Power & Privilege

The concepts of power and privilege have been on my back of my mind since arriving here, but they've come to the forefront since getting paid last week. I made a little over 3 million dong, or $150 USD for three half-days of substitute teaching. As the school's accountant handed me a collection of 500,000 dong notes, I blurted out (like a complete ass) something along the lines of "Wow, I'm rich, this saves me a trip to the ATM!" I was later discreetly and politely informed by a colleague that my wages for three half-days of subbing could equal or surpass the monthly income of a typical Vietnamese family. So, in a roomful of Vietnamese teaching aides, all of whom are hardworking and completely indispensable to their Western colleagues (yet earn a fraction of their salary), I had carelessly showcased my ignorance, borne of a lifetime of privilege.

What strikes me is this: despite the fact that I am an immigrant to this country, part of an ethnic minority, unable to speak the native language, and barely able to navigate the city in which I now reside, I still enjoy a privileged status. My teaching skills and experience are in high demand, I will be paid an exceptionally competitive wage, and I will enjoy a cost of living in which the sum of my rent, utilities, food, transportation, and entertainment could easily amount to less than $500/month.

Now reverse the situation: A non-white immigrant arrives in the US. They have limited English skills. Unless they possess a specialized skill-set or unique trade, they will have difficulty finding high-paying work. Making ends meet on minimum wage in the US is a joke. They will struggle. Despite the promise of opportunities afforded through education and a "pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps" mentality, their children will likely struggle. Because of... skin color? Socio-economics? Institutionalized racism? What?

So I ponder the absurdity of my situation. I am an immigrant, I am an ethnic minority, I do not speak Vietnamese - yet I am privileged. There weren't any jobs at home, so I hopped on a plane and decided to find work in a foreign country. How many Vietnamese could do the same? How do I reconcile my capitalist tendencies (Need to make money! Need to get the best paying job! Financial security is the key to happiness!) with my social conscience?

Sure, I have degrees that attest to the amount of money, time, and effort I've invested in becoming a teacher. Certainly they prove that I am deserving of a competitive wage. Or you could boil it down to supply and demand: I speak English; everyone wants to learn how to speak English.

Yet having money and time to invest in education is a privilege. And yes, I speak English; but I often feel like the monolingual outcast in a community of bi- and trilingual peers. I'm privileged to speak English and only English; I don't need to learn another language unless I want to.

I'll leave it at that. I don't pretend to actually know the answers to these questions, or to be an expert in the nuances of power and privilege. I realize that my comparisons are very black and white, and that actual life is full of myriad shades of grey. I'm not presuming to solve an unsolvable riddle here; but I do hope that this gets you thinking. Thoughts?