Asian-Pacific American, or more inclusively Asian and Pacific Islander American, is the appropriate term to describe groups with roots in Asia and the Pacific Islands. Very often, the diverse needs of Asian-Pacific American students (who have resided in the United States for more than 200 years) are completely ignored or misunderstood. There are several issues related to Asian-Pacific American students that challenge a biased educational system. Language limitations often result in linguistic isolation for students and family members. Studies of Asian-Pacific American youth who did not speak English at home or spoke two languages showed them facing a higher risk of health, psychosocial, and school issues. Also, due to linguistic barriers, cultural differences, and economic pressures, Asian-Pacific American parents typically do not participate or intervene consistently in their children's schooling, even if they express high expectations at home for their children's educational success.
As numbers of Asian-American students and families continue to rise significantly, one of the most important dynamics affecting the experiences of these students in school will be intergenerational relationships with their families and their struggle to bridge the conflicting world between homes and schools. However, it is understood that many educators are unaware of these linguistic and cultural issues. Few persons are keeping an eye on growing statistics that are beginning to show that the younger these students lose their native language, and by extension their culture, the greater the gap between family and school.
A second issue rests on the assumption that Asian-Pacific American students are model students who traditionally score exceptionally well on mathematics high-stakes tests. Yet Asian-American students are severely underrepresented in special education programs. The 1998 statewide standardized testing in Massachusetts, for example, showed that 26 percent of Asian-American 10th graders failed in English while 40 percent failed in mathematics (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2000). That becomes more significant if one understands that African-American and Hispanic students failed at twice those rates. Although Asian-Americans may be doing better than some other disadvantaged groups, they are not all doing well (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2000). If, for example, an Asian-Pacific American student performance does not meet the expected score, the student usually has a feeling of inadequacy because the prevailing expectation is that Asian-Pacific American students are to excel in mathematics. Congruently, the student may feel the pressure to excel in mathematics- and science-related professions, and such pressure limits the student's interest and development in pursuing careers in other areas.
One of the most troubling factors in the marginalization of Asian-Pacific American students is the uses of educators' and policymakers' overgeneralizations to describe the academic performance of various Asian-Pacific American students without recognizing their ethnic and socioeconomic diversity (Suzuki, 2002). Using disaggregated data would show the wide mathematics and science achievement differences among various groups. There are more than 40 groups altogether that live in this country. Filipino, East Indian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Chinese, Guamanian/Chamorro, Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Pakistani, Samoan, Thai, and Tibetan are just few of the diverse cultural groups. Some research studies have shown that typically, Korean Americans have higher attribution scores believing that effort is more important than ability, while Vietnamese Americans had the lowest scores. It has not yet been determined how this affects mathematics and science scores of Asian-Pacific American students. Disaggregation of data for these students must occur before greater information can be obtained about the needs of those students.
Park and Chi (1999) found that Korean-American secondary students prefer kinesthetic learning to auditory, visual, or tactile learning, while group learning is at the bottom of their list for learning styles. Research that centers on Asian-American students is rare, while longitudinal studies are even rarer. It is incumbent upon educators, however, also to realize that while Asian-American students in general are marginalized in the American education system, Asian-American females are even more invisible compared to their male counterparts. Their being called upon less frequently in class is an indicator that teacher educators continue to be unprepared to teach these culturally diverse students (Gay, 2000; Irvine, 1995). Cultural competence is becoming a powerful skill that teachers must use as a learning tool in a society as diverse as this one. For when teachers demonstrate cultural competence in their teaching, they are seen as creating a learning environment that builds on Asian-American students' cultural knowledge, social interactions, and even students' belief systems that consequently lead to higher academic achievement. There have been several successful programs for Asian-Pacific American students, but none, unfortunately, that especially isolate mathematics and/or science education. The programs instead highlight leadership and ethnic pride. Although there is a growing knowledge base about the learning needs of Asian-Pacific American students, much still needs to be discovered.
Return to "Remembering the Child: On Equity and Inclusion in Mathematics and Science Classrooms."