Cultural problems in minority education: Their interpretations and consequences—Part two: Case studies

Culture has featured prominently in minority educational research, policies, and intervention since the early 1960s. It is receiving even more attention today in minority education discourse due to the emergence of cultural diversity and multicultural education as popular national issues. A careful analysis of the new discourse suggests, however, that the issue has shifted from how cultural differences enhance or deter the school adjustment and academic performance of minority children to the problem of cultural hegemony and representation in school curriculum and other domains of education. In my two-part essay I argue for a reconsideration of the earlier question about how culture affects minority school adjustment and academic performance. In the first part of this essay l (1) argued that there are real cultural differences which confront minority children in school and (2) proposed thecultural frame of reference as a conceptual tool to understand minorities' interpretations of and responses to the cultural problems they encounter. More specifically, I suggested that voluntary minorities who interpret the cultural differences as barriers to be overcome are more successful in crossing cultural boundaries. Involuntary minorities with an oppositional cultural frame of reference are ambivalent in their interpretation of cultural differences as barriers and markers of group identity. They are less successful-in crossing cultural boundaries. In this second part, I will demonstrate my explanations with two case studies: blacks, an involuntary minority group and Chinese Americans, a voluntary minority group. Part One of this paper appeared in Volume 27, Number 3, September 1995.