Segregation, Amalgamation And Pluralism: The Educational History Of Chinese Americans

In accordance with the methodology and world view of historical and dialectical materialism, with sufficient historical data, this dissertation mainly studies the education history of Chinese Americans from the middle of 19th century up to now, which is more than 150 years. From the two aspects of the public and the private educations, the educational procession that Chinese Americans have experienced from segregation to amalgamation and final to pluralism is seen through. In this way, we have a deeper understanding about Chinese Americans'educational history and the success or failure of it. This dissertation aims at providing beneficial reference and inspiration for the current reformation and development of education in China, which is placed in the multicultural amalgamation and conflicts.From 1848 to 1881, the education of Chinese Americans was on the stage of inception. Driven by some economic factors, Chinese Americans arrived at the west coast of America. The Chinese traditional culture formed the Chinese culture itself with a core system of value based on Confucian. Even though the Chinese immigrants were staying in the Chinese anti-social environments, they still adhered to their traditional values of education. When Chinese children have been completely excluded from the public education, the growing Chinese language schools assumed the functions of the general education.From 1882 to 1942, apartheid was the most rampant in the United States. Chinese exclusion act of the United States was vigorously implemented as a national policy, and Chinese Americans suffered a rather unfair treatment. Meanwhile, Public education of Chinese Americans displayed a mixed picture. When the majority of Chinese Americans in California were placed in segregated schools, The Chinese in New York fortunately avoided discrimination in education just because of the small population. In the southern states of the United States, Chinese Americans were embarrassed between refusal and admission. Because of Hawaii's unique geographical location and social environment, greater educational space was given to Chinese Americans, who afterwards became the first successful Chinese Americans. As a positive response to the discrimination in education, the Chinese social institutions played a role in education, set up Chinese language schools, and made the prosperity of the Chinese private education ensue, and formed a new way of Chinese Americans education. With the existence of the exclusion law of the United States, Chinese Americans education was still isolated with a strong conservative color, and it was an inevitable result of exclusion and isolation system at that time.From 1943 to 1978, there was a major turning point in the Chinese Americans community. During this period Chinese Americans gradually became aware of winning their equal right of education. They must go out of Chinatown, joined in other minorities to struggle. In the field of public education, the Chinese Americans not only achieved the integration of public education, that is, the school segregation was no longer in existence, but also won the rights to do the Asian American studies in universities and bilingual education in primary and secondary schools. New types of language schools emerged and the educational practicing activities of the new Chinese organizations promoted the further development of Chinese education. Chinese education also evolved forms of supplementary aids for public education, and the weekend Chinese classes were spread out. After World Warâ…¡, many Chinese overseas students, with the change of their status, converged on the trend of Chinese immigrants. They were a group of outstanding young students and they significantly improved the overall educational level of Chinese Americans, and they played a certain role in promoting Chinese to "model minority" in the United States. The great improvement of the quality of the Chinese population, and the improvement of socio-economic status, both speed up the assimilation between Chinese and the mainstream of American society.Since 1979, both the educational development of Chinese Americans, and exchanges and cooperation of education between China and the United States have stepped into a new period. Chinese have jointed other minority groups in fighting for their human rights and the fair education, in which they made historically significant progress. Asian studies and bilingual education programs have been further developed and expanded. Chinese language schools have taken new changes in the form, and the prospects of the Mandarin Chinese schools are bright. The Chinese government resumed the assistance and support for the overseas Chinese schools. The immigrants from the mainland of China continued to promote the development of Chinese language education in the United States. The number of Chinese language schools dramatically increased, so various associations of Chinese schools came into being. Chinese education has been gradually integrating into the American educational fields.Chinese Americans have made fruitful achievements in the development of education, its experience and lessons are worth learning from by the posterity. In view of its future development direction of Chinese education, which way should Chinese Americans education go, amalgamation or pluralism? I suggest making an effort to pursue pluralism in the foundation for amalgamation, exerting the biggest value of the Chinese culture possibly that has been already confirmed by the educational history of Chinese Americans, which constitutes important part in the multicultural of the United States. As long as American remains ethnically and racially diverse, the issue of how to define and maintain educational equality will probably always be present. The education of Chinese Americans need to rely on the Chinese culture as a basis and publicize its own culture, and at the same time solidify the power of each ethnicity, making a clean sweep of the obstacle of the racial discrimination for the development of Chinese Americans'education.