Some Thoughts and Observations
about Cultural Diversity in Education
Fate Conspired
On a plane to Washington, I was seated next to a young
Chinese-American woman on her way to visit her in-laws, Mandarin
immigrants who speak only their native language and practice
Mandarin customs in their home. The young woman, a second
generation American of Cantonese ancestry, talked about the
difficulty of retaining Chinese values in a fast-paced American
world. She described how different the languages and customs are
in various regions of China, but spoke of the common values:
respect for elders, commitment to education, loyalty and
closeness to extended family. She told me of her dream to live in
China for a time so that her children might learn "Chinese
ways." She also acknowledged the stark contrast between the
Chinese people (i.e., their values, customs, philosophies) and
the current oppressive government, expressing some amazement at
the resilience of the people and their values in the face of such
oppression. She shared all of these thoughts without even knowing
that the task I was about to work on was to read the manuscripts
for this issue of Early Report.
Inside this Issue
Asian cultures are many and diverse, yet there seems to be
strong common threads of nurturance, mutual respect, and high
value placed on education. The articles here speak to that common
thread, as well ,is to the persistence of those values and
practices and to the positive outcomes for children who grow up
in such circumstances.
1. Recently Kathy Kolb has worked with Harold Stevenson on his
landmark study comparing academic achievement of American,
Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese students. Her article summarizes
recent findings from that study and dispels some of the myths
about why Asian students outperform their American counterparts.
2. Shirley Moore gives us an inside look at early childhood
education in China and describes some changes taking place in
preschool classrooms there.
3. Looking closer to home, Sherry Muret-Wagstaff integrates
research and clinical observations in a thought-provoking
discussion of Hmong childrearing practices and the remarkable
adaptation of the Hmong people in the face of terror and total
upheaval as they made their way from war-torn Laos to Minnesota.
We are fortunate to have such a rich cultural resource and
inspiration as a part of our own ever-changing community.
What can we learn from the childrearing and educational
practices of these groups? How can we respect and facilitate the
preservation of the rich cultural traditions and values that have
served our Asian and Asian-American friends so well? What can we
do to welcome them to our community, to reduce barriers to
successful integration into our schools and other social systems?
We hope the articles in this Early Report help you explore these
questions and move toward greater understanding of child
development in the context of Asian cultures.
Martha Farrell Erickson, PhD Coordinator, Project STEEP
University of Minnesota CEED would like to thank Dr. Erickson for
serving as this issue's guest editor. Marti has written for the
newsletter iii the past and we look forward to her participation
iii the future. Thanks!!
Math Achievement in Japan,
China, Taiwan and the U.S.
Three 5-year-old's take the same math test. The child who
scores highest is most likely to be from:
a. the United States.
b. Japan.
c. Taiwan.
d. they are likely to score the same.
To answer this question correctly, you would need to know that
differences in math achievement between children in different
countries begin very early long before high school or even
elementary school. You should also know that children in Asian
countries have mathematically out-performed their U.S.
contemporaries in a number of studies. (At age 5, the Japanese
child would be most likely to score the highest.)
Dr. Harold Stevenson, professor of psychology at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his colleagues in
Michigan, Taiwan, Japan, and People's Republic of China have
conducted important comparative studies in the area of math
achievement. They have tested and interviewed over 7,000
kindergartners, 1st and 5th graders in these four countries (the
U.S. samples were in Minneapolis and Chicago). A follow-up study
of the now-11th-graders in Japan, Taiwan and Minneapolis has
begun.
This article looks at results of these studies, explores some
of the reasons for these findings, and discusses the relevance
for early childhood educators.
The Findings
The apparent difference in mathematics performance between
U.S. and Asian children, with the Asian children having the edge,
has been cause for increasing alarm. The primary concern is over
possible decline in U.S. competitiveness in science and
technology areas. Stevenson and his colleagues, armed with these
concerns, set out to address several questions, such as: Are
there truly differences in math achievement? How early can we
measure these differences? What are the differences and what
might be behind the differences we find?
What the researchers found is alarming. As early as
kindergarten, Japanese children outperform U.S. children in math.
While 5-year-olds in Taiwan performed at about the same level as
their U.S. counterparts, their performance improved throughout
the elementary years. U.S. children showed a relative decline in
math performance in grade school vis-a-vis the Asian children
studied. One measure of this is to look at how many children from
each country scored in the top and the bottom 5% of scores on the
math test. In first grade, only three U.S. children (out of 6,500
total from all countries) were in the top 5%, in fifth grade only
two. Conversely, U.S. children were over-represented in the
bottom 5%: 163 children at grade one, 181 children at grade 5!
Reasons
In discussing the reasons for these math performance
differences, Stevenson first tells us what the reasons are not:
Asians are not more intelligent than Americans. There is no
clear evidence of an IQ difference among the four countries. In
these studies, when tested on 10 tasks of the type found in
intelligence tests, overall scores of 5th graders were
equivalent.
Asian children do not get an earlier start in formal
instruction. Quite the opposite in fact. Following over 300 hours
of observation in Taipei, Sendai, and Minneapolis, the teachers
in U.S. class rooms spent the highest percentage of time in
direct teaching and structured experiences: 90% of class time
versus 6 1 % in Taipei and 65% in Sendai. This parallels mothers'
efforts in Taipei and Sendai to begin teaching their children at
home. For example, 90% of U.S. mothers said they taught their
children numbers at home, while only 64% of Chinese mothers and
36% of Japanese mothers did so.
After-school classes in academic subjects are not a factor.
The primary purpose of these classes is to prepare older students
for high school and university entrance exams; attendance during
the first six grades is not high and the subjects taught are
typically art, music, dancing, and calligraphy. In these studies,
5% of Japanese 5th graders were enrolled in after-school math
classes, compared with 3% of U.S. and 8% of Chinese 5th graders.
Asian mothers are not, as is popularly thought, "pushy,
demanding, home-bound tutors." Rather, it is the role of
Japanese mothers (primarily) and of all Chinese family members to
provide a nurturing and protected environment for learning. This
is accomplished through daily supervision of homework, expression
of concern and support for -academic activities.
Rote learning and group recitation do not characterize Asian
(or U.S.) classrooms. Asian teachers of math employ teaching
strategies that emphasize applications, problem solving, and
abstract representations of problems.
The Real Reasons
If these misconceptions do not explain the differences in math
achievement between the countries studied, what does? Stevenson
discusses several possibilities from his research:
U.S. children perceive themselves as being quite good at math,
therefore they may not be motivated to study harder. When 5th
graders were asked how well they would do in mathematics in high
school, 58% of U.S. children said they expected to be above
average or among the best students, whereas only 26% of Chinese
and 29% of Japanese 5th graders were this optimistic. U.S.
children are more likely to think that their mothers were
satisfied with their performance, and U.S. mothers were more
likely to say they were satisfied, even when those children were
doing less well than their Asian peers.
More U.S. than Asian school children rated math as easy/very
easy, possibly because the U.S. math curriculum is less difficult
than the curricula in Japan and Taiwan. Analysis of textbooks
used in these three countries revealed that, while they contained
approximately the same numbers of concepts and skills, these
concepts and skills were introduced earlier in the Japanese
schools.
Children and parents in Japan and Taiwan are more likely (than
those in the U.S.) to say effort and hard work are necessary to
do well. For example, when mothers of kindergartners were asked
what would determine how far their children would go in school,
half of the Japanese mothers, 27% of the Chinese mothers, but
only 5% of the American mothers said it depended upon how hard
the child worked in school. U.S. mothers were more likely to
stress other factors, such as if the family would have enough
money. This disparity mirrors differences among the three
cultures in philosophies of human nature. That is, Asian
philosophies minimize innate individual differences and believe
that differences that arise are due to life experiences, effort,
and self-discipline.
Fewer hours of class time are spent involved in academic
activities in grade 5 in U.S. classrooms. Based on 1,200 hours of
observation, 64% of the time in U.S. classrooms was spent on
academics versus 92% in Chinese classrooms and 87% in Japanese
classrooms. Broken down into time spent on individual subjects,
U.S. 5th graders spent only 3.4 hours a week on math, compared to
11.4 hours in Japan and 7.6 hours in Taiwan. Another classroom
difference observed was the vitality and enthusiasm of the Asian
teachers. Even though classes are large (40 to 50 children),
teachers successfully engage the students. The energy required
may be partly due to the Asian teachers spending fewer hours each
day in direct teaching they have more time during the school day
in which to prepare lessons.
The Implications
One of the most compelling results of these studies is how
early differences in math performance were demonstrated. If our 6
and 7-year-olds are falling behind, it is clear that action
should be taken at an even younger age. Early childhood educators
can assess these research findings and think about which areas we
can affect. While we cannot determine the amount of time spent on
mathematics in elementary school or at what point various
concepts are introduced, we can send children to school who are
eager to learn. We can provide young children in our care with
meaningful and successful experiences with math. . We can help
children creatively solve the problems they encounter. We can lay
the groundwork for present and future success in math!
By Kathy Kolb
Preschool Education in China
As reported by Shirley Moore, PhD, who
visited preschools in the People's Republic of China in 1983 and
again in 1989.
The term preschool education in China and Taiwan refers to
programs for children between the ages 3 and 6. A developmental
distinction is made between activities for 3 and 4-year olds, and
5 and 6-year olds. As with U.S. 5-year olds, theirs appear to be
in transition. Some fives have a pre-academic curriculum (what we
would call readiness activities) and others have already begun
formal instruction in reading, writing and math. My observations
were primarily of older threes, fours and younger fives.
One thing seemed very clear about early childhood programs in
China--there is a reform movement afoot. Before discussing the
characteristics of avant-garde programs, I will briefly describe
what might be called "traditional" preschool education.
Traditional Programs
Throughout China, young children are enrolled in large
classroom groups, often about 35 children, with one teacher and
an assistant. Children typically participate in a single group
activity such as a lesson, a music or dance activity, a craft or
table activity, or an outdoor exercise and game period. The
teaching style is pleasant but didactic; the lead teacher
conducts the activity for the group while the assistant
participates with the children or prepares for the next activity.
Interactions between teachers and children are friendly and
attentive, but there is little individualization of the learning
experience.
In one lesson, four-year olds were studying the fall harvest.
The teachers had assembled seven or eight different vegetables
commonly served as part of family meals. Children were asked to
name the vegetables and their parts. They raised their hands to
answer and, if chosen, stood briefly, delivered a one or two word
answer, and sat down. This style of teaching did not seem to
affect the children's enthusiasm, as children were seemingly
eager to be called on. They raised their hands time and again,
squirming with impatience, but were cooperative and
non-disruptive while waiting a turn.
Two highly-valued educational goals of the traditional early
childhood educators are reflected in this style of education: 1)
the child's commitment the group rather than to the individual;
and 2) respect for the authority and leadership of the teacher in
the classroom situation.
Reform Programs
What changes to this traditional approach to pre-school
education are being proposed? Reform programs include:
1) a more humanistic relationship between teachers and
children. Children have more opportunities to talk informally
with teachers, ask questions, and elaborate on the subject if
they are so inclined;
2) more opportunities for unstructured play and for children
to interact with companions. Dramatic play materials, including
doll corners and block areas, are found in a few programs;
3) more choices of activities during open classroom periods;
4) learning experiences embedded in curricular themes about
common events and endeavors in Chinese society. In the Nanjing
Laboratory School, for example, restaurant and hospital themes
were underway. An excellent supply of theme-related props were
available to the children as well as information about the roles
of workers.
5) the opportunity for community field trips.
Reform curriculum is described as "integrated,"
i.e., linked across developmental domains (cognitive, language,
social and physical) and across subject matter (literature,
social studies, science and math). Teachers encourage choices,
initiative, independence, and "discovery." The role of
the teacher is to set the stage for active learning and to guide
children in their learning efforts.
The changes I observed in educational philosophy and practice
seem to reflect broader changes in Chinese society in recent
years. I was impressed with the attention given to evaluating the
various approaches to early childhood education. The children of
China certainly will benefit from the work being done in the
field of preschool education.
Developmental Implications for
Children in Cultural Transition
A Hmong mother's eyes welled with tears as she sat in a
Minneapolis pediatric clinic describing her recent family
history. Her husband, a farmer, had been killed by soldiers in
their mountaintop homeland in Laos. She and the surviving members
of his clan set out on foot to creep through the jungle, hiding
by day, traveling by night, for nearly, a month. With one of her
babies tied to her chest and the other on her back, she was able
to nurse them alternately and did not have to resort to using
opium water to prevent crying and possible detection by
adversaries. At the Mekotig River, she built a tiny raft of vines
and hollow reeds and swam the children to safety, in Thailand.
Now, after a flight from a Southeast Asian refugee camp to
Minnesota, she and her children and over 10,000 others in the
Twin Cities face new challenges, from the mysteries of
electricity to the complexities of written English - a new
culture.
Childrearing patterns, family values, and individual roles and
expectations are embedded in particular environments and cultural
systems. What happens to a child's development when families must
flee their homeland to find safety half a world away?
Over 10,000 Hmong refugees now in the Twin Cities have faced
such a plight following the war in Southeast Asia. These
remarkably adaptable families have taught us a great deal over
the past decade, through interviews and studies conducted by
Shirley Moore, Brenda Cumming, Chuck Oberg, Pang Her, Oukeo Vang,
and the author.
Adaptability
INFANTS
: This adaptability is evident in how Hmong mothers relate to
their infants. For example, one set of studies looked at a group
of Hmong mothers who delivered babies soon after arriving in the
U.S. under conditions of poverty and stress. Regardless of this
stress, these mothers showed a consistently high degree of
sensitivity and responsiveness to their infants, which is
associated with a tendency for babies to be less irritable and to
orient better to sights and sounds. In comparison, a group of
U.S. mothers living in the same neighborhoods showed varying
levels of sensitivity.
TODDLERS
: Mothers in both cultural groups who were highly sensitive to
their babies' needs tended to remain so in the toddler period. As
in studies of other populations, this high sensitivity during
infancy was positively associated with security of attachment,
which may lay the foundation for later competence and well-being.
Despite differences in particular childrearing styles and
environments, toddlers in Hmong and U.S. groups whose mothers
were highly sensitive showed a striking similarity at home in
patterns of interaction, play, self-control, and sociability. In
contrast, toddlers of U.S. mothers with low sensitivity scores
tended to show less adaptive behaviors. Interesting differences
between the Hmong and U.S. groups which emerged included lower
injury rates for Hmong babies and toddlers, nearly universal
co-sleeping for Hmong mother-baby pairs (which conventionally
continues for several years), and a high degree of extended
family support in Hmong families while U.S. mothers more often
were socially isolated.
Sibling Relationships
Attentiveness to babies is passed along by word and example
through Hmong generations, and sibling caretaking is the rule. A
7-year-old, for example, can be expected to carry, feed, and play
with an infant or toddler sibling for several hours under the
watchful eye of mother or aunt. Among siblings, a strict
hierarchy by age is observed. The older child is expected to be
nurturant, to act as a model of proper behavior, and to give up
desired toys or food to the younger child. The younger child is
expected to be respectful and compliant to an older sibling. The
resulting low level of conflict is a common source of amazement
to U.S. adults.
Gender Differences
In the U.S., Hmong children learn by observing and imitating
adults of the same gender. A 3-year-old Hmong girl may deftly
practice stitches with needle and thread in the hem of her dress
with her grandmother's guidance, while her 4-year-old brother
squats beside a chopping block, intently watching his father chop
meat.
Education
In Laos, very few Hmong boys and almost no girls attend
school. These families place a high value on education and, in
Minneapolis, Southeast Asian children miss fewer days of school
per pupil than any other mainstream or minority group. More than
50 Hmong students are currently enrolled at the University of
Minnesota.
Cultural Transitions
Ironically, in contrast to the old "melting pot"
philosophy, new anthropological and educational data suggest that
children and families meet the demands of a new culture best when
they have the opportunity to apply adaptive strategies and values
from their native culture. Continued socialization of Hmong
children in the U.S. toward family commitment and responsibility,
maintenance of group harmony, respectful and face-saving
negotiation, and group decision-making would seem to serve them
well in friendship formation and later job success.
Cultural transition inevitably creates changes which have
implications for the child's development. Adult depression, which
can erode the parent-child relationship, is increasing among
Hmong refugees as it has historically for the immigrating
generation of other groups. Survivor guilt, grieving for the lost
homeland, vocational loss, decline of the traditional cultural
inventory, discrimination, and anxiety about an uncertain future
all are taking their toll.
Barriers to Adjustment
Other conflicts and threats to traditional ways are multiple
and diverse. Role reversal resulting from a child's learning
English faster than the parent is a common source of difficulty.
A dramatic power shift occurs when the child becomes the family
broker at the bank, the grocery, the doctor's office, and the
school, while the parent remains unable to read housing
contracts, school reports, permission slips, or road signs. The
large extended family available to the child in Laos will not fit
into a U.S. apartment. Devices such as infant seats, cribs, and
infant swings physically separate the mother from her baby and
obscure many of the cues Hmong mothers respond to when carrying
their babies. Even more subtle differences can lead to
disruptions. For example, a U.S. teacher may be offended if the
child repeatedly looks away during conversation, while the Hmong
elder expects a child to demonstrate respect by frequently
casting the eyes downward.
How can institutions enable Hmong people to succeed in the
U.S. and exploit their own cultural strengths? A majority of
mothers tell us that the single biggest problem they face is the
language barrier, limiting their access to information. We can
begin by making English fluency and literacy available to all and
providing interpreters in the interim. However, this must not
come in a way that diminishes the fragile integrity of cultural
customs. Families are well served when we celebrate diversity and
invite Hmong leadership, objects, and practices into our
institutions, not as novelties but as essential components of our
functioning. In decision making, we can look beyond expediency of
the moment and respect clan problem solving preferences,
realizing that the process is often at least as important as the
outcome. Taking our cues from Hmong tradition, we can provide
children with opportunities to play and learn amidst their
extended families, in mixed age groups, in cooperative group
projects, in hands-on functional contexts, and through
storytelling and song.
By Sharon Muret-Wagstaff Department of Pediatrics Hennepin
County Medical Center
On The Director's Mind..
On behalf of the CEED staff, best wishes for the New Year and
the promises of a new decade. As you may know, Erna Fishhaut and
I each pursued a single quarter leave this past Autumn. (Erna
will share observations about her activities in our Spring
Newsletter which will focus on Child Abuse, a topic she pursued
during her leave). I had the good fortune to travel east and
spend time at Harvard University. By the way, the fall in
Cambridge is picture postcard material: jewel-colored leaves
crunch under foot along Brattle Street, heralding the arrival of
colder, more intense days. New students mingle with old outside
the COOP or at small tables in Harvard Square, rediscovering the
virtues of Kant and Kierkegaard and the other required
"reads" for Humanities 101, but also sneaking furtive
glances at the new kids on the block ... an endless stream of
joggers, bikers, and strollers follow along the shores of the
Charles River, retracing the paths of William James, Gertrude
Stein, John F. Kennedy, and the many other rich and famous who
acquired their crimson polish at Harvard.
I must admit this greying, almost-half-a-century old observer
drew upon "If you only knew" wisdom more than once as
he watched those callow youth parade through the Harvard yard.
Among the reasons I chose to visit Harvard University was to
gain a broader perspective on our new program called FACT FIND.
After a one-year pilot project, CEED has received funding from
The Bush Foundation and the University of Minnesota's central
administration to continue the FACT FIND program. It's purpose is
to establish and maintain communication links between the
University of Minnesota and state policy-makers and policy
influencers; it's goal is to provide information, well-grounded
in research, to legislators, their committee staff, state agency
personnel, and the Governor's office, enabling them to feel
comfortable when making decisions.
At Harvard, I had the good fortune to meet with colleagues in
the Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Education,
Kennedy School of Government, and the Medical School. We shared
views about effective strategies for bringing our knowledge about
children and families to bear on the welfare of these
populations. To my dismay, I realized that there are significant
gaps in our understanding of how the knowledge bases of child
development can best inform decision-making among policy-makers.
In discussions with professionals at Cambridge, we explored ways
to enhance the connections among the academic community, the
legislature, and other policy-making arenas at state and national
levels.
The activities of Bush Foundation-funded centers at Yale,
Michigan, University of North Carolina, and UCLA, the SRCD
Congressional Science Fellowships, and a variety of our CEED
programs document successful efforts in this regard. Although
Harvard Square seems far away as I scurry around the U of M
campus, I have a renewed commitment to FACT FIND and other CEED
initiatives.
As the snow falls outside my Institute window and we return to
our agendas, the shadows along Brattle Street seem so far away.
Best wishes.
Richard A. Weinberg
CEED in the Policy Arena
The Center for Early Education and Development (CEED) has
always had, as a mission, the "giving away of information
about child development." Last year this mission took form
in a pilot project called act Find. The project was well-received
and CEED is pleased to announce that we have received funding
from The Bush Foundation and the University of Minnesota's
Central Administration to continue the Fact Find Program.
The Goals
The Fact Find model is one which creates communication
linkages between the University of Minnesota and state policy
makers. The goal is to provide information about issues that
underlie policies affecting young children and their families to
State legislators and legislative staff, the Governor's office
and executive branch staff, including state agency personnel.
Often research data that could be helpful to them is not in a
format that is useful or readily accessible.
FACT FIND's purpose is to "demystify" research for
legislators and other decision makers. We do this by providing
information in non-technical summary form in a variety of modes,
such as brief Fact Sheets, short reports that respond to
inquiries, and audio tapes.
We believe that the research community at the University,
representing diverse disciplines, can be a valuable, nonpartisan
resource to policy makers. Virtually every societal problem
involving the welfare of young children and their families
requires an informed perspective that only comes from drawing on
multiple views. A University, by its very nature, offers the
range of expertise needed for making well informed policy
decisions.
THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE A computerized resource file of
University of Minnesota faculty has been developed to be able to
find individuals with appropriate expertise quickly. We also keep
in touch with colleagues at other colleges and universities as
well as having access to literature search resources.
In addition to the distribution of printed materials, the
program provides a person, the FACT FINDER, who takes the time to
get acquainted with legislators and staff. This personal contact
creates opportunities to respond to questions and to determine
the specific needs for information related to issues that are
under discussion in the legislature.
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Winter 1990, Volume 17, Number 2