South Asian Adolescents: A Review of Selected Educational and Social Issues
Paul A. Singh Ghuman, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK, SY 23 2AX.
South Asian adolescents who were either born or schooled in Australia, Canada, UK, and the US (referred to as West in the text) face quite unique problems of social and educational adjustment because of differing - and often conflicting - value systems (in many domains) of home and school (Abbas, 2002; Anwar, 1998; Bhatti, 1999 Stopes-Roe and Cochrane, 19990; Gibson, 1988; Zhou and Bankston III, 1988). The last review of this topic was undertaken by a team from the National Foundations for Education in England and Wales (NFER: Taylor and Hegarty, 1985) some 20 years ago. An attempt is made to appraise some important areas of concern which have a significant impact on the lives of South Asian young people. This article is intended to inform educationalists, researchers, administrators, teachers and others in the caring professions on a range of issues, namely, scholastic achievement, bilingualism and the learning and teaching of heritage languages, acculturation, ethnic-identity and self-image, and gender issues.
Research reviewed includes studies from anthropological, sociological, and psychological perspectives. Scholars have used a variety of research methodologies to collect data: ranging from experiential observations, ethnographic and case studies to psychometric and quasi-experimental.
What emerges from the review is an optimistic picture. South Asian young people, with the exception of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, are achieving school success on a par with (or higher than) their white peers. Overall, Girls attain better grades than boys, as is the case with indigenous students.
In their acculturation attitudes South Asians adolescents prefer biculturalism, Hindus and Sikhs more so than their Muslim counterparts. This is reinforced by the findings from research on ethnic identity. The majority of young people (and their parents) want to root themselves in their community’s culture but at the same time want to learn and adapt to the ways of their host society (Modood et al., 1998; Drury, 1991; Bhopal, 1997). This is termed as ‘selective acculturation’ by Portes and Rumbaut (2001), ‘accommodation without assimilation’ by Gibson (1988), ‘integration’ by Berry ( 2001) and ‘biculturalism’ by Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco (2001), Ghuman (1999), and Phinney (1996). Many young people opt for a ‘hyphenated’ identity, for example Indo-American and British-Asians. Although most young people and their parents show a positive attitude towards the learning of their mother tongue and bilingualism, they face many difficulties in translating their favourable attitude into practice. These result from negative attitudes of some teachers, poor facilities for the teaching of heritage languages, the low-status awarded to non-European languages resulting in poor motivation of students, and mixed messages on the value of learning one’s mother tongue from people in power and authority.
Girls face many more difficulties in their
adaptation process than do boys because of the patriarchal nature of South Asian
families. They often experience the full ‘pressure’ of the conflict of values
between home and school in the domain of personal autonomy, relationship with
boys, and pursuing their vocational aspirations. Some girls cannot cope with
the psychological tension and have suffered from psychosomatic illnesses e.g.
bulimia, anorexia, and attempted suicide. The review concludes with suggestions
to help improve the education and personal development of South Asian students.
Introduction
This paper offers an analysis and discussion of some selected educationally-related issues appertaining to young people of South Asian ancestry who were either born or had their main schooling in Australia, Canada, Britain and the US (referred to collectively as the West in the text). Research carried out by scholars using a variety of methodologies, e.g. ethnographic, psychometric, experimental, quasi-experimental and case studies, has provided a rich corpus of knowledge for analysis and critical discussion. An attempt is made to draw tentative conclusions and to offer suggestions which should advance the educational and personal development of young people of South Asian origin. A brief account of the first-generation South Asian immigrants to the four countries is given so that the problems and concerns of the younger generation (the second- and third) can be fully understood and appreciated.
Pioneering First Generation
Immigrants from the Indian sub-continent had settled in quite small numbers in Australia, Canada, UK and the US following the turn of the 20th century. These early immigrants were either ex-servicemen or small farmers, mainly from the Punjab, and were attracted by the well-paid employment opportunities. The tradition of emigration from the Punjab and Bengal had been well established due mainly to the scarcity of farming land in the province (Ballard, 1994). Many emigrants were sojourners who had strong motivation to improve their economic and social status and emigration provided a route to achieve their goals. de Lepravanchi (1984) has described the situation of Punjabi settlers near Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, in an evocative book.
A similar story of early settlement of Punjabis (circa 1909) in Sacramento Valley, Fresno, El Centro, and Imperial Valley (all in California) is told by Leonard (1992, 1993) and La Brack (1988) in their lively ethnographic accounts. However there are some important differences: South Asian immigrants in the US did not venture to return ‘home’ because of the restrictions imposed on their re-entry. This partly explains why so many of them married Mexican women to legitimise their stay in the US. They also had problems in buying farmland because they had no legal rights.
Most of the immigrants were Sikhs (85 per cent), but a sizeable number of them came from Muslim families in West Punjab. A few Punjabi Hindus from Jullundur city were in a different ‘class’ as they were educated and managed their own properties in California. The legal rights of South Asians were very precarious, indeed. According to Leonard (1992: 84), sixty-nine persons of ‘Hindu race’ had been naturalised before the landmark 1923 Supreme Court decision that made Indians ineligible for US citizenship.
Despite considerable hostility and denial of legal rights, many Indians became successful farmers in the early 1920s. After intensive lobbying (the pending independence of India also had some affect) the Luce-Cellar Bill was passed in 1946 which granted South Asians the right to become American citizens. This was a major watershed in the lives of South Asians in the US. It changed their lifestyles, aspirations and future settlement in the US. They could now own property and return ‘home’ to visit their family and relatives, or with a view to getting married and sponsoring relatives for emigration. It also caused a major upheaval in the lives of many Punjabi farmers who had married Mexican women before 1946. Their story is evocatively told by Leonard (1992) in her acclaimed book Making Ethnic Choices.
In Canada, the first settlement of a handful of Punjabi Sikhs (circa 1903-1906) was near Vancouver where they were employed in timber mills. They were joined by about 5,000 others soon after but others were subsequently banned from immigration like the Chinese and the Japanese until 1947 (Buchignani et al., 1985: 7). The early restrictions were inimical to family reunion as is noted by Buchignani and her colleagues. By 1925 about 90 per cent of the population of South Asians was made up of men who were forty years of age or older. A situation similar to California existed where the Punjabi men, many already married, married Mexican women because they were not allowed to bring in their own wives. Basran (1993: 225) also notes that South Asians were allowed to stay in Canada from about 1940 but were not allowed to bring their children and wives.
The 1967 Immigration Act set out non-racial criteria for immigration, treating Asians on a par with whites. As a result, there was a dramatic increase in the numbers of professional people entering Canada. For example, between 1965 and 1982, over a quarter of a million people of South Asian origin immigrated to Canada. And the number of South Asians by 2000 was estimated to be 600,000 (Buchignani et. al, 1985: 119), although, according to Statistics Canada (Canadian Census: 1996), it is currently over 750,000.
The pattern of immigration to the UK was slightly different in that there was a fair number of professionals - mostly doctors - who had settled permanently (Vasar,1985) before the Second World War. The total population of South Asians was approximately 5,000 (Kondapi, 1949), which included 1,000 general practitioners and 1,000 or so other professionals and students, the rest being mainly seamen (in Cardiff, Bristol, and Liverpool) The first-generation Bangladeshis immigrated in the 1960s and have settled in industrial cites of the UK, namely Bradford, Manchester, Oldham, Glasgow, Luton and London. By far the biggest community, however according to Eade, is to be found in Tower Hamlets, a London borough.
Unlike the South Asians in Australia, Canada and the US, and those in the UK enjoyed full rights of citizenship even to the extent that Dadabhai Naoroji, a Parsee Indian, was elected to the House of Commons in 1895 to represent the Central Finsbury constituency, London. However, the contemporary position of South Asians in the UK may not be as sound as it is in Canada and the US, as perceived by the South Asian diaspora (Helweg and Helweg, 1990; Anwar, 1996, 1994).
The earlier pattern of immigration is characterized by chain migration whereas the post-sixties immigration to the US, Canada, Australia, and even to the UK, is mainly of independent professionals. These include doctors, engineers, and scientists who have been educated at prominent universities of their country of origin, and who have the technical and social skills upon which to capitalise in their country of adoption. They fall into the category of a migratory elite. They have a good command of English, have been westernised to a degree, and come from major cities such as Delhi, Bombay, Banglore, Lahore and Dacca.
It is important to describe, albeit briefly, another group of South Asians who emigrated to the West between 1960 and the early 1970s from East Africa, mostly from Uganda, Kenya and Malawi. Although most of them are the descendents of indentured labourers hired by the Imperial British East Africa company in 1896 to build railways, they subsequently became very prosperous businessmen/ women and professionals and thereby constituted a middle tier of the African colonial society. Soon after independence, policies of Africanisation (Gundara, 1994) were adopted by the three countries resulting in the uprooting of the South Asian community. President Idi Amin’s policies went beyond the opening up of jobs for the indigenous blacks and became life threatening for the Asians. Increasingly, large numbers of South Asians began to emigrate to the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and any other western country willing to give them the right of domicile (Bhachu, 1985a). Although many of them wanted to emphasise their distinctiveness from direct immigrants from the subcontinent, this perceived exclusiveness was only valid within South Asian communities. Despite their initial hostile reception, they have been highly successful in the western countries in business, professional occupations and other walks of life because of their entrepreneur skills, high motivation, social networking, and not least their command of English and their experience of working with white expatriate Europeans.
Although South Asian immigrants hail from different regions of the sub-continent and belong to different castes and social classes, they all share certain beliefs and values, which are quite distinctive from those of the host (Western) societies. These beliefs and attitudes may be summarised as: orientation to ‘collectivism’ and interdependence (birader/bhaichara); strong religious commitment; and gender role differentiation. It is important to remind the reader that the pioneering South Asian immigrants belonged to the middle-to upper strata of their respective clans, tribes and societies. Accordingly, their social, economic and educational aspirations were very high indeed and they were ready to endure many hardships, including long working hours, overcrowded homes in down town (inner-city) areas, and faced racial discrimination (Rex and Tomlinson, 1979). The vast majority of them (including professionals) found employment only at the bottom rung of the occupation ladder.
Second- and – third-generation
The storm and stress of the adolescent years, marked by a growing generation gap, are compounded, in the case of immigrant families, by a contest between two cultures often at odds over values and normative expectations (Rumbaut and Portes, 2001:307).
Adolescence is a stage in life during which young people learn to wean themselves away from their parents in order to achieve autonomy, to examine and seek self-identity, engage in sexual relationships and experiment with their sexuality and to explore personal relationships. At the same time, they make crucial decisions regarding the subjects they are going to study at school with a view to following a particular vocational or professional occupation. The role expectation of adolescents is also markedly different from that of childhood.
Young people of South Asian ancestry share most of the concerns and joys and pains of growing up in the fast changing Western societies, but they face additional problems. Firstly, their socialisation is more complex as they are learning to understand and cope with the expectations and demands of two major institutions in their lives, namely home and school (Rosenthal, 1987). South Asian families tend to stress the value of ‘collectivity’ and interdependence as opposed to the individualism nurtured and prized by most families in the West. Secondly, gender roles are still clearly defined in Asian households, whereas in the West there has been a sea change in this sphere. There is a major difference in values concerning sexual relationships and sexuality: dating and discussion of matters relating to boy/girls friends (and indeed one’s sexuality) are almost a taboo in South Asian families. All this is considered in the West to be rites of passage normal during adolescence. Thirdly, it is now well established by researchers (Modood et. al, 1997; Gibson, 1989) that young people of colour face racism in schools, university admission, employment, and in other walks of life. Within this context, we now analyze and discuss the following salient issues: scholastic achievement, bilingualism and heritage languages, acculturation attitudes, ethnic identity, and the predicament of girls.
Scholastic achievement
The theoretical model of Ogbu (1982, 1991,1995) would predict that South Asian students should achieve school grades on a par, or even higher, than their native peers. This is predicated on the basis that South Asians are voluntary immigrants who have not been subjected to repression and other forms of humiliations which have been meted out to involuntary minorities (e.g. Blacks and native Indians in the US) and that they have kept alive their bright hopes and high aspirations (Gibson and Ogbu, 1995; Ghuman, 2003). Portes and Rumbaut (2002: 62) succinctly describe the high aspirations of immigrant parents in their longitudinal study of 14, 000 young people in the US
There is a substantial body of research on the intellectual abilities and academic attainment of South Asian children and young people in Britain, but very little in North America and Australia. A 20–year review of research by a team from the National Foundation for Educational Research in England and Wales (NFER) in 1983-4 (Taylor and Hegarty, 1985) came to the conclusion that: ‘the performances of Asian origin children increases with length of schooling so that recent research shows that by the end of their primary years (i.e. at the age of 11) the intellectual abilities of those with full schooling, as measured by conventional tests, approaches those of their British peers (p. 142-143)’.
Tomlinson’s (1983) review on scholastic attainment found a similar pattern of results to those noted by the NFER team on intellectual abilities and school attainment. In addition, Tomlinson noted that Hindu and Sikh students tend to score higher than their Muslim counterparts. The Swann Report (DES, 1985: 64) commissioned a survey on the achievement of various ethnic groups in British schools and reinforced the chief outcomes of Tomlinson’s survey, viz: ‘South Asian are achieving very much on a par with, and in some cases marginally better, that their school fellows…’. Smith and Tomlinson (1989) found a similar pattern of achievement in a large scale research (total number of schools = 18, age group 12-16), which embraced several aspects of educational matters, e.g. inter-ethnic relations, home-school links and teachers’ attitudes. One of the most interesting findings was that at the age of entry (i.e. 11+) into secondary school, South Asians scored below the whites but caught up with their white peers during their secondary schooling and this is attributed by the researchers to the quality of schooling and to students’ high motivation.
A large-scale survey of school achievement by Gillborn and Gipps (1996) is of great interest because of its scope. It reports the performance of South Asians and other ethnic minority students (total number = 2,500) at the age of 11 and at the compulsory school leaving age of 16. At the age of 11 it was found that the performance of Pakistani-origin children tended to be lower in English, maths and science tests on the Standard Assessment Tasks than that of Indian, African-Caribbean and white children. The determining factor in the achievement of South Asians was whether or not the students spoke English at home.
At the age of 16, Gillborn and Gipps (1996) found that students of Indian ancestry are achieving results higher than their white counterparts in ‘some (but no all)’ urban areas. However, students of Pakistani-origin, the vast majority of whom are Muslims are achieving below their white and Indian counterparts. The key points of this research review have been generally confirmed by subsequent reports (Demack et al. 2000; Gillborn and Mirza, 2000; DfEE, 2000; 2002; Haq ?, 2001). Firstly, overall Indian boys and girls are achieving as well as the whites (and higher in many - 8 out of 10 Local Education Authorities), but that their Bangladeshi and Pakistani counterparts are achieving well below their Indian and white peers. Secondly, students whose parents belong to non-manual category out-perform their peers in the manual category in all three South Asian groups. Thirdly, girls are achieving significantly better than boys and this parallels the case of their majority white counterparts. Gillborn and Mirza’s report (2000: 38) note that:
Indian pupils have made the greater gains in the last decade: enough to overtake their white peers as a group. Bangladeshi pupils have improved significantly but the gap between themselves and white youngsters is much the same… African-Caribbean and Pakistani pupils have drawn least benefit form the rising levels of attainment: the gap between them and their white peers is bigger than a decade ago.
hese conclusions are confirmed by the most recently released statistics from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES: February, 2003).
Many factors have been deemed to account for the poor performance of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin young people. At a socio-economic level, it is argued that immigrants from these two groups are the most disadvantaged ethnic minority groups (Haque and Bell, 2001; Anwar, 1998; Modood et. al, 1997) and are concentrated on the lower rung of the occupational ladder (manual occupation) compared with their Hindu and Sikh counterparts. At a social psychological level family values and attitudes to education (human capitals) are important factors in scholastic achievement. It is argued that these immigrants hail from rural and traditional areas of Pakistan and Bangladesh with a low level of literacy and therefore their social and human capital is not as vibrant and ‘rich’ as those of Indian immigrants. At a psychological level students’ motivation and the amount of time they spend on school work are supposed to be important (Abbas, 2002). For instance, Abbas argues that Pakistani and Bangladeshi students spend relatively more time (compared with their Hindu and Sikh peers) on learning about their religion and language and less time on their schoolwork. Haque (2000: 366) argues, from a refined multilevel analysis of school attainment data, that ‘length of stay’ in Britain is another important variable in explaining the poor performance of Bangladeshi students, as this community was the latest to ‘unite’ families in Britain and elsewhere.
There is one substantial piece of research in the US on the academic achievement of South Asian young people. Gibson’s (1989) well-researched findings showed that although Punjabi boys and girls on average score lower than average on SAT tests, their school examination grades match that of their white peers. Gibson’s conclusion is that it is their sheer high motivation and hard work that results in such a success despite their poor ability in English and the hostility they face from their white peers and teachers. A literature search did not reveal any other substantial research on the academic achievement of South Asians in North America or Australia.
The above pattern of success at school level is also reflected in the pursuit of further education, except for the gender differences. A nationwide survey by Modood and his colleagues (1997) for the Policy Study Institute (PSI; young people aged 16- 19) reveals an interesting pattern. Eighty-one percent of Indian men and 66 per cent of women are in full-time education, compared with 71 and 54 percent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women respectively. A recent statistical report, released on the research of Youth Cohort Study (N =16,707), from the Department for Edcuation and Skills (DfES: 2003) shows an increase in the statistical trends quoted in the above research. Significantly higher percentages of South Asians are in full-time education at the age of 16 than are white peers (Indian 91; Bangladeshi 79; Pakistani 77, white 69).
There are significant gender differences: more young men stay on for further education than women. The reasons for this lie in traditional attitudes (although these are in flux and changing) as was noted in the introduction. Girls are still expected to fulfil their traditional role of being a good wife, a homemaker, to raise children and to care for elderly parents (Stopes-Roe and Cochran, 1988; Shaw, 2002; Wilson, 1978). This is also noted by Pathak (2000: 7) in a report for the Department for Education and Employment: ‘Cultural values and parental attitudes may strongly influence Asian groups. Muslim young women, in particular, with different views on what is appropriate for young men and women…’
Immigrant parents walk a tight rope; they encourage their children to develop the competencies necessary to function in the new culture, all the while maintaining the traditions and (in many cases) language of home. Hence, children are encouraged to learn English, but at the same time may be asked to keep the new language and cultural ways out of home.
(Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco, 2001:89)
One of the major issues facing both administrators and teachers is how far the languages of minority ethnic communities should be recognised and included in the formal school curriculum. The policies and practices of national and local educational authorities in four countries (Australia, Canada, US and UK) vary a great deal and the provision for the teaching of heritage languages is closely related to their policies on multicultural/intercultural education. The space does not permit a review of such polices but references will be made to those salient features which impact on the attitudes of parents, teachers and young people.
The main argument for maintaining heritage languages is that language is universally regarded as the core element of one’s culture. It encapsulates people’s ‘world views’ and is the chief instrument for the transmission of values, sentiments, attitudes and skills to posterity. People’s personal and social identities are developed and sustained mainly through the use of language in its manifold forms, e.g. poetry, prose, narratives, stories, myths and legends. There are several other arguments in favour of retaining heritage languages, including: inter-generation communication (Baker, 1994; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001), facility in divergent thinking (Cummins, 1988; Peel and Lambert, 1962), awareness of other people’s cultural values and their ‘world views’ (Berlin, 1990; Steiner, 1998) and the development of positive attitudes to the learning of foreign languages.
Baker (1995) has argued that a mismatch between home and school values can be positively addressed by including the teaching of heritage languages in the school program. The main languages spoken by South Asian communities are: Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. According to a large scale study by Smith and Tomlinson (1989: 92) in 18 comprehensive( high) schools (age range 11 to 18) in England, some 85 per cent of students were ‘functioning bilingual’, i.e. used their heritage language at home. Furthermore, the researchers found that, in general, over a third of South Asians (71 and 49 percent for Bangladeshis and Pakistanis respectively) attended community schools to learn their heritage language. However, the interesting finding is that the majority (63 percent) of the bilingual young people (with the exception of the Bangladeshis) expressed the opinion that their ‘best language’ is English.
Ghuman (2000, 2001a,b), in a comprehensive but small-scale study of young people in four countries, found a pattern which has similarities with the above-quoted research. Over 83 percent of the young people - except in Australia - spoke both their heritage language and English at home. However, most of the young people preferred to talk in English rather than their heritage language, especially with their siblings and peers. A similar picture of the decline of heritage languages amongst the second generation ‘immigrants’ has been painted by researchers both in North America (Suraz-Orozio and Suraz-Orozio, 2001; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001) and in the UK (Stopes-Roe and Cochrane, 1990; Modood et al., 1999).
As regards students’ attitude to learning their heritage language, research evidence is unequivocal: they express positive attitudes to the learning of their respective mother-tongue (Ghuman, 1995, 1980, 1975), but this positive attitude does not always translate into practice for a variety of reasons. There are practical difficulties in that most schools do not have the facilties for the teaching of South Asian languages within their curricula. Students wishing to learn their mother-tongue are obliged to attend community run supplementary schools that are held after normal school hours or during the weekend, which adds an ‘extra’ burden on their time and energies. Furthermore, the teaching facilities at such schools are woefully poor compared to schools run by local education authorities. Such poor facilties undermine students’ motivation to attend regularly and seriously.
South Asian parents’ attitudes to the learning and teaching of their heritage language are also ambivalent, like those of their young people (Ghuman, 1999, 2001, 2003). Their attitudes have been shaped by their experience of the legacies of British colonialism and by the elite of their society (after independence in 1947) who prefer English to the native tongues. They also receive mixed messages from the people in authority on the value of being bilingual. Ghuman (1995) has found that many white teachers tend to view bilingualism negatively and are of the opinion that the time spent on the learning of heritage languages should be spent on mastering English. Similar sentiments have been expressed by many people in authority in the US (see Portes and Rumbaut, 2001). As a result, many parents view the teaching of their heritage language not as an asset, but a distraction from the main task of mastering English and traditional school subjects. However, there are differences within the South Asian communities: Muslim parents are keener to maintain their mother-tongue (Urdu or Bengali) than are their Hindu and Sikh counterparts (Anwar, 1998; Ghuman, 1995; Tomlinson, 1983).
Acculturation
Berry’s (1992, 1994, 2001) contribution in understanding the process of acculturation both at a theoretical and empirical level has been highly significant. His model of acculturation has been widely employed to explore the adaptation styles of immigrant and minority groups within the mainstream western societies (CEIFO, 2003). The model is embedded in social psychology and is supposed to be applicable both at an individual and group level. Berry (1994) defines acculturation as ‘culture change that results from continuous, first hand contact between two distinct cultural groups.’ There are some shortcomings to this model (not a theory as Berry, 1997, claims) as has been competently discussed by several scholars (Rudimen and Ahmadzadeh, 2001 ?; Brouhais, 1997; Weinreich, 1996; Lazarus, 1997; Horenczyk, 1997). The chief criticism of the model is that it underplays the significance of the attitudes, values and practices of the receiving/mainstream society. For the decision to integrate or not to integrate does not rest entirely on the immigrants/minorities and their progeny but equally – perhaps more so - on the reaction of the host society. If the institutions of the judiciary, the police, the civil service, education, and employers are prejudiced and discriminatory (or perceived to be so) there is then not much incentive for the offspring of the immigrants and minorities to integrate. In such a situation the ‘immigrant/ethnic minority’ younger generation might reject both the traditional outlook (or some aspects of it) of their parents and also the social mores of the host society to instead develop new modes of cultural expression (Ghuman, 1999). Such young people, as for example novelist Zadie Smith and Anita Syal are not marginalized or alienated as Berry’s model predicts, but are opening up new cultural vistas and horizons. Berry (2001) has acknowledged this chief criticism and has broadened his framework to embrace social and contextual factors in fully understanding the acculturation process of minority groups and immigrants.
An acculturation scale was constructed by Ghuman (1975) to assess young people’s attitude to their ‘host’ and ‘home’ cultures. Its reliability coefficients range from .90 to .80 as calculated by Cronbach L. It has been successfully used by a number of higher degree students in the UK (Stark, 2003; Nagina, 1999, Atzaba-Poria, 2002). Ghuman has used this scale to study the acculturation attitudes of young people in Australia, Canada, UK and the US (2000a, b, 2001, 2002).
Ghuman found that most young people in the studies preferred to maintain some elements of their home culture but at the same time adapt certain British/American/Australian social customs, norms and practices. For instance, young people support gender equality; they want to retain their heritage language, which is also confirmed by their responses to ‘language’ items in the background questionnaire; they would like freedom to meet other young people in youth clubs; they are in favour of visiting the homes of their white (English/American/ Australian) friends; they want to attend their places of worship; and they want to fulfil their parents’ aspirations and wishes. They disagree with those items which express ‘inward-looking’ mentality: e.g. rather eat Asian food all the time; only Asian doctors can understand our illnesses; making friends from within our own community; men making decisions; women’s place is in the home; and feel uneasy with the English (American/Canadians/ Australian) The young people are attitudinally ambivalent on such matters as: marriage should be arranged by the family; more inter-ethnic marriages; the quality of English/American life is better than Asian; interest of the family should come before the individual.
What emerged from extensive research is that both boys and girls, save Muslim boys in England, are in favour of integrating into their host society as opposed to assimilation or separation). However, there are gender and religious differences on the summative ‘acculturation scores’ (see Ghuman, 2003) and on the individual items of the scale. Girls score higher than boys as do Hindus compared with Muslims and Sikhs. There are also social class differences as operationalised and assessed by socio-economic status: middle-class young people score higher than their working-class counterparts. As regards national differences, Canadian young people score the highest and Australian the lowest.
Canada, in particular British Columbia, has made an unequivocal commitment to becoming a multicultural society. Multicultural initiatives for schools and other civil and social agencies have been clearly laid down in various policy documents (see Fisher and Ecole, 1985). Young people in the US sample (Ghuman, 2000) are as supportive of acculturation as their counterpart Hindus and Sikhs in England but less so than the Canadians. They also emerge as being in favour of integration in their attitudes rather than opting for assimilation or separatism.
Concerning differences due to religion, the Muslim boys and girls score the highest on traditionalism and lowest on acculturation, showing their commitment to ancestral values. Sikh and Hindu parents, in general, are more liberal compared with their Muslim counterparts. Discussion on gender issues follows presently.
Stopes-Roe and Cochrane (1989) in a carefully planned research into the lifestyles and education of South Asians conclude that on all three measures of assimilation, namely social, cultural and identification, Hindus were most and Muslims were least assimilated.
Gibson (1988: 225) argues that Indian adolescents in her study were pursuing a kind of biculturalism (additive acculturation), which consisted of acquiring the instrumental values of the mainstream American culture while at the same time retaining the core values of their family and community. Thus Ghuman’s research findings are in accord with the salient findings of these two researchers.
Ethnic Identity and Self-image
Relative to the first generation, the process of ethnic self-identification of second generation children is more complex and often entails the juggling of competing allegiances and attachments. Situated within two cultural worlds, they must define themselves in relation to multiple reference groups… and to the classification into which they are placed by their native peers, schools, ethnic community, and the larger society (Portes and Rumbaut, 2001: 150).
Most adolescents at some stage pose questions of self- and social- identity to themselves intentionally or sub-consciously, viz: Who am I? To whom do I belong? If they happen to be a progeny of immigrants they invariably ask the question: To which community group (s) do I belong? They are trying to find a meaningful place in the society of which they are the newest members.
It is judicious at the outset to define the concept of ethnic identity precisely at the outset. Tajfel (1981: 255) defines ethnic identity as ‘that part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership’. Other definitions and interpretations of ethnicity include: self-identification; feelings of belongingness and commitment; and the sense of shared values and attitudes and goals (Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco, 2001: 118; Phinney, 1990).
According to Portes and Rumbaut (2001), there are several determinants (measured objectively) of ethnic identification; the chief ones being: socio-economic and family composition, measures of acculturation and linguistic adaptation. In addition, there are two subjective factors, namely, children’s perceived experiences of discrimination and ‘the extent to which the child’s and parent’s self-identities were perceived to be identical in that year’. Furthermore, the school environments that a child experiences in early years also plays a distinctive role in ethnic and racial identity.
Although Erickson’s model of identity development has serious shortcomings (see Orozco and Orozco, 2001), it is a useful starting point for our discussion on ethnic identity. Marcia (1994) has conceptually elaborated and empirically tested the stages of Erikson’s identity theory. Some Indian psychologists (Sinha,1996; Kakar,1992) argue that Erikson’s stages of development correspond to the ones described in ancient texts of the Hindus, e.g. Mahabhrata, Rigveda, and Dharamsastra). The following quotation gives a flavour of the writings of Kakar’s (1982: 7), an eminent Indian psychoanalyst:
Daksha’s opinion is shared by many authors: ‘Till a boy is eight years old he is like one newly born and only indicates the caste in which he is born. As long as his Upanayana ceremony is not performed the boy incurs no blame as to what is allowed or forbidden. ‘The ritual of jatakarman, annaprasana, and caula, roughly coinciding with the beginnings of the first three Eriksonian stages…
Phinney (1996) has applied Marcia’s model to explain the development of ethnic identity in minority-group young people. Phinney (1989) argues that the development of ethnic identity follows the same route and developmental stages as does that of personal identity. This model has been tested with a large sample of different ethnic groups in the US. Phinney and Alipuria (1990) report that ethnic minority students rate ethnicity as a central concern, very close to religion and above politics, and it is an important factor in the development of their ego identity.
For children of colour in white dominated western countries, awareness of ethnic identity is a part of their lived-in experience. Davey’s (1983) large-scale research in England, though somewhat dated, makes an extremely important point regarding children’s awareness of their ethnicity and its personal and social implications. By the age of seven or eight, they argue that children develop a schema or cognitive framework to process information (favourable or unfavourable) connected with their own race and other races. Most of them also absorb the pecking order of status and prestige between the various ethnic communities in their society (also see Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco, 2001: 98). Davey (1983) found that irrespective of ethnicity boys are more ethnocentric than girls, the latter being also more fair-minded. South Asian young children are aware of the fact that they - like the West Indians - are non-white and lower in the social status pecking order. South Asian children were found to be less ethnocentric than their white and West Indian counterparts – the whites being significantly the most ethnocentric of the three groups. However, one of the important findings is that ‘acceptance that one is a member of low-status group is not incompatible with high self-esteem’ (Davey, 1983: 104) of ones’ low-status. This conclusion is reinforced by Hutnik’s (1991) research which found no significant differences in self-esteem between Indian-origin adolescents and their white peers. Such a result had been confirmed by an earlier review of literature by Bagley et al. (1979) and a large-scale study by Verma (1986). Overall Verma and his associates report no significant differences between the South Asians and white teenagers, although there were minor variations relating to gender differences.
A very recent cross-cultural research, reported by Sam and Vitra (2003) from Sweden and Norway, on Vietnamese, Turks and Chileans and native young people (N = 1273) confirms such a conclusion. They confirm that adolescents belonging to ethnic minorities do not report lower self-esteem compared with their white peers and that ethnic identity is positively related to self-esteem and negatively to perceived racial discrimination. They conclude from their findings that in order to enhance the self-esteem of ethnic-minority students it is important for teachers and others to encourage ‘identification’ with both the dominant group and their own ethnic group culture i. e. some form of biculturalism, Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco (2001:117) refer to such a process as transculturation where aspects of both cultures are fused to form bicultural identities. They write:
Transcultural identities are most adaptive in this era of globalism and multiculturalism. By acquiring competencies that enable them to operate within more than one cultural code, immigrant youth are at an advantage.
Ghuman (2001a,b,c) discovered from his empirical research that a majority of South Asian parents in Australia, Britain, Canada, and the US prefer their children to become bicultural and bilingual. However, the young people in Ghuman’s research were almost equally divided between those who chose hyphenated identities and those choosing their ‘national’ identities. Gibson (1988) reports similar findings from California. According to Modood et al. (19994: 58), religion is an important element of South Asian young people’s identity, especially that of Muslims.
In a comprehensive review of psychological literature, Phinney et al. (2001: 502) conclude on a very positive note: ‘…that a strong, secure ethnic identity makes a positive contribution to psychological well-being.’ Likewise Eyou et al. (2000: 541) infer from their research with Chinese adolescents that the well-being of young people can be positively enhanced by helping them develop strong identification and involvement with the mainstream culture while at the same time maintaining strong ties with their ‘home’ culture.
A full understanding of acculturation, ethnic identity and the important issue of prejudice and discrimination can only be fully understood within the social and political contexts of the receiving society. This is affirmed by a cross-cultural study of several ethnic-minority young people in Finland, Germany and Israel by Jaasinskaja-Lahti et al. (2003: 94). They conclude from their wide-ranging findings that: ’On a conceptual level, our study shows once again the importance of the ideological and social context on aspects related to acculturation and adaptation of immigrants’.
Likewise Phinney et al (2001: 506) argue, in their comprehensive review of contemporary research on ‘ethnic identity, and well being’, that for most immigrants an important goal is to become bicultural but that this could be thwarted if they meet discrimination and exclusion from the receiving society. According to these scholars, the ‘best outcome will result from providing real opportunities for immigrants to make choices as to the way and extent to which they retain their ethnic identity and develop a new identity as part of their settlement.’ Rumbaut and Portes (2001: 316) summarize their recommendations on education and development of immigrant children by a policy which encourages selective acculturation (Gibson, 1988, 2001, describes such a process as: accommodation without assimilation.) into the values and mores of American society whilst at the same time rooting them in their ‘home’ culture, which generally encourages high aspirations and self-esteem.
Gender Issues
A heartfelt cry of an Indian grandmother illustrates the predicament of girls (Ghuman, 2003: 166):
In my childhood and adolescence I was the daughter of my parents, and then I became the wife of my husband and then mother of my children…When I am going to be me, myself!
This section explores in some depth those areas of special concern for girls that have emerged from research to date. It has been widely reported in the research literature (Hall 2002; Abbas, 2002; Basit, 1997; Drury, 1991; Ghuman, 2000, 1995; Wade and Souter, 1992) that South Asian girls tend to encounter many more difficulties than boys at school as a result of the patriarchal nature of their families. It is as well to remind the reader, however, that South Asian girls are not a homogenous category and that there are religious, regional, and social class/caste differences between them – religion affiliation being the most significant.
Following the legends described in the sacred books of Mahabhratta and Ramayana, the Hindu religion has accorded greater prestige and honour to women than does Islam. The status and prestige of Sikh women comes somewhere intermediate between Hindus and Muslims.
Traditionally, South Asian families have preferred boys to girls in all manner of things ranging from food, clothes, medicine, and education to employment opportunities (Kakar, 1994). From early childhood girls are brought up in such a way that they will grow up to be obedient daughters and uphold the izzat (honour) of the family (Dosanjh and Ghuman, 1996).
In the west, however, gender inequalities are being seriously addressed and women are beginning to find higher status in the job market, education, the police and the civil service – thus providing good role models for the younger generation. However, Ghosh (1998:148) argues that the situation of women in South Asia is full of contradiction. On the one hand women have been suppressed by such traditions as dowry and sati (widow burning), while on the other hand women have excelled in many walks of life since antiquity. The most recent examples in the political domain are Indira Gandhi, Benzir Bhutto and Bandaranaike. Ghosh concedes, however, that women in Canada are more independent and do enjoy more educational and employment opportunities. Talibani and Hasanali (1995) argue that arranged marriages are pivotal in maintaining the traditional role of girls in Canada and elsewhere.
It follows that many South Asian girls, especially from very traditional families, are likely to be placed in situations where they have to respond to the differing expectations and demands of home on the one hand and school and the wider society in the west on the other. Of course, like boys, they also have to cope with the racial prejudice of their peers and some teachers and racial discrimination in all walks of life.
Shaw’s (2001: 171) ethnographic study of a Muslim community in Oxford, England, mainly confirms the unequal treatment of girls compared with boys in leisure time activities, domestic work and general independence. An excerpt from a group discussion (Ghuman, 2003: 168) with girls in Farmland, Australia makes some salient points:
We want to be able to have more freedom: we want to be able to go out together, to do things. We want to be trusted more…We want our life styles but we don’t want bad reputation and we don’t want to shame our mothers and fathers…It’s just too much pressure; its hard because you cant be you…
Furthermore, there is the serious issue of dating and arranged marriages in which girls are often the grieving victims. South Asian parents tend to turn a blind eye if their sons date, especially when the girls is white, but are furious if they find out and that their daughters are doing the same (Shaw, 2001). Of course such an attitude is in sharp contrast to the vast majority of white and black parents who consider courtship rituals as a necessary rite of passage for adolescents to gain autonomy and form a mature personality.
In general, Muslim and Sikh girls tend to face a stricter regime at home compared with their Hindu counterparts (Abbas, 2001: 146; Ahmed, 2000: 147; Thomas and Ghuman, 1981). There are many cases of working-class girls who have been denied access to further and higher education (Ghuman, 1995; Wade and Souter, 1985; Sian and Thorny, 1984). However, compromised solutions are emerging in the UK where parents, for instance, concedes to their daughters’ demands and allow them to attend institutions near their home area (Abbas, 2002; Ghuman, 1995). Overall, it is clear from the literature that girls experience more ‘pressure’, and become involved in ‘a tug of war between home and school’. This has caused psychosomatic illnesses like bulimia, severe anxiety and clinical depression in some South Asian girls. For a detailed review of literature on this topic see Ghuman (2001/2?) and Bhugra and Bhui (2003). Under these circumstances, girls employ a variety of psychological mechanisms to maintain the continuity, distinctiveness and self-worth of their personal identities. These mechanisms are described by Breakwell (1986) as: compartmentalisation (mentally keeping home and school experiences separate), compromised change, and fundamental change. Ghuman (1999, Basit, 2001: Bhopal, 1997, Drury, 1991; Stopes-Roe and Cochrane, 1990; Wilson, 1978) cite many case studies of girls who are using these coping mechanisms. Weinreich (1996) argues that psychological conflict resulting form culture clash may be resolved by broadening one’s values system, which could then establish a new context for one’s identity. Such a path is followed by progressive - as opposed to orthodox - families and individuals. Middle-class South Asians (especially Hindus) tend to be progressive and accommodate western value systems (Abbas, 2002). Portes and Rumbaut (2001) describe such a strategy as selective assimilation. In the light of existing research evidence (Bhardwaj, 2002; Ahmed et al., 1994; Kingsbury, 1994; Dolan, 1991; Handy et al., 1991)it is suggested that South Asian girls should receive extra help and support from their parents, teachers and other caring professionals in order to help them resolve their anxieties and alleviate tension.
Concluding Remarks
We have covered much ground and it is apposite now to summarize what emerges from the review. Most South Asian young people are making good progress at school. Muslim young people of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin students are not achieving as well as their Indian and white peers. This can be partly attributed to a lack of human capital (the educational level and general resources of the family) and partly to increasing hostility of the receiving societies towards Muslims in general, especially after the tragic events of 11 September 2000 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (also see Parekh, 2000). There may be other factors at play, namely more recent family reunion and settlement and a lack of fluency in English (Gillborn and Gips, 1998). As an English headmaster put it: ‘Parents of the sixties were persuaded to ask for the mullah in the school. Lurking behind this worry lies this unease that their children are being corrupted and this is not strong a word (Ghuman, 2003:195).’ There may be yet another explanation. Suarez-Orozco (2001: 354) argues that groups who are subjected to a persistent form of symbolic and structural violence tend to lose faith in the education system and do not think it will serve them as a means of social mobility. In my view, children of West Indian origin in the UK are also low achievers for the same reason (also see Verma, 1986, DES, 1985; Walters, 2000).
Portes and Rumbaut (2001: 134) conclude from their longitudinal study that bilingualism is an aid to sound social and psychological development. However, the teaching of heritage languages is very patchy in the UK (Smith and Tomlinson, 189) and recent developments in California have virtually put an end to such programs there. Publicly stated policies in Canada are in favour of maintaining heritage languages and they promote biculturalism. Australians are still uncertain with the idea whether they should be a society based on Anglo/Celtic values or one that embraces cultural pluralism. An enlightened liberal report (Bullock Report: DES, 1974: 286) in the UK almost three decades ago argued for the teaching of minority languages so that there is some continuity between ‘home’ and school culture for the immigrant child. More recently Suarez-Orozco (2001: 589) argues that: ‘Healthy learning communities must recognise diversity as a resource for learning rather than a problem to be eliminated.’ Bilingualism will ipso facto promote biculturalism which is widely thought to be conducive to psychologically healthy adjustment and scholastic achievement and to attainment of mature ethnic identity (Berry, 1992; Sam, 1995; Vitra et al. 1996, Zhou and Bankston III, 1998). From researches in the field it also emerges that policies which improve the education and personal development of South Asian students include: promotion of biculturalism through a positive attitude towards students’ culture; sound home-school links; high expectations of students matching with those held by parents; provision for the teaching of heritage languages as far as possible; and the creation of an anti-racist and ‘fair’ school ethos where all children can learn with confidence and to develop their full potential. Scholars from North America (Cummins,, 1998; Portes, 1996; Corson, 1998; Zhou and Bankston III, 1998; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001a, 2001b, Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco, 2001, Gibson, 1998; Gibson and Ogbu, 1991) make suggestions which are close to the ones discussed in this article. The author believes such an enlightened educational policy will go a long way in creating a just and harmonious society in which citizens of all faiths and races/ethnicities will blossom and contribute the good of all.
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