The “Good Immigrant Student” sets a tone on how challenging it is to adapt from an immigrant, to American. Immigrating to the “nation of immigrants” can be difficult, as Bich Minh Nguyen who moved away from Saigon, spent her days trying to figure out what “all American” meant. Her family moved to the Grand Rapids with five dollars to spare. Staying at a rental house gifted by Mr. Heidenga, the family was always keen on staying away from the police’s line of vision. Just imagine the difficulty on that. Not only are you trying to adapt to the new living conditions, (earning money, learning English, etc) but you also have to stay away from any intruders who can raise the alarm. For Bich and her sister, they were already “Americanized.” They were learning the English language and watching television (assuming that the things that they were watching were in English). For other immigrant kids, they did not wish to learn the new language. Immigrant families were fearful that they would lose their roots by learning English. Most of the kids had no trouble of leading a double life where they could speak their native language at home and English outside. For Bich, that was not the case. She couldn’t handle being double-faced. This is what I think she means when she says, “I would like to make a broad, accurate statement about immigrant children in schools. I would like to
speak for them (us). I hesitate; I cannot.” Nguyen is trying to come up with a conclusion about immigrant children in schools but fails to do so because although she is among the immigrants, she leads a life that is different from the other immigrants. The others adapted, others rebelled, but Nguyen was one of those people that moved around in silence. According to the text, Nguyen states that, “My own sister,
for instance, was never as shy as I was — she chose rebellion rather than silence.” Furthermore she says, “Because I couldn’t disappear into a crowd, I wished to between being good and being unnoticed..” This shows the difference between her and how she wanted to “disappear” to those who were outspoken. Nguyen wanted to balance her way of living between being someone who has some sort of success in her life, to not being exposed in an immigrant crowd.