Cross-Cultural Schooling Experiences of Chinese Immigrant Families

Book excerpt: This book introduces the concept of reciprocal educational learning among cultures with very different historical and philosophical origins. The concept of reciprocal learning grows out of a four year study of immigrant Chinese family narrative experiences in a Western context. This book captures the lived moments of such transitional lives both in and out of school settings to demonstrate why a child would appear and disappear from different caregivers’ purview. Through the narrative lens of student and family life, the study illustrates the intersection of Confucian and Western philosophies of education and how their interaction creates complications as well as benefits for both traditions, hence, the idea of reciprocal learning.