Camden’s Blog

Why are the Asian-American kids silent in class? - asks Carol A. Tateishi

I am very familiar with the high school of which Tateishi writes, I went to high school just down the street in Albany, Ca.  There are some generational variances now of course but I must say that I am very surprised to find that classrooms in the Bay Area, particularly in El Cerrito, still struggle with asian students being silent and reluctant to engage in collaborative learning .  In fact, I would say that in the 70’s my Asian peers were more apt to be involved and outspoken than Jeff and his peers in 2007.  Perhaps because it was the era of the free speech movement and our proximity to Berkeley, coupled with the different asian cultures that were represented in my school that my asian peers were more vocal.  At the time I was in high school, most asian students were Chinese, Japanese, or Philapino - 2nd or 3rd generation.  Immigration of Vietnamese, Laotians, Hmong, Koreans, Indians, and other Pacific Islanders in significant numbers had not yet occured by the time I graduated.   Jeff, being 4th generation Japanese, frankly surprises me a great deal so I would like to discuss some problems that came up for me in this article.

 First, Tateishi poses several questions of her own as they relate to her premise that the use of language is key to classroom learning.  Before I would agree with her premise, I would like a fuller explanation of what she and Joan mean by it. 

Jeff seems very capable of expressing himself with language, at least in writing. I can’t get past the feeling that some of this article sounded as if it comes from a deficit thinking perspective.  If the silence of these five students comes from a place that is culturally imbedded and feels right to them, why isn’t that respected?  Tateishi makes no references to their academic acheivement – are these struggling students? 

 Additionally, out of the 5 students only Japanese, Chinese, and Korean (1 student) were represented.  So the asian cultures respresented in her case study are of asian cultures that traditionally outperform other asian cultures with differing migration patterns such as Vietnamese, Hmong, Laotians, Cambodians, Philapinos etc.

 A factor not mentioned in this article is that El Cerrito High School’s SES is fairly high (the only hint is that Jeff’s father is a dentist).  Students with lower SES’ at El Cerrito High are generally not from Japanese or Chinese households.  I would argue that many households of the upper middle class do not necessarily encourage their children to discuss their feelings, their confusions, and their misunderstandings in school.  And specifically with the three females who are the more recent immigrants, their relunctantance to engage in discourse can be linked to silent periods and language acquisition behaviors common to all second language learners. 

Tateishi recommendations are very good for encouraging classroom discussion but I think that this is true for all students, especially for all students of color and second/third languages.  As education now relys on and encourages the regular use of collaboration to improve learning, it is incumbant on us to find way that encourage all students to engage in conversation.  Her discussion of authorship is very relevant and important to all discussion groups.  The emergence of discussion protocols leads creadence to her assertion that students who are relunctant to speak up due to cultural or family norms may feel more empowered to engage with clear rules of discussion.   Students from many immigrant cultures have codes of silence in their homes and females are expected to hold their tongues and therefore, authorship would benefit all students.

Finally, I disagree strongly with her comments on students in the Bay Area and San Francisco schools in an emerging stage of being “A lot less quiet”.  Historically, asian communities in the Bay Area have been very vocal and visible.  Student groups for all asian cultures are usually active and represented in both high schools and universities in the Bay Area.  This includes asian cultures that have been over-respresented with struggling students and dropouts.  I am not saying that with certain asian student relunctance to engage in discourse in the classroom does not exist, I just know that Tateishi is over generalizing her personal experience and doing a disservice to many years of cultural diversity work done in Bay Area over the past 40 years. 

 I do not completely disagree with Tateishi, I believe that the experiences of these 5 students can be representative of many asian students in many parts of this country, and therefore, her article has relevancy in education across America. 

Unmasking the myth of the model minority – Benji Chang and Wayne Au

 This article could serve as an example to unmasking the myth of all minorities in America.  The racial classifications in our country really underserve all races and perpetuate white priviledge – this has been true since their inception.  What stands out about the Asian classification in this country is the buy-in by those in positions of privilege that some Asian cultures academically shine by following the puritanic doctrines of hard work and quiet assimilation.  Forgotten are the years of discrimination and racial hatred endured by the ancestors of our 4th and now 5th generation Japanese and Chinese.  During their years of early immigration, our society was not lauding them as model citizens. 

So currently, the very large unbrella system of racial classification really performs three functions of masking.  First, it masks  the history and the shame of a nation built on exploiting minority immigrant populations.  Second, it masks continued disparities toward newly immigrant populations by throwing them into the water and making these cultures literally disappear as they disolve into the vast Asian ocean.  And this happens in the Hispanic Ocean and African/Black Ocean, and long ago began in the Native American/Indian Ocean.  Finally, the macro masking of this myth is that it allows a wedge to be forged between and within racial minorities and thus, provides justification for other racial myths that built on inferiority and the perpetuation of white superiority.  I whole- heartedly agree with Chang and Au that engaging in stereotyping of any kind – positive or negative is perilous and has no place in education.

 So what does this all mean in our classrooms?  Teachers must really take the time to understand the culture, and in many cases, cultures from which our students come.  We must not assume that we know by what we see superficially, in most cases we do not.  We should not assume a student is deprived because their cultural norms are different from our own.  In fact, we should consider the possibility that we might actually be the ones deprived.  When teaching about heroes and sheroes, art, social studies we should include many examples from many cultures – not just in the US but globally. This is the beginning of a socially just classrom.   

Welcome to Edublogs.org. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!