Asian culture: Beliefs, values and education

The article was very informative, particularly the background on Asian culture. The article takes an interesting perspective on family issues with education. Most of my background knowledge on family values in Asian culture is minimal. Therefore, majority of the information I received from the article was new and somewhat surprising. For example, adopting children is unpopular in Asian culture because they rely heavily on blood ties. Attaching shame to women who are pregnant and unmarried I feel is awful. In addition, I did not realize how important education is to children in both China and Korea. It seems as though these parents are obsessed with their children’s education, as it marks family social and economic status. There seems to be too much pressure put on these children to perform well enough to get into the few universities that have strong reputations. Because of the lack of “quality” schools, parents will view their child as failures if they have disabilities, or if they are unable to perform. Likewise with the case of Xin who wanted to participate in music classes, but his parents wanted him to be in math or reading classes; areas that he performed poorly at. In this case, I feel that the parents should be more willing to let their child do what they enjoy, instead of putting their child into classes that they dislike so that their families reputation can improve. This obsession with their child’s education is unnerving and selfish. Also, when the children need IEP’s, the parents are unable to interact with professionals. The special education teacher has the main responsibility of developing IEP’s. If a child’s education is so important to the parents, I would expect them to have more involvement in their child’s education plans. According to the article, parents are passive recipients of their child’s education. This doesn’t make sense, when they rely heavily on their child’s education and future success. More involvement in their child’s education would be beneficial to both the child and to the parents.
The article changed the way I may interact with children in the future from Asian culture. The article provides an informative table on how to work with families from Asian cultures. For example, grandparents hold higher authority than parents. When working with grandparents, the professional should express respect. Additionally, the fathers of children with Asian cultures are uninvolved in their child’s education. Therefore, it is important to help fathers understand their role in education and they should be involved in making decisions. When it comes to the parents’ strong passion and reliance on their child’s education, it is important to express concern for that child if he or she has a disability or a learning difference. These are just a few ways to help gain trust and provide information to parents from Asian cultures.
Overall, the article changed the way I thought about Asian culture in terms of education. Many of their beliefs and values are new to me, and I believe it can be a challenge when faced with children and parents of Asian culture. Professionals and educators need the ability to meet the needs of diverse students and their families, especially when their culture is significantly different from ours. The article was very informative and it opened my eyes to other cultures and education.