Meritocracy and diversity in higher education: Discrimination against Asian Americans in the post-Bakke era

This paper examines recent changes in admissions patterns and policies of some of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the U.S., with particular reference to the University of California-Berkeley. It focuses specifically on the recent moves away from the application of strict meritocratic admissions criteria toward an increasing reliance on subjective or nonacademic criteria and an emerging but vaguely defined concept of diversity. It also assesses the impact of these changes on both the admissions of Asian American students and the time-honored principle of meritocracy upon which these world-class universities have built their reputations of academic excellence. It is concluded that current efforts to limit Asian American access to high-quality education are a manifestation of a very old anti-Asian bias. This racist bias is deeply woven into the fabric of our society and embedded in our culture and national consciousness.     

Challenging partnerships in Australian early childhood education

Partnerships that form to advance early childhood education are influenced by history and purpose. They are enacted in diverse social, cultural, economic, geographic and educational contexts. Using the theme of ‘strong and equal partnership’ between family and school, and taking a theoretical standpoint that values social cohesion and the agency of the child, this paper investigates ways in which partnership developed in three different Australian contexts. Particular early childhood programs in Queensland and Western Australia, and a literacy support program in New South Wales fostered education partnerships between parents and teachers, and among professionals, as a key component of effective curriculum. The prevailing management approaches and conceptions of power in the contexts enabled partnerships to be enacted in different ways. Reflection on the program management of curriculum work may be valuable in settings where players are working to achieve a cohesive approach to early education, especially an approach that foregrounds the agency of the child.     

Parental influences on the high school students' academic achievement: A comparison of Asian immigrants,Asian Americans,and White Americans

This study investigates the differences in parental influence on academic achievement of Asian immigrants, Asian Americans, and White Americans. The sample consisted of a nationally representative sample of 10th grade students obtained from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 88, first follow-up, sponsored by the National Center for Educational Statistics. Results indicate that both Asian immigrants and Asian Americans spent significantly more time on homework and perceived higher parental educational expectation than did White American students. White American students, on the other hand, reported more parental involvement in school activities. A negative relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement was found for the Asian immigrant and Asian American students. Implications of the findings on academic achievement are discussed based on cultural perspectives. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Challenging the exclusionary effects of the inclusive mask of adult education

How do the discourses of adult education, as constituted through the ideology of liberal pluralism, work to foreclose challenges posed by feminist and antiracist critiques? I work with four different sites which are key to unravelling how our discourses of inclusion are exclusionary in effect. The play of these discursive practices is situated through the analysis of their deployment in: 1) recent government policy reports, 2) controversy over faculty appointments, 3) an ‘international’ conference on graduate studies, and 4) and inter/ national survey of research in adult education.     

Culturally Responsive Counseling for Asian Americans: Clinician Perspectives

Research has consistently found acute mental health treatment disparities among Asian Americans. One proposed reason for the underutilization of mental health services by Asian Americans is that available services are not culturally competent. This exploratory study presents qualitative data gathered from interviews with professional counselors who serve Asian American clients. Findings revealed significant barriers to counseling due to cultural stigma and shame, suppression of emotions, and communication gaps between clients and counselors. In response, clinicians frequently made adjustments to therapeutic approaches to accommodate the cultural beliefs and practices of clients and families. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Challenging student teachers' conceptions of science and technology education

To address expected negative attitudes to studying science and technology held by primary school student teachers, we devised a learning model which combined cooperative group strategies with a learners' questions approach in a context which allowed for pluralism in methodology and epistemology. The model was used in a teacher education elective subject studied by final year Diploma of Teaching students at the University of Technology, Sydney. We found that some students were inexperienced in participating in the planning and design of their learning and that for many students, being responsible for their learning in a science and technology context aroused reactions of alarm and determined avoidance so that alternative pathways for achievement in the subject had to be offered. Some students reported feelings of satisfaction in their successful learning despite initial anxiety, low confidence or indifference. Specializations: children's learning in science and technology; inclusion; contexts, teaching models.     

The invisibility of the underachieving girl

The recent high profile of the underachievement debate in the media, through research initiatives, and in resulting remediation programmes within the classroom, has focused almost exclusively upon boys, such that the identity and needs of the underachieving girl have been rendered invisible. Underachievement has become so closely associated with the gender identity of boys that the idea of girls underachieving has become virtually inconceivable. This paper is concerned with teachers’ perceptions of the underachieving girl in the light of the overwhelming attention on the underachieving boy. It is argued that the focus of attention should be underachievement as a complex phenomenon rather than focusing exclusively on the underachievement of boys.     

The dangerous discourse of invisibility: A critique of the National Research Council's national science education standards

In this critical review essay, I argue that the National Research Council's (NRC) 1996 National science education standards uses a discourse of invisibility to lay out its massive reform for science education in the United States. This invisibility discourse dangerously compromises the well-intended goals of the NRC by not directly addressing the ethnic, socioeconomic, gender, and theoretical issues which influence the teaching and learning of science in today's schools. Herein I propose that the Standards ought to provide strong arguments and evidence in support of the reasons why equity should be a guiding principle in science education reform. In the same manner, the Standards must articulate the theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence on which the numerous recommendations for change are based. Only then would the Standards provide the conceptual guidance necessary to encourage teachers, administrators, parents, and politicians to spring into action and take the necessary risks associated with radically transforming schools. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34 : 19–37, 1997.     

Training Multiculturally Competent Counselors to Work With Asian Indian Americans

Studies continue to reveal that Asian Indian Americans tend to underuse counseling or terminate counseling process prematurely. Sociocultural differences and the implications for training counselors are presented.     

Asian perspectives on teacher education

This paper reports on a study that was conducted on the effects of training students in specific strategic and meta-cognitive questioning strategies on the development of reasoning, problem-solving, and learning during cooperative inquiry-based science activities. The study was conducted in 18 sixth grade classrooms and involved 35 groups of students in three conditions: the cognitive questioning condition; the Philosophy for Children condition; and the comparison condition. The students were videotaped as they worked on a specific inquiry-science task once each term for two consecutive school terms. The results show that the students in all conditions demonstrated more helping discourses or discourses known to mediate learning than any other of the discourse categories. This outcome is encouraging because it is the helping discourses where students provide explanations, elaborations, and reasons that promote follow-up learning.