Burmese Parents’ Perspectives Toward Education 1
Burmese Parents’ PerspectivesToward Education
By
Kyaw T. Soe
Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW)
Capstone Course: EDUC E595 Research Project in Elementary Education
Instructor: Dr. Cheu-jey George Lee, Ph.D.
Summer II 2010
Abstract
Burmese immigrantshave been a part ofthe Fort Wayne’s diverse community since the early 1990’s. Today thousands of Burmese reside and work in Fort Wayne and its surrounding areas.This studyintendedto seek insightsfrom Burmese immigrant parents’ perspectives on their involvements in their children’s education, their view pointsonthe American school system, and their knowledge about available educational services and opportunities for theirfamilies. This study used a survey; it consisted of 22 questions. Eighteen Burmese immigrantparents, including ten fathers and eight mothers, participated in the study. Thefindings reflecteda parental involvement in the immigrant parents’ aspect, their expectation of children’s education, and animpact of an inefficient usage of translation service on homes’ and schools’ collaboration and communication.
Introduction
Starting in the early 1990’s,Burmese immigrant resettlements to the U.S. have not shown any sign of slowing down. In fact, the number is increasing every year. Like many other new immigrants across the U.S., the Burmese immigrants have faced challenges in adapting to a new culture, country, and language. Young children, in particular,are ill-prepared for a new environmentlike schools. For them, there is no window for adjustment! For immigrant parents, they trust their children’s education entirely to teachers. Questioning or criticizing teachers is viewed as disrespectful (Sohn & Wang, 2006). However, that is certainly not what American schools expect from parents. In most cases, parental involvement that has traditionally been understood and implemented in American school cannot apply to immigrant parents for theparents-schools collaboration (Waterman & Harry, 2008).It is important to learn and to understand the immigrant parents’ viewpoints and concerns, so bridging schools and homes becomes possible. This research was conducted to find Burmese immigrant parents’ perspectives toward American’s education.
Background
Fort Wayne is home to six thousand Burmese immigrants. This rapidly growing Burmese community in Fort Wayne is a result of the pro-democracy 1988 uprising and the subsequent brutal crackdown of the ethnic minority populations by the military regime in Burma. Leaders of the pro-democracy movement and ordinary citizens become targets of governmental persecutions. Social chaos, human rights violations, ethnic cleansing, mass relocation, and mismanagement of resources by the military regime cause people to leave their homes and seek refuge in neighboring countries. Many of these former Burmese refugees settled in the U.S.A and seventeen other countries around the world (Win, 2006).
In the early 1990’s, the first wave of the Burmese resettlement arrived in Fort Wayne. It consisted mostly of college students who participated in the 1988 student-led uprising. The political unrest, economic hardship, and frequent closing of colleges, universities, and schools have forced thousands of Burmese to leave the country. Today, there are millions of Burmese livings outside Burma. Because of the imageof prosperous lives and promising futures in the U.S., it, thenbecomes one of manypreferred destinations forBurmese immigrants around the world. The Burmese enter the U.S. in various immigrant statuses. Some come with political asylum, some won a so-called “Green Card Lottery,” and some come with a family and spouse visa. However, a majority of the Burmese immigrants are refugees who spent many prolonged years in the Thai-Burmese border’ refugee camps and neighboring countries, i.e. Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, and India before being granted an opportunity to come to the U.S. with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (U.N.H.C.R).
“The Second Wave” of Burmese immigrant resettlements started in 2006 when President George W. Bush and Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice granted wavier to 9,300 Burmese ethnic people such as Karen, who have fought with the military regime and have been forced to leave their villages and have lived in refugee camps, to resettle in the United States(The Associated Press, 2006).As a result, in 2007, a total of seven-hundred Burmese were brought to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Then in 2008, eight-hundred more Burmese arrived in Fort Wayne (Editorial, 2010). Incentivesfor others Burmese immigrants across the U.S. to move to Fort Wayne includefriends & families, spiritual support, help & services available, affordable living cost, and job opportunities. They contribute toa secondary migration. That makes Fort Wayne the largest and the fastest growing Burmese immigrant resettlement community outside of Burma.
Literature Review
Learning from their own experiencesof a journey to this great nation, the U.S., immigrant parents deeply understand the barriers and obstacles they must overcome. Seeking an American dream certainly requires long hours of hard work andstrong willpower. They know first-hand that without education, choices and opportunities are limited. Education is a key to endless possibilities in America. A college degree and English language proficiency are the gateway to a good paying job and ability to find prosperity in the U.S. society (Waterman & Harry, 2008). Immigrant parents value education and want to help their children to be successful, but they do not know how (Thao, 2009). Many immigrant parents do not speak or know little English. They are reluctant to question schools’ authorities; many do not even understand their rights. Immigrant parents believe their way of helping their children is preparing them for school and teaching them to work hard and be respectful (Smith, Stern, & Shatrova, 2008). There is no doubt that immigrant parents can be helpful for schools but lack of knowledge in the American school system and limited English skill have prevented them from meeting such responsibility. They need guidance; schools need to introduce them to school policies, procedures, and grading systems. Translators and translations must be provided. At least once a year, schools should plan a social or conversational meeting with parents in order to promote understanding about parent’s background and culture, including their expectation of the school (Rhodes & Paez, 1998). Parental involvement in children’s education is important for American as well as immigrant parents. Immigrant parents’ involvement can have a great impact on their children’s academic success. In fact, immigrant parents and their high expectations of their children’s education will usually increase their children’s learning motivations (Zhou & Booth, 2009). Many researchers agree that to improve children’sachievement, schools cannot work alone. They need to build partnership with parents, both American and immigrant parents; unfortunately, figuring out ways to get parent’s involvement remains challenges for schools and districts across the U.S. District-level strategies include teacher training, assess communication between homes and schools. Nonetheless, parent involvement continues to be a policy on paper that seems a long way from practicing. Most schools are obligated to include parents as partners, but there is no pressure to do so (Mitchell, 2008). To engage immigrant parents with schools seems much more complicated than to engage American parents. Communication strategies must be carefully planned and schools must initiate the action. It is a crucial step for schools to recognize the diversity of the populations and be attentive to parents’ concerns and individuals’ perspectives regarding involvement. It is the school’s responsibility for getting parents involved (Keane, 2007). Experts agree that parental involvement effects children’s learning. The question is how schools and homes find a common ground to work together and what parents can do within their capability to assist schools.
Purpose of the Research
During their struggling period while seeking shelter in neighboring countries andsurvivalin the crowded refugee camps, both Burmese parents and children facea number of hardships to make ends meets. The children, in particular, have limited access or not at all to formal education (Barron, Okell, Yin, VanBik, Swain, Larkin, Allot, and Ewers, 2007). Many of them come to the U.S.very ill-prepared for schooling. However, the children have to enter age-appropriate classes in elementary, middle, or high schools and they have no choice (Hunter, 2005). These under schooled new immigrant children, who typically have been in the U.S. for four years or less, usually perform three or more years below grade level in math and other core subjects (Ruiz-de-Velasco, Fix, Clewell, 2002). It takes nearly three to five years to acquire oral proficiency in a language (Garcia, 1994). Ovando and Collier (1995) stated that it typically takes five to seven years for non-English speaking children to master academic English as used in reading, writing, and listening. It seems almost impossible for them to catch up!
According to the enrollment records kept by Fort Wayne Community Schools (FWCS), nearly 4,000 students of its 31,500 enrolled students speak languages other than English at home or have other languages besides English as their first language. FWCS now has nearly eighty different languages spoken and Burmese is its second largest non-native English population in FWCS (Abrams, 2010). Children are struggling and they need all the help they can get in order to excel. Schools cannot do it alone. They need to get immigrant parents involved.
To address challenges and concernsof the Burmese immigrant families in the school system, this research was designed and conducted to study the group. Due to limited research in this area, it is very hard to find studies and information on this particular group. There is a sense of urgency andit is more important than ever to connect homes and schools together; the children are sinking! This pilot study on Burmese parent immigrants was intended to explore and to understand Burmese immigrant parents’ concerns and thoughts to initiate collaborationbetween homes and schools.In collaboration with schools, Burmese parentscan play an important role in their children’s academic success.
Research Method
Survey
This study used a survey. It consisted of 22 questions (see Appendix A for the English version and Appendix B for the Burmese version). To eliminate language barriers, I gave instructionsin Burmese to the participants as a group, and each participant completed the survey (the Burmese version) anonymously. All participants were allowed to write their responses and comments in Burmese, that later were translated into English. Though the questions were multiple choices, open-ended comments were also solicited. The Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. All written comments from the participants were also included in data analysis. The questions on the survey can be categorized into five areas as follows:
- Parents’ demographics, including, age, gender, marital status, educational backgrounds, time stayed in refugee camps and time stayedin the U.S, and how they came to the U.S.
- Parents’ expectations of their children’s education.
- Parents’ understanding of parental involvement.
- Communication between schools and homes.
- Parents’ knowledge of available services.
Participants
Table 1 Demographics
Ethnicity / Ages / Marital Status / Gender20-25 / 26-35 / 36-45 / 46-55 / Single / Married / Male / Female
Burman / 5 / 7 / - / Yes / 6 / 6
Mon / 1 / - / Yes / 1
Kayin / 1 / 2 / - / Yes / 2 / 1
Muslim / 1 / 1 / - / yes / 1 / 1
Total / 10 / 8
18
There were eighteen parents participating in the study; 56%of the participants wereBurmese fathers and 44%wereBurmese mothers, who are actively involved in the New Immigrant Literacy Program (NILP), Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is worthy to note that 100% of the eighteen parents were from two- parent households. They represented diverse Burmese ethnic minority groups, i.e. Burman, Mon, Kayin, Muslim, etc. In Burma, there are many ethnic groups. Each group cherishes its owncultures and languages. There are one hundred and thirty different languages spoken in Burma; however, Burmese is an official language in Burma.
The IPFW New Immigrant Literacy Program (NILP) was founded in 2003 in the makeshift classroom apartment. In 2006, the program relocated to the Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), under supervision of the Educational Studies Department / School of Education. Hundreds of Education major students volunteer with the program. The program is designed to support English reading, speaking, math, and literacy skills of recent immigrant students (ages 6 to 15) to the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
All of the participants’ children attended elementary schools or middle schools in local school districts and private schools in the Fort Wayne areas. For many consecutive years, these parents continuously brought their children to Saturday tutorial sessions with the (IPFW) New Immigrant Literacy Program (NILP) for additional help all year round. The parents themselves also benefited from services provided such as translation, adult English classes, advising, networking with other parents, etc. One of the program’s required activities was the parent workshops. Participants’ parents attended at least two workshops per school year to keep them well-informed and up-to-date on educational related issues.
Table. 2 Educational Backgrounds
Education Level / Gender / Total / Time Stay inthe U.S. / Gender / Total
Male / Female / Male / Female
Elementary / 0 / 1 / 1 / Less than 2 yrs. / 1 / 2 / 3
Middle School / 4 / 1 / 5 / 5 – 10 yrs. / 9 / 6 / 15
High School / 2 / 5 / 7 / 11 – 15 yrs. / 0 / 0 / 0
Some college / 4 / 1 / 5 / More than 15yrs. / 0 / 0 / 0
Total / 10 / 8 / 18 / Total / 10 / 8 / 18
The participants had different educational backgrounds; 5.5% of the participants hadan elementary education, 27.8% middle school, 38.9% high school, and 27.8% some college. In their responses to the survey question 21(see Appendix B), 61% of the parents enrolled their children in the NILP because they expected their children to excel in their reading and math skill. 33% of the parents wanted extra tutoring, so the children could do well in schools.This showed that parents’ educational backgroundsdid not impact theirsupportfor their children’s education. These Burmese parents, like other Asian parents, shared a similar belief in education; they ascribed great weight to the pursuit of academic success (Stevenson & Lee, 1990).Theyhad high educational expectations for their children (Zhou, 1997).
On the other hand, the time they lived in the U.S.varied. 22.2% of the parentslived in the U.S. for less than two years and 77.8% of them for five to ten years. It is important to take a closer lookatthe time they lived in the U.S. since it could impact their involvement in children’s education. In addition, 90% of the participants entered the U.S. on refugee status.Starting a new life required long working hours and learning English. These struggles could have an effect on their involvement in schools. According to the Table 2, a percentage of the participants who have been in the U.S. for 5 to 10 years were larger than the participants who have been living in the U.S. less than five years. It indicated that time-stayed could have impact on parents’ involvement. It is possible that theBurmese parents who have been living in the U.S. long enough are more likely to understand English, be financially stable, be employed,and own transportation, etc. These factors couldreinforce parents’ ability to be engagedin children’s education.
Data Analysis
Parents’ Expectation of Their Children’s Education
Chart 1
Educational opportunity in the U.S. appeared to be the main attraction for the Burmese immigrant parents; 88% of the parents agreed. It is important to note that the parents wanted such an opportunity for their children rather than themselves. Theimmigrant parents may not have had that same opportunity in their native country (Thao, 2009). Based on Chart 1 the participant parents arrived with a deep respect for the U.S. schools’ system. Schools shouldview parents’ commitmentto education as the strength in helping toencourage children’s learning. These parents resettled here for their children. They are fully invested in their children’s future (Kugler & Price, 2009).
Parental Involvement
Chart 2 Chart 3
Many researchers have found that parent involvement in schools is an effective strategy for promoting students’ achievement. Yet schools struggle with ways to recruit and involve parents, especially recent immigrant parents (Golan Petersen, 2002). As shown on Chart 2 and Chart 3, the Burmese parents showedthe contradiction in their view about parental involvement. As high as 77% of the parents thought they were involved in their children’s education; however, the same group was divided, 50% versus 50%,when they were asked about their attendanceat schools’ activities. In their view, parental involvement would not limit to “showing-up” at schools’ activities or events. Schools should explain to immigrant parents howphysical presence is important and it is expected. To understand the parents’ point of view, it could help schools to better strategizeto getting immigrant parents involved.
Communication between Homes and Schools
Chart 4 Chart 5
How do you respond to school letter/survey?Does your child’s school send important letter/document home in the language that you can understand?
Chart 5 shows that schools did not do enough in keeping the immigrant parents informed and connected. It was only 39% of letters/documents have been sent home compared to a total of 61% of parents, who never or sometimes received anything from schools in the language they could understand. That could be an answer to the low 22 percentage of parents’ response to schools’ letters/surveys, demonstrated in Chart 4. Communication is a key to homes’ and schools’ connection; however, schools should initiate such interaction. In fact, it is time for schools to move parental involvement strategies beyond business as usual. Simply translating flyers for current programs into the parents’ language is an important first step but is not sufficient. A variety of communication styles should be implemented and conducted, i.e. telephone call, home visit, meeting, etc. with competent translators available.