The early graduation gambit of Japanese high-school sojourners in the US: organizing educational paths across borders

Abstract

While there is a growing presence of trans-Pacific migrant students in the US, relatively little attention has been given to the diversity among them in terms of their everyday experiences and future educational trajectories shaped by different patterns of transnational mobilities and practices. This paper addresses the distinctive educational experiences and needs of transnational Japanese students, temporarily enrolled in US schools accompanying their parents on business appointments from transnational corporations. This institutional ethnographic study examines the strategies that these sojourner students use to negotiate the institutional demands of US high-school life and the way to promote access to tertiary education in Japan. The findings show that, although corporate transnationalism restricts Japanese sojourners' geographical mobility, they still actively construct their futures through the high-stakes strategy of graduating a year early from US high schools. I call this early graduation scheme a gambit because the sojourners sacrifice beneficial opportunities and even risk their graduation itself in the hope of securing a positional advantage upon their return to their home country. The early graduation gambit is analysed through a lens of transnationalism.

Keywords:

• Japanese sojourners
• English language learners
• early graduation
• transnationalism
• US high school
• third culture kids

Acknowledgements

The author is deeply grateful to Dr Jan Nespor and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and valuable suggestions.

Notes

^1. The L2 dependent visa for Japanese sojourners allows them to stay in the US on the condition that their parents hold a valid L1 (Intra-company transferees') visa. The sojourner can change her visa status to F1 (student visa) to remain in the US, but she is limited to a maximum of 12 months of attendance at a public high school. This is not a popular option for Japanese sojourners, because not all high schools accept F1 visas, and tuition rates for F1 students (four times as expensive as in-state tuition) are not affordable.

^2. Japanese high schools are not legally compelled to accept returnees, as public school in Japan is only compulsory up to the ninth grade.

^3. The student with recent, multi-year transnational schooling experience but no high school diploma overseas might still be categorized as a returnee, but her choice of university would be considerably narrower.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Konosuke Matsushita Memorial Foundation [grant number:11-004].