From the perspective of many expatriate parents, this is not a problem. Because their jobs in Shanghai are often temporary, many agree with their children that becoming immersed in the local culture and language is pointless, because after a few years they will leave it all behind, to be forgotten. Due to this dismissive attitude, expatriate children grow up even more sheltered and closed-minded than the locals they accuse of being xenophobic. It's sad that so many Western parents see no merit in increasing their child's exposure to different cultures and societies.
从许多外籍家长的角度来看，这不是问题。因为他们在上海的工作往往是临时性的，许多人认为自己的孩子沉浸于当地语言文化毫无意义，因为没过几年就被置之脑后直至完全遗忘。由于这种不屑一顾的态度，这些外籍孩子长大后变得比当年他们认为具有排外心理的本地人更加封闭和守旧。令人遗憾的是，许多来自西方国家的家长没有意识到让孩子更多接触不同文化和社会的价值所在。
Ten years after first arriving at my international school, I unfortunately have largely lost touch with my own people. Upon meeting me, most locals assume that I am completely American. But with more exposure to the real Shanghai and the real China, international school teachers and students alike do not have to suffer the same stigma that I have. With more effort to bring Chinese culture into international schools, instead of the other way around, Chinese children attending these schools no longer have to be ashamed of our heritage. Instead, we can finally celebrate it!
到了就读国际学校的第十个年头，很不幸我失去了与自己人的联系纽带。遇到我的大多数本地人都认为我是完完全全的美国人。但随着与真实的上海和中国地更多接触，国际学校的老师和学生不必再遭受同样的误解。在国际学校中添加更丰富的中国文化元素，而不是相反，那么就读这些学校的中国学生将会以自身文化传承为骄傲，而非以此为耻辱！
作者：Claire Yang，原文发表在Global Times，标题：“Shanghai’s international schools are not ‘international’”。本号经授权编译。
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