Coming of age on Saipan, CNMI and reading, Pennsylvania

By ANTHONY PELLEGRINO

Part I

When I was seven years old my parents decided to return to the United states to live. I could not speak any English and had never been to school At age seven I enrolled in a Catholic school whose teachers were nuns and priests. Luckily most of the students were Italian so we had a commonality. However I felt lonely and confused with the new language and the new customs in America. At home, we all spoke Italian, at Italian food, followed Italian discipline and culture, and had our “Little Italy” with friends and surroundings for security.

At the Catholic school my little world changed into a strange American one. I was forced to learn the rules of living in this different world. But almost all my classmates were Italian. So there was still some security among friends.

When I entered the sixth grade I transferred to a public school where I spent the rest of my schooling. No longer did I have classmates who were all Italians. There I really learned the hard knocks of being an American. If I showed any semblance of being Italian, the kids were quick to yell “Hey, Wop” or “Grease ball”. Many times I returned home and pleaded with my mother to stop giving me eggplant or salami or meatball sandwiches with smelly cheese or crusty Italian bread because the kids made fun of me at lunchtime. How many times I yelled at my parents saying that this is America; let’s start acting like Americans. I felt ashamed of my Italian background.

I was torn between two cultures—two ways of life. I felt that if I turned my back on my heritage, I would insult my parents and become an outcast. If I didn’t adapt to being an American, I would be blacklisted by my peers. Slowly the major force of my new found environment began to override my Italian culture and I became an American with only a smattering remnant of my previous culture. The process was slow and at times painful. But why relate this story here?

I feel that many of the youth in the CNMI are going through a similar “culture shock” and I did while growing up in Reading, Pennsylvania. They are trying to find which culture should they adhere to and to what extent. If they become too American, there is a fear of local isolation. The family solidarity and security will be lost. However, if they remain close to the local culture, they may be passed over for the good life that they witness daily around them by Americans and the mass media.

In the schools the transformation is even more dramatic. Many of our teachers are from the United States. Naturally they bring their culture and mores into the classroom. They expect from their students the same that they would from American children. After all, they are missionaries spreading the message of the meaning and values of the American Society. This is a normal situation. I recall the following statement: “Whoever our students may be, whatever the subject we teach, ultimately we teach who we are”.

We must understand the enduring values of American culture: success, achievement, competition, and individualism. All of these must be obtained often at the expense of others. To do any less is to be un-American.

The school system of the United States is designed to reward high achievers. From the beginning, children learn that their success depends on the failure of others. Because there can be few best pupils, students compete with one another. These lessons are part of the hidden curriculum of the schools through the United States.