From Mao to Memphis: Chinese Immigrant Fathers’ Involvement with Their Children’s Education Alan Klein Abstract How do adults adapt when they have been inculcated into a particular phi- losophy of parenting and education and are then expected to adjust to a cultural framework possibly at odds with their worldview? Mainland Chinese fathers represent one immigrant group that has had to successfully learn to navigate various challenges while interacting with their children and the American K-12 educational system. This case study explores the issue of fathers and their chil- dren through interviews with five men from Mainland China. The article first highlights the most common concerns expressed by Chinese families toward American schools and details how the fathers in this study developed specific strategies to address similar worries. The findings then focus on the concept of parental involvement in children’s education through the fathers’ perspective and how it might diverge from a more traditional view of involvement held by some educators. Implications for strengthening cross-cultural awareness be- tween families and schools are discussed. Key Words: Chinese immigrant parents, Asian, fathers, schools, cross-cultural awareness, home practices, intercultural competence, parental beliefs, involve- ment, school-home communication, relationships, worldview, education The School Community Journal, 2008, Vol. 18, No. 2 91 THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY JOURNAL Introduction Recent research studying the cross-cultural aspects of parental involvement, such as the Bridging Cultures Project (Trumbull, Rothstein-Fisch, & Green- field, 2000; Trumbull, Rothstein-Fisch, & Hernandez, 2003), has provided guidance as to how schools can better understand the diverse communities that they serve. The case studies documented in this article were initiated because of a dilemma that occurred concerning Mainland Chinese1 immigrant par- ents and the schools their children attend in Memphis, Tennessee. Adults who seemed to be having few major problems adapting cross-culturally in their own academic or work lives appeared frustrated concerning their children’s educa- tion in American schools (Klein, 2004). In prescient work now almost two generations old, Gordon (1964) comments that public schools and the mass media exert “overwhelming accul- turative powers” over immigrant children (pp. 244-245). How much stronger have these influences become in our digital era, and did the Chinese parents feel that they were “losing” their daughters and sons due to these acculturative pressures? Why did teachers also begin to express aggravation at the demands made by some of the Chinese parents? The cultural gap that seemed to exist between the parents and the schools was both intriguing and disheartening. The question then arose: What would it take for Chinese immigrant parents, and specifically fathers, to adapt, cross-culturally, to the new realities that they encountered when dealing with their children’s education? This study began with the premise that parents are rightfully protective of their children and feel that any dangers, including cultural variances, must be minimized. With that in mind, an inquiry ensued into how fathers learned to adjust to a new worldview concerning the parenting and education of their children. The purpose of this article, then, is to explore the experiences of five immi- grant fathers from Mainland China as they interact with their children as well as the American K-12 educational system. Through these various interactions, the fathers demonstrate concern for their children’s education and display high levels of parental involvement with their children, even though this partici- pation might not be what the educational system has traditionally viewed as parental engagement. This exploratory study also has the broader goal of open- ing up the discourse concerning a rarely discussed group, immigrant fathers, in their children’s education. The findings from this research, which are based on an atypical cohort, are not to be taken as conclusive. 92 CHINESE FATHERS’ INVOLVEMENT Theoretical Framework Because the topic of parenting is so expansive, this analysis concentrates on the cross-cultural context of parenting behaviors that are highlighted in this study and the attendant changes that have occurred. However, before pre- senting those findings, an explanation is given concerning the meaning of the terms “intercultural competence” and “worldview,” and a brief overview of tra- ditional parenting roles in China is offered. It is also essential to comment on the impact of the Cultural Revolution on Chinese society. The topic of Chinese immigrant parenting styles is then mentioned, and the section concludes with a general overview of Chinese immigrants’ involvement in the schools. It is important to clarify that Asians are not a monolithic cultural group. They are categorized in the literature into three major subgroups based on fam- ily origin: East Asian (Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans), Southeast Asian, and South Asian. Although Japan and Korea have their own cultural identities, and the Chinese can be further divided into geographic subgroups from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, East Asians do share common beliefs concern- ing the primary role of parenting in their children’s educational achievement (Chao & Tseng, 2002). Intercultural Competence Research into cross-cultural relocations by sojourners, refugees, or immi- grants has been explored using various terminologies: intercultural competence, cross-cultural adaptation, intercultural effectiveness, and intercultural com- municative competence (Fantini, 2000; Hammer, Gudykunst, & Wiseman, 1978; Kim, 1995). Fantini clarifies that, regardless of label, three primary themes concerning intercultural competence have emerged from the literature highlighting the ability: (a) “to develop and maintain relationships,” (b) “to communicate effectively and appropriately with minimal loss or distortion,” and (c) “to attain compliance and obtain cooperation with others” (p. 27). The author comments that, although these abilities are equally appropriate in all interpersonal relationships, interacting across cultures complicates the com- munication and noticeably increases differences. These distinctions are created by disparities in language, culture, and worldview. Worldview Worldview is a fundamental concept succinctly defined by McKenzie (1991) as the “contemplation of the world” (p. 1). Within that statement, however, world is used in its most inclusive sense, comprising not only a physical realm, but also the views of others and one’s own subjectivity. The author continues 93 THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY JOURNAL that the world “takes on a definite texture and coloration in that I project upon it some features in my very act of viewing or interpreting” (p. 5). In other words, our personal worldviews are shaped by our interpretations, which we arrive at after reflecting upon our daily interactions. Relevant to this study, the participants’ lives in China, their subsequent immigration and adjustment to life in the United States, and lastly, their expe- riences of making sense of school life and parenting practices have all combined to inform their worldviews. An important aspect of that worldview is what it means for them to be fathers in this society. Traditional Parenting Roles for Fathers in China Customary parenting roles in China have followed the traditional maxim, “strict father, kind mother,” creating an environment in which mothers indulge and fathers control their children (Berndt, Cheung, Lau, Hau, & Lew, 1993; Chao & Tseng, 2002). However, Solomon (1971) points out that in the past, even with a rigid division of parenting roles based on gender, many Chinese fathers felt strong emotions toward their children. In any case, both Chinese mothers and fathers regard child rearing as a re- sponsibility of supreme importance in their lives (Xie & Hultgren, 1994). Xie, Seefeldt, and Tam (1996) state that a primary Confucian proverb concerning parenting is that “Bearing a child without training is the failure of his father” (p. 8). The authors remark that even with a modern interpretation of this state- ment emphasizing the role of both mothers and fathers, parents still bear total responsibility for their children’s failures. In contrast, the accomplishments of their children bring great honor to the whole family. The Cultural Revolution Traditional Chinese parenting roles were radically altered by the events tak- ing place during the Cultural Revolution. Mainland Chinese adults who lived through this time experienced a remarkable period in human history, in both its intensity and ferocity. This episode has been vividly recorded in Chinese films, such as The Blue Kite (Tian, 1993) and To Live (Zhang, 1994). While watching these, it is impossible not to be swept up in the complexity of emo- tions, ranging from fascination to repulsion, that characterize Chinese history between 1966 and 1976. While in 1968 Americans were shocked by the assassinations of Dr. Mar- tin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy and students in this country were protesting the Vietnam War on college campuses, in China Mao Zedong was initiating another form of revolution: the “send-down” policy. Over a 12-year period, more than 17 million urban youth had their school careers interrupted 94 CHINESE FATHERS’ INVOLVEMENT and were relocated to the countryside to partake in farm labor. Chairman Mao envisioned that rural peasants would reeducate the children of the cities about the true meaning of socialism (Zhou & Hou, 1999). According to Zhou and Hou (1999), the send-down policy was part of a larger social experiment, formally known as The Great Cultural Revolution, which altered Chinese society at its core. Most educational and governmental agencies stopped operating, and the lack of industrial growth created serious concerns about unemployment. Against this backdrop, the five participants in the study were either beginning or well into their studies in Chinese pub- lic schools. The Cultural Revolution was clearly the external catalyst that most strongly affected these individuals and their subsequent life decisions. Chinese Immigrant Parenting Styles Some research has been conducted on studying parenting behaviors of Chi- nese immigrant families living in the United States. The work has been generally conducted as either focusing solely on mothers or comparative research of fa- thers’ and mothers’ parental attitudes. Much debate concerns the comparison of the Western notion of authoritarian parenting to two interwoven Chinese concepts of guan and jiaoxun [chiao shun] 2 (Chao, 1994; Li, 2006). Guan is an expectation that parents will conscientiously govern their children, and that without guan, parents would be viewed by others as derelict and uncar- ing in their parenting responsibilities (Li; Chao & Tseng, 2002). Chiao shun encompasses the idea of “training” children in acceptable behaviors. It does include some aspects of authoritarian parenting style, including the emphasis on compliance, which Chao (2000) points out as a reason Chinese Americans may score high on scales of authoritarian parenting. Ultimately, Chao (1994) concludes that both guan and chiao shun are “indigenous concepts” (p. 1113) that more adequately describe Chinese parenting and form part of a set of be- haviors reinforced by both parents and the broader community. However, the rationale for these standards is not based on a Western model of authoritarian dominance but, instead, on a desire to strengthen the organizational structure of the family. In another study of cross-cultural parenting, Gorman (1998) finds that, con- trary to a popular belief regarding “authoritarian” aspects of Chinese parenting, Western constructs of parenting may not accurately “depict Chinese socializa- tion” (p. 73). The immigrant mothers participating in the study expressed high expectations for their children to succeed and become “good people” but also articulated concerns “about the negative impact of American society” (pp. 73, 75). Additionally, many participants were anxious about their children’s failure to respect Chinese traditions, such as valuing Chinese history and showing def- erence to parents and teachers. 95 THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY JOURNAL While the studies mentioned are only a representative sample of the research being conducted on parenting, it is clear that little has been written exclusively concerning the role of immigrant fathers, specifically those from China, in the lives of their children. However, the immigrant Chinese fathers in this study demonstrated strong parental involvement, which made their interactions with their children noteworthy. Chinese Immigrant Parental Involvement in American Schools A comment must be made concerning the cultural differences inherent in parental involvement in the schools. Educational researchers have identified parent involvement as a key ingredient in the effectiveness of schools, and it has been clearly established that children do better academically when parents support their school’s activities (Epstein, 1987). In spite of this widespread agreement, Lee (1995) comments that, in general, Asian immigrant parents do not know how to participate actively in their children’s school pursuits. Addi- tionally, the author points out that many teachers also do not understand how to involve Asian parents as educational partners. However, Grolnick and Slowiaczek (1994) define parent involvement in a more textured and multidimensional fashion than that normally perceived by educators. They discuss three domains for the involvement of parents in their children’s education: (a) parent behavior – participating in school activities; (b) personal involvement – supporting a child’s affective environment; and (c) in- tellectual involvement – exposing the child to cognitively stimulating activities. Using this expanded set of criteria, Huntsinger, Krieg, and Jose (1998) found in their comparative study of Chinese and European American parents and their children that 37% of the variance in Chinese American children’s school perfor- mance was predicted by variables of their parents’ involvement. The strongest correlation was in the area of cognitive and intellectual commitment. Grolnick and Slowiaczek (1994) found that the more time the child spends on homework, either assigned by the school or parent, the higher the teach- ers rate the child’s academic performance. Likewise, Henderson and Mapp (2002), in a meta-analysis of the literature on parental involvement, found that academically based parent involvement at home is the strongest predictor for a student’s math and reading success. Chao (1996) details cultural differences between immigrant Chinese and European American mothers concerning their roles in promoting school success for their children. Fundamentally, the European American mothers’ attitudes in the author’s study reflected the prevailing feelings about best prac- tices in American primary education. These included emphasizing both the cognitive and affective domains of human development within the classroom (Zemelman, Daniels, & Hyde, 1998). 96 CHINESE FATHERS’ INVOLVEMENT It was evident from Chao’s (1996) research that Chinese mothers, who gen- erally start teaching their children before they enter school, placed a much higher priority on rigorous academics than the European American partici- pants. When I presented these findings to parents at a workshop at a Chinese language school in Memphis, two reactions were evident: (a) parents were both surprised at the cultural distance in parental values about education between themselves and American families, and (b) they felt at least some frustration with the education their children were receiving. In essence, while European American parents are more likely to be involved in school activities, Chinese families are highly involved in their children’s edu- cation in a fashion that might not be recognized by the schools. The topic of the parental involvement of the Chinese fathers with their children will be dis- cussed in more depth later in this article. Methodology Context of the Study The Chinese community has become a permanent part of Memphis’ cultural mosaic, which has expanded in recent years beyond the traditional boundaries of African and European Americans. Even though the Chinese/Taiwanese pop- ulation in the greater Memphis area is growing, it is still quite small, estimated at 5,5003 people, or approximately .0055% of all residents. In comparison, a similar demographic in San Francisco represents 20% of the city’s total popula- tion (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). As their community continues to grow, more middle-class Chinese immi- grant parents are now having contact with the public schools in the Memphis metropolitan region. This coincides with a national trend in which these fami- lies are coming to the United States bringing “resources – financial capital, training, and education” (Li, 2006, p. 28). While earlier generations of Chi- nese immigrants would settle in “urban ethnic enclaves such as Chinatown” (Li, p. 28), newer middle-class immigrants are moving to the suburbs and interacting with their neighborhood schools. This brings new opportunities and challenges for teachers working in suburban settings who are expected to respond appropriately to culturally and linguistically diverse families living within their communities. The Researcher At first, I might seem like an unlikely candidate for doing research about the experiences of Chinese fathers. I am a European American, non-Chinese speaker, who is not a father. Additionally, although I had been to China on 97 THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY JOURNAL two separate occasions, I was by no means an expert on either Chinese history or culture. However, in my 25 years as an educator and researcher, what has motivated me are two ideals that I believe in passionately: supporting equity education, and strengthening my own intercultural competence. The issue of the relationship between researcher and participants, especially in cross-cultural situations, must be addressed directly. Banks (1998) discusses the question of “positionality” when referring to the insider versus outsider status of a researcher, and Merriam et al. (2001) comment that positional- ity is determined “by where one stands in relation to the ‘other’” (p. 411). An external-outsider is an individual who is “socialized within a community different from the one in which he or she is doing research” (Banks, p. 8). Be- cause I had an external-outsider relationship to the members of the Memphis Chinese community, which was reinforced by my inability to speak Chinese, the best opportunity I had in attempting to bridge the cultural divide was to become a participant observer, a traditional method used in ethnography. This entailed spending large amounts of time and taking part in activities at the local Chinese language school where I presented Chao’s (1996) findings and would eventually conduct the research. Rubin and Rubin (1995) remark, “To learn a culture, an interviewer doesn’t necessarily need to become an insider but must be allowed to cross the boundary and become accepted as one who can be taught” (p. 171). In order to attain that acceptance, I visited the school on numerous occasions over a period of nine months. My goal was to build beginning relationships with parents based on trust and mutual interests, especially the academic well- being of their children. There were few non-Chinese members of the school community, so at first my presence as a European American male was novel. However, it was important to me to go beyond the stage of being a “guest,” so I attempted to become less of an “outsider.” Approximately 120 students and 50 parents attended the school every Sunday afternoon. While the children were with their teachers, the parents had options for interacting with other adults, such as weekly organized basketball, badminton, and ping-pong games. Oc- casionally, small groups of parents would also talk informally in the hallways. However, the conversations often took place in Chinese, which precluded me from attempting to socialize. I became concerned that I would not, ultimately, build the level of confidence and rapport needed when I eventually asked par- ents to participate in my study. In spring 2002, the school introduced a weekly adult-level class in Tai Chi. I enrolled and became the only non-Chinese participant in the group, where, because several of the older students did not speak English, all instruction was in Chinese. While at first this was daunting, soon other participants offered to 98 CHINESE FATHERS’ INVOLVEMENT translate when I had a question. I attended the class not only because I enjoyed both the physical and mental exercise but also as a mechanism to interact with others. I wanted the parents who had attended my workshop earlier in the school year not only to see me as the “expert” in education but also as a novice in other areas of adult learning. Happily, my interactions with parents in the hallways after the Tai Chi class increased and became more informal. Participants Possible participants for this study were identified among the adults who had children attending the Chinese language school. I chose to concentrate my research on the fathers’ perspectives about parenting and education because of their high level of involvement in the school. An observation made while I was a participant observer was that approximately 40% of the adults who came weekly to spend time at the Chinese school were fathers, and 5 of the 12 PTA members from the school were male. This appeared to be a much higher level of participation by fathers in a weekend program than would normally occur with their American counterparts. Informally, I asked several men who attended regularly their reasons for doing so and received a variation of the same answer: “Because it’s my duty.” This consistent response seemed positive and worth exploring further. Five fathers were selected who met the following major criteria: (a) they had resided in the United States for at least 4 years; (b) they had children attending American schools, regardless of grade, for a minimum of 4 years; and (c) they could communicate proficiently in English about deeply held beliefs concern- ing parenting and education. The five fathers participating in the study represented a purposeful sample, which Patton (2002) refers to as those individuals having knowledge critical to the intention of the research. The men, Albert, Bob, David, Dewey, and Frank,4 provided information-rich cases to draw upon. Because the focus was on the adults’ perspective, no children were interviewed. It also must be noted that the goal of this article was not to compare life in Chinese schools in the 1970s, which was greatly impacted by the Cultural Revolution, to the educa- tion system in China today. The scope of research was limited to comparing the fathers’ experiences as students in China to their children’s current education in American schools. Each father was born in China and finished his public secondary school and university undergraduate education there. Two of the men were from Beijing; one came from a medium-sized city in the far north, Harbin; and 2 were from villages south of Shanghai. The men’s ages ranged from 38 to 45, and their length of residence in the United States varied from 4 to 16 years. Two of the 99 THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY JOURNAL fathers completed degrees at the master’s level and 3 had doctoral degrees. In addition, 2 men came to the United States for work-related reasons, while 3 arrived to pursue advanced degrees. All the men were working in Memphis, ei- ther as medical researchers or as computer professionals (see Table 1). Table 1: Fathers’ Information Participant’s Married Year of Reason for Educational Name Age Birthplace in in U.S. Arrival Coming to Attainment China or China in U.S. U.S. M.D. & Ph.D. Albert 40 Harbin China 1992 Work Child Nutrition Ph.D. Electrical Graduate Bob 44 Beijing China 1991 Engineering School M.S. Exercise Hunan Graduate David 45 China Science & M.S. 1993 Province School Computers M.S. Computer Graduate Dewey 38 Beijing U.S. 1986 Science School Jiangxi M.D. & Ph.D. Frank 38 China 1998 Work Province Pharmacology The five fathers had a total of 10 children, 7 girls and 3 boys. Four of the five fathers had at least two children; one participant had only one child, while an- other had three. The ages of the children ranged from infancy to age 14, with most between 6 and 12. A majority of the children were still in elementary or middle school, although one father had a daughter attending high school. Ta- ble 2 shows the children’s information. Table 2: Children’s Information Gender & Children’s School Child Current Grade in Father Ages of Place of Attended in School in Children Birth China Memphis Boy 12 China None 6th Albert Girl 6 U.S. None 1st Bob Girl 13 China Preschool 8th Girl 14 China Preschool 9th David Boy 7 U.S. None 2nd Girl 4 U.S. None Preschool Girl 9 U.S. None 4th Dewey Girl 7 U.S. None 2nd Girl 11 China Preschool 5th Frank Boy Infant U.S. 100