Word: chinatowns
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Without knowledge of English, the immigrant is trapped in Chinatown. As Lee says, "It's like a ghetto. People grow up and spend their entire lives in Chinatown. They are naturally afraid to go outside without any knowledge of English...
...Chin, now a graduate student at the Harvard School of Education, emigrated from Hong Kong with her family when she was nine. She has worked in volunteer projects in Chinatown for over five years. "Language is the biggest barrier," she says. "Without English you can't solve the other problems." Four years ago she helped found an adult education program. "We started with two or three Saturday afternoon classes in English. Some of the students had been here 20 or 30 years and this was their first opportunity to learn the language." Weeknight classes were added, along with a child...
Chin devotes all of her time away from her academic work to projects in Chinatown. "Supposedly graduate students are supposed to devote every hour of their non-sleeping, non-eating time to their work," she says. "Fortunately the School of Education is flexible enough so there is room for people like me to take advantage of the real world and academic training at the same time. If the school is training educators for society, who will hopefully hold key positions and effect changes, then students will have to get real world experience. This combination of community action and academic training...
...event that Big-qu Chin initiated three years ago. Students from colleges all over the Boston area, along with one or two big-name stars from Hong Kong, present an evening of Chinese culture and entertainment. The money from the ticket sales goes to 11 different volunteer organizations in Chinatown that perform social services for the community...
...children of Chinatown are caught between two cultures. The older members of the community are conservative and tradition-minded. Those who were willing to be assimilated moved to the suburbs, leaving behind those with less money and those less willing to sacrifice traditional values...