Culturally Contested Pedagogy: Battles of Literacy and Schooling between Mainstream Teachers and Asian Immigrant Parents

Introduction: Literacy Learning and Teaching in a New Socioeconomic Context

Introduction Literacy Learning and Teaching in a New Socioeconomic Context [Mainstream] educators are being tested by [the Chinese] parents’ views, different views about education. And [the Chinese] parents are being tested because our educational systems are different and it’s hard not to be judgmental. Both groups come from different backgrounds, different beliefs. —Ms. Dawson, Taylor Elementary School In 2000, upon the completion of my doctoral research on Chinese immigrant families’ bicultural literacy practices and socialization in Saskatoon, a small city in Western Canada, I moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to continue my research on Chinese immigrant children ’s school-home literacy connections at the University of British Columbia. When I landed in Vancouver, I found myself in a state of cultural shock. In Saskatoon, there were only about 4,000 Chinese residents ; they were mostly manual laborers and were often scattered in the city without forming a solid ethnic community. The Asians were at the periphery of the heated racial and educational tensions between whites and native peoples. I was a member of an “invisible minority.” However, in Vancouver where Asians had become the majority, numerically surpassing the whites, I became part of a “visible majority .” Since more than one-third of its population is Chinese, Vancouver has been nicknamed “Hongcouver,” and the University of British Columbia (UBC) is called “University of Billion Chinese.” I was 1 surprised that local media such as the Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Courier were flooded with news about new middle-class Chinese immigrants and communities, especially issues such as their campaign for the legitimacy of the Chinese language in university admissions , their critical attitudes toward K–12 public school education, and their push for traditional teacher-centered schools. I was quite intrigued by the power the Chinese community exhibited and even shocked to learn that in several school districts traditional schools had been established due to the Chinese parents’ efforts. Later in my interviews with the Chinese parents in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, all of them responded that if they had a choice in their district, they would send their children to such schools. Their critique of Canadian schools, however, was perceived as their unwillingness to make efforts to adapt to the new world. Later when I discussed this issue with a white female colleague, a professor of education , she commented, “I’m sorry. This is Canada, not Hong Kong. If [the Chinese] don’t like the schools here, they should not have come here.” This view (though not necessarily shared among the faculty at UBC), as I learned, was unfortunately the common sentiment of the mainstream. In return, the Chinese perceived that the Canadians simply refused to face reality and accept change. “To change” or “not to change” became the on-going battle between the Chinese and the mainstream Canadians. As a Chinese immigrant to Canada, educated both in Canada and in China, I found myself puzzled by the two competing paradigms, unable to take sides. The question to me is not whether we should change, but more changing to what and how much. If we believe in multiculturalism and in building a democratic society, then we should respect ethnic groups’ and parents’ choices regarding their children’s education. After all, the Chinese, as a historically marginalized group, seem to be fighting against the dominance of the Eurocentric hegemonic practices by demanding that their ways of knowing be legitimized. However, if we believe that the Chinese should change and accept mainstream practices , then we endorse the dominance of the mainstream and the marginalization of the minority. The responsibility of schools, as I understand it, is to serve the needs of the students and their community , rather than vice versa. These battles between the two parties, therefore, have gone beyond an educational and pedagogical debate to become social and political. Is it possible that both camps can learn from each other and a middle ground can be achieved between the two orientations? How 2 Culturally Contested Pedagogy are the two dichotomous orientations played out in school settings? In order to better understand the dynamics and complexities of teaching and learning in an increasingly complex situation in which literacy, culture, race, and social class intertwine to make an impact on teachers , students, and parents, in this book I provide a descriptive account of cultural clashes and symbolic struggles between Canadian teachers and Chinese immigrant parents and the experiences of their children...