Chingheng Chang
As an international student with a Chinese cultural background, I have always been attentive to Chinese immigrant children’s education in Quebec or other places in North America. Since my main field of interest is language education, the language use of immigrant families is an issue that has always been one of my greatest concerns. According to an ethnographic study involving ten Chinese immigrant families in Quebec, Curdt-Christiansen (2009) discovered that society, economy, parents’ experiences, and cultural beliefs are factors that have heavily influenced the language use of a family (the invisible language planning) and expectations of their children. After reading Curdt-Christiansen’s study, I have a bad feeling for the Chinese immigrant children: Some of them are probably going to sacrifice most of their childhood time learning at least three languages (Chinese, English, and French) and cramming for many other extracurricular subjects.
I guess the most conspicuous factor is parents’ expectations of their children. As a person growing up in Taiwan, I have heard so many times that parents always put such pressure on their children because many parents weren’t given the opportunities to receive a good education in the past. To make up for the “missed opportunity” of parents, which is mentioned in Curdt-Christiansen’s article, Chinese children are usually asked to learn many things they are not really interested in. Sadly, for those who cannot keep up with the demand would be harshly punished sometimes. Although the context between Taiwan and its cross-strait counterpart might be somewhat different, the interviewed parents’ thoughts are actually in tune with those of quite a few parents in Taiwan.
Due to the influence of the context in Quebec, especially the language law Bill 101, all immigrant children must attend a French school. To work in Quebec, French is a must. I will always remember what some parents said in the interview that the more language a child learns, the better chance the child gets. Moreover, some also said that Chinese children must perform a better job than the local children; otherwise, the Chinese children would not be given any chance at all for their language proficiency, which is considered a basic requirement (or an disadvantage Chinese children must overcome?). Therefore, extra-learning is a necessary evil for Chinese immigrant children to keep up with the demand imposed by the environment.
In all, a variety of factors shape the way education is supposed to be for Chinese immigrant children, which might somehow influence the language use of many immigrant families. I think it is the fate immigrant children can never escape no matter where they are. That is, children who are educated in Asia have to go through a series of cramming for tests and learning talents (e.g., piano lessons, dancing, painting, and many others) so that they don’t fall behind, the worst nightmares for Asian parents. Now in Quebec, immigrant children are subject to high-pressure planning of education as well. In the end, I would like to share a clip of a TV show what would you do1. It is about Asian style parenting that has gone viral over the internet and has thus become one of the most hotly-debated issues in North America (When I first saw this clip, I was kind of surprised because something that is happening almost every day in Taiwan is considered child abuse in North America).
Note
- “What would you do is situational hidden camera TV show generally with actors acting out scenes of conflict or illegal activity in public settings while hidden cameras record the scene, and the focus is on whether or not bystanders intervene, and how? ” (From Wikipedia) The clip is about a “tiger mom,” which is a neologism used to describe an authoritarian; disciplinarian Asian mother. The following interpretations of grading, which I found funny, can also be found from the link of the clip.
A=Average (It’s just ACCEPTABLE! That’s what an A stands for!)
B=Be ashamed of yourself
C=Can’t eat dinner
D=Don’t come home
F=Find a new family
Discussion
- How do you think of the dilemma Chinese immigrant children face in Quebec or in their home countries?
- Do you have any experience or idea about invisible language planning ?
Reference
Curdt-Christiansen, X. L. (2009). Invisible and visible language planning: Ideological factors in the family language policy of Chinese immigrant families in Quebec. Language Policy, 8(4), 351– 375.
Wikipedia. (n.d.). What would you do. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Would_You_Do%3F_(2008_TV_program)
Chris
Wow, that clip was hard to watch. My goodness. I don’t think I would have been able to contain myself either. To answer your first question, I don’t know what the children can do. When I was in Korea, I taught a little girl called Rachel (not her real name) during last period on Fridays. One time I enthusiastically asked the class if they were excited for the weekend, and you should have seen the face she made. I couldn’t believe it. It was a face of absolute disdain. I asked her why she didn’t like the weekend. She proceeded to list her schedule of activities: swimming, violin, tennis, piano, and that was just for Saturday ! It sounded fun to me, but she made it crystal clear that it was not fun for her. My colleagues knew Rachel’s mom, and she was a helicopter mom, but they never saw her mistreat her daughter in any way. She just pushed her to do all these extra-curricular activities, which in hindsight is pretty normal in Korea. That said, Rachel was incredibly hard on herself, and I’m almost sure it was out of fear of disappointing her mom. So you are asking what the child can do ? I honestly can’t tell you. I even felt powerless to do anything as a teacher when I was living somewhere where it was normalized. I just want to highlight that I think this was an extreme case. I didn’t come across students that were visibly pushed as hard as Rachel was, during my 4 years in Korea.
As per your second question: I don’t think the invisible hand is that invisible. I think proficiency in the three languages depends on whether someone went to English or French high school. Of my friends in elementary school, those from Hong Kong went to English school and the rest went to French school. It’s not as lopsided as you think, as most Chinese people in Brossard, in the 1990’s, came from Hong Kong. My friends from Hong Kong usually went to “Chinese school” (it was Cantonese, but they just said “Chinese” in those days) on Saturday afternoons. For the most part, they spoke Cantonese at home, English with friends, and learned French as a third language, because it was mandatory. I don’t think they became very proficient in French. Of those friends, only a handful have stayed in Quebec. Conversely, my friends who went to French school continued to speak English, but became much more proficient in French, while seemingly speaking less of their parents’ native language. I would say that most of them have stayed in Quebec. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t think the invisible hand of family language policy plays as much of a role as where children go to school. I would even say that where children go to school forces the invisible hand in a particular direction.
Hi Chingheng,
Your topic is very interesting. I work at a Chinese school on weekends teaching English and I feel very bad for my students. Not only they have a 3-hour class with me on Sunday afternoons, but some of them are already at the school before I arrive, because they have French and math classes in the morning.
But not all of them are Chinese. I have a student born in Ukraine that reports going to school EVERY DAY, as he also has Russian classes on Saturday – he often complains about that with me before class starts. It is interesting to see the change in his behavior in class and at the end of class, when his mother comes to collect him. During class, he seems happy, he talks a lot and play games with his classmates (he often disrupts the class, but I honestly do not blame any of my students for wanting to have fun or just take a nap on a Sunday afternoon…); when his mother arrives, she talks to him in a serious manner and he responds in the same way, it always seems like she is complaining about something (but I do not know because I think they are speaking in Russian). I wonder if she is as strict and demanding as Chinese parents are stereotypically expected to be.
In Brazil, I had the impression that parents were starting to enroll their children in more and more classes and activities, like you mentioned in your text. But I do not think they were super concern about their kids actually achieving high levels of expertise.
Ana
It’s quite surprising to know that children who grow up in immigrant families are still sharing the same experience as most children who are brought up in some traditional Chinese families! It’s so true that parents in China nowadays are imposing too much pressure and burden on their children in the name of “paving the way for a better future”. It seems to me that instead of making the children happy, most parents would rather want to see their children become successful, that’s why the notion of “strive for the best” are so deeply ingrained in lots of children’s mind, because they can’t afford the consequence of letting their parents down. It’s really hard to imagine what a huge challenge those immigrant children whose parents still stick to the traditional Chinese way of parenting in places that promote a totally different parenting philosophy are facing!
-Yating
Hi Chingheng,
I lived in an immigrant family when I first arrived here. When I was communicating with the parents about my childhood, they were so surprised that I did not attend many extra-curricular classes like other Chinese kids. The mom even joked that I was the only Chinese she met who was born in 1990s, grew up in China and can’t play piano. It’s sad that some immigrant children have to learn three or even more languages as well as talents, especially when their parents are acquiring Asian educational philosophy and being tiger parents.
-HS
My goodness, that video packs a punch! I wouldn’t normally get to see this kind of parenting style…and although I know it’s very common, like Chris, I found it hard to watch. Yet I think that in less demonstrative ways I also exerted a lot of pressure to perform on my own children (now aged 31 and 33). Okay, maybe not the piano lessons and sports teams. but certainly the academic pressure. Hmmm…is that related to being part South Asian? What can we put down to culture, and what to personality? Or to a person’s experiences of frustration in their own childhood?
Hmmm…..
Hi Chingheng, I have to say that the situation is somewhat exaggerated in the video and the article as well. And I highly condemn this way of parenting, which deprive children of their happy childhood. As a teacher in Beijing for 10 years, and as a mom of an 8-year-old immigrant kid, I’ve always been an insider and I should say that I know the situation better than many people. One of the reasons for my family to immigrate to Canada is to escape the educational pressure in China. I should say that there’re many more factors leading to children’s successful development besides academic success. We’ve been hearing about so many stories of children of high academic success are behaving immorally or are even committing crimes. Parents and educators should be concerned with how to turn children into independent and healthy (physically and psychologically) human beings. Parents, educators and society should change their attitude towards education, however, I know it’s easier said than done. So sad. –Yiling