THE CHINESE-AMERICAN METHOD

(Excerpt from Chapter 3) It is an indisputable fact that there are cultural differences between the Chinese and American philosophies of childhood education. When we have gatherings with our Chinese friends, we often lament how mainstream Americans seem to misunderstand the role of Chinese-American families in their children’s education. We have tried to explore what leads to these misunderstandings and have come to the conclusion that each culture’s educational methods have both positive and negative aspects. For decades, we put much effort into studying and understanding the differences so that when we started guiding our children’s educations, we could integrate the better parts of both cultures. In Chinese culture, parents have attached great importance to their children’s education for thousands of years. Parents always selflessly dedicate themselves to their child’s growth and future and promote typical Chinese family values: strong bonds and caring relationships between every member. In recent years, the rise of homeschooling in the United States is evidence of the recognition of strong parental involvement in their children’s education. Without a doubt, both the development of a country and the progress of a culture are inseparable from education. We should not only adhere to these traditions, but also help them to flourish. Many methods commonly used by Chinese parents have merit. Chinese parents ask their children to strive for excellence. There is no doubt that this type of practice helps children unleash their potential. The Chinese mentality of encouraging children to study hard is one that would be worth further development in the U.S. culture. As Thomas Edison once noted, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Therefore, in order to educate our children, we used the Chinese educational philosophy as a base, yet we also actively searched for and applied other effective learning methods. For instance, the American educational system emphasizes the flexible use of knowledge. The U.S. culture emphasizes teamwork, leadership, creative ability, and dedication to community service. These traits make the U.S. proud to be a world leader in almost every aspect. [. . .] Generally speaking, typical American parents do not push their children in an almost endless pursuit of top grades like some Chinese-American families. American parents are more focused on the child’s balanced development, emphasizing the child’s autonomy and interests. But for Chinese-American students to succeed in the United States, they face more challenges than Caucasian, Hispanic, or African-American students. Statistics show that in most colleges, admitted Asian-American students’ average SAT scores are more than 100 points higher than their counterparts in other ethnic groups. In reality, Chinese-American students have to work harder to be successful. Another thing we appreciate about American schools is that they expose children to many different occupations from an early age. This helps develop the children’s independent thinking and decision-making skills. In elementary school, schools usually invite parents to visit and teach the students about their job. Alternatively, the school may also allow the students to miss a day of school so that they can visit their parents’ workplace in order to observe their work. Later, the students write a report about their day at work and may present it to their class. [. . .] Unbalanced development makes some Chinese-American children become giants in academics, but they are easily dwarfed in other fields. Over time, mainstream American society developed an impression of rigid, ethnically Chinese children, and elite colleges raised their admission standards for this group of students. Combining the best of the two cultures to foster children, in theory, may be the best choice. How to apply theory to practice, though, was an unfamiliar area. To this end, we were anxious and hesitant. In this period of enlightenment, we wondered what we should develop first. We constantly compared and debated about the arguments for and against each of the two educational methods. According to a typical Chinese-style approach, we should immediately begin with the child’s academic achievement, giving them exercises as soon as possible to teach them the basics through rote memorization and constant drilling. Conversely, forcing a child’s academic development too early could block us from fully understanding the child’s strengths, potential, interests, and vulnerabilities. Imposing the parents’ will on the children may also stifle the children’s creativity and independence. We believed that this approach could temporarily produce rosy and tangible results, but could destroy the future development potential of the children.