This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Chinatown(s) Neighborhood Main Menu Architecture Racism Cultural Politics Views of Chinatown and Related Neighborhoods Relevancy Of the Project Violence Unpacking the Violent History of Chinatown Public Health

Education

38486

While education is widely considered an essential component of one’s social development and a primary opportunity for social mobility across all American families, it is particularly important in traditional Chinese culture. Educational success is seen as a duty and obligation to not only one’s self but their entire family. As Min Zhou points out in her article, “The Ethnic System of Supplementary Education: Nonprofit and For-Profit Institutions in Los Angeles’ Chinese Immigrant Community,” many Chinese parents facilitate their children’s education because they are “keenly aware of their own limitations as immigrants and the larger structural constraints, such as limited family wealth… lack of access to social networks connecting to the mainstream economy and various social and political institutions, and entry barriers to certain occupations because of racial stereotyping and discrimination” (233).

As such, it’s clear why education formed such an integral role in Chinatown’s community. Even with decades of policies barring Chinese immigrants from attending American public schools, many turned to homeschooling, religious institutions, or creating their own Chinese education schools. And once public schools were open to Chinese Americans, they became pillars of the Chinatown community.

REFLECTIONS
What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned through this exercise?

May: One of the things I found interesting was how Castelar Elementary was integral to the Chinatown community. I was glad to see that the community organizations formed around Castelar are still going strong today. I think it’s really special that Castelar serves the largest number of Indochinese refugees in the district and offers a Mandarin dual language program. However, seeing signs about fundraisers brings up deeper questions about whether Castelar is receiving the funding that its students need and deserve.

Jo: Reading Castelar alumni testimonies allowed me to realize that Chinatown’s racial politics are COMPLEX. Some alumni are willing to say it for what it is, but the overwhelming consensus was that Castelar was this racial paradise where everybody got along. Was it really? Why was it that so much racism from teachers went unchecked? Why was it that even Chinese teachers were so opposed to bilingual education in the 1960s and 1970s? Was Castelar truly a city on a hill, or was it simply a majority-minority melting pot? You decide.

AREAS OF FURTHER INQUIRY

May: I think it would be interesting for next year’s students to interview some of the alumni in the Gum Saan Journal to dig deeper into their recollections.

Jo: Maybe next year’s students can interview Asian American Tutorial Project members from USC (or even UCLA or Occidental College)? The Gum Saan article we reference in our writeup does mention AATP, and it would be interesting to investigate the relationship between young children inside Chinatown and college students from outside the community (has it been mutual growth? unequal power dynamics? a bit of both?)

Contents of this path: