Self-Concept, Achievement and Multicultural Education

292 Pages·1982·34.452 MB·English

by  Gajendra K. Verma, Christopher Bagley (eds.)

SELF-CONCEPT, ACHIEVEMENT AND
MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
In this collection of essays, the editors bring together radical but
scholarly papers from the disciplines of social psychology, sociology and
education, organised around the theme of education in a multicultural
society. The majority of the papers concern Britain, but American and
Canadian case studies are also included.
A proper multicultural education is one of the means by which the
identity of all children may be fostered. Evidence is presented showing
that, although young coloured children have to battle with the racist
stereotypes of black people inherent in British culture and language,
nevertheless as they grow older they acquire a self-concept which is quite
as adequate as that of white children. A number of papers in this book
are concerned with the problems of labelling and teacher expectations,
and a national survey of child development is reported, indicating that
the negative views of teachers can be an important factor in the
scholastic underachievement of ethnic minority children. Such labelling,
and the sentencing of black children to subnormal schooling, is seen as
part of the general problem of the racial stereotypes.
Other books by G. K. Verma and C. Bagley
RACE AND EDUCATION ACROSS CULTURES G. K. Verma &
C. Bagley (editors)
RACE, EDUCATION AND IDENTITY G. K. Verma & C. Bagl<,y
(editors)
PERSONALITY, SELF-ESTEEM AND PREJUDICE C. Bagley,
G. K. Verma, K. Mallick & L. Young
RACIAL PREJUDICE, THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY
C. Bagley & G. K. Verma
ILLUSION AND REALITY IN THE INDIAN SECONDARY
EDUCATION G. K. Verma, C. Bagley & K. Mallick
WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH: Perspectives on techniques
of research G. K. Verma & R M. Beard
THE IMPACT OF INNOVATION G. K. Verma (editor and author)
SELF-CONCEPT,
ACHIEVEMENT AND
MULTICULTURAL
EDUCATION
Edited by
Gajendra K. Verma
University of Bradford, UK
and
Christopher Bagley
University of Ca/gary, Canada
© Gajendra K. Verma and Christopher Bagley 1982
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 18t edition 1982
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1982 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-05904-1 ISBN 978-1-349-05902-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-05902-7
Contents
Notes on the Contributors vii
Introduction: Issues in Multicultural Education
Gajendra K. Verma and Christopher Bagley ix
PART I
SELF-CONCEPT, ATTITUDE DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE
Self-Concept and Long-Term Effects of Teaching about Race
Relations in British Schools
Christopher Bagley and Gajendra K. Verma 3
2 The Relative Influences of Ethnicity, Social Class and
Religion of Stimulus Person on Social Distance
Robert B. Burns 16
PART II
IDENTITY AND SELF-ESTEEM IN A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY
3 Self-Esteem, Self-Concept and the Development of Black
Identity: A Theoretical Overview
Loretta Young and Christopher Bagley 41
4 Ethnic Identification, Preference and Sociometric Choice
A. G. Davey 60
5 Ethnicity and Cultural Competence: Aspects ofInteraction in
Multiracial Classrooms
Geoffrey Driver 70
v
vi Contents
PART III
STUDIES OF DISADVANTAGE AND ACHIEVEMENT
6 The Problems of Vocational Adaptation of 'Asian' Ado
lescents in Britain: Some Theoretical and Methodological
Issues
Gajendra K. Verma 83
7 A Case of Non-Achievement: West Indians and ESN-M
Schooling
Sally Tomlinson 98
8 Achievement, Behaviour Disorder and Social Circumstances
in West Indian Children and Other Ethnic Groups
Christopher Bagley 107
9 Teaching in the Multiethnic, Multicultural School
Kanka Mallick and Gajendra K. Verma 149
10 Language and Culture Maintenance Programmes in Canada
Joti Bhatnagar 165
II Tests and Testing in a Multiethnic Society
Gajendra K. Verma and Kanka Mallick 176
PART IV
COMPARATIVE STUDIES
12 Identity, Self-Esteem and Evaluation of Colour and Ethnicity
in Young Children in Jamaica and London
Loretta Young and Christopher Bagley 191
13 The Comparative Structure of Self-Esteem in British and
Indian Adolescents
Christopher Bagley, Gajendra K. Verma and Kanka
Mallick 212
14 Identity and Adaptation of Migrants from the English
Speaking Caribbean in Britain and North America
Elizabeth M. Thomas-Hope 227
Bibliography 240
Index 265
Notes on the Contributors
Gajendra K. Verma is Senior Lecturer in Psychology of Education at
the University of Bradford Postgraduate School of Studies in Research
in Education. He is also Director of a two-year research project (1980-
82), funded by Nuffield Foundation, concerned with occupational
adaptation of ethnic minority adolescents in their early working life.
Christopher Bagley is Professor of Social Welfare at the University of
Calgary, Canada.
Robert B. Burns is Lecturer in Psychology of Education at the
University of Bradford Postgraduate School of Studies in Research in
Education.
Loretta Young is a Senior Social Worker with Or Barnardo's
Children's Society.
A. G. Davey is Reader in Applied Social Studies at the University of
Newcastle upon Tyne.
Geoffrey Driver is Research Fellow, Applied Anthropology Group, in
the Centre for Applied Social Studies at the University of Leeds.
Sally Tomlinson is a Lecturer in the Department of Educational
Research at the University of Lancaster.
Kanka Malliek is Senior Lecturer in Psychology of Education at the
West London Institute of Higher Education.
Joti Bhatnagar is Professor of Education at the University of
Concordia, Canada.
Elizabeth M. Thomas-Hope is a Lecturer in Geography at the Univer
sity of Liverpool.
vii
Introduction: Issues in
Multicultural Education
GAJENDRA K. VERMA and
CHRISTOPHER BAGLEY
This collection of papers in the field of multicultural education is a
sequel to our two previous edited collections, Race and Education Across
Cultures (1975) and Race, Education and Identity (1979). Our aim in
these volumes is to bring together collections of papers, some of which
have been given at conferences, but few of which have been published in
any form. We aim to publish papers which are both radical and scholarly
in orientation, and which indicate strategies for rethinking, action or
change in the field of race relations and education.
Our own approach is that of radical social psychology, in which our
value commitment to the values of pluralism, multiculturalism and anti
racism are invested in empirical and statistical studies of education in
multiethnic settings. These approaches are illustrated too in our recent
work in comparative and multicultural education, and the radical study
of prejudice and racism (Bagley, 1979; Bagley and Verma, 1979; Bagley
et aI., 1979c; Verma, et aI., 1980).
We have argued that Britain is, through the ideologies of its cultural
institutions and the attitudes and behaviour of many of its citizens, a
fundamentally racist society, which denies many of the rights and
legitimate aspirations of ethnic minorities. In this kind of climate, the
movement towards multicultural education (which fosters the develop
ment and identity of all ethnic groups on the basis of a culturally
appropriate education for each ethnic group, combined with education
for intercultural understanding and equality, not only of opportunity
but also of achievement) is painfully slow. As Lea (1980) has argued,
race relations policy in Britain, far from aiding such relations, has made
the lot of black people significantly worse.
Triandis (1975, 1976) has argued that the crisis in social psychology
ix
x Introduction
can be resolved by a greater emphasis on the values and cross-cultural
research frameworks otTered by pluralist analysis. Pluralism involves
ditTerent cultural and ethnic groups in the same society not merely
existing side by side, but understanding sympathetically each other's
folkways, lifestyles, literature, customs and aspirations. Triandis argues
in this context that:
Integration which is mere contact between two groups is held to be
potentially counterproductive as a remedy for the inequality seen
between blacks and whites, an inequality consequent to persisting
exploitation by the majority of the minority group. A three-pronged
strategy to achieve additive multiculturalism, an essential step for
ward to a pluralist society, is advocated. The development of
interdependence, appreciation, and the skills to interact intimately
with persons from other cultures are the requirements laid down
(Triandis, 1976, p. 179).
The research by Triandis and his colleagues which we have published
in our previous edited volumes (Landis et al., 1975; Landis and
McGrew, 1979) otTers important research strategies in this direction.
LANGUAGE AND MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
For centuries the English authorities suppressed and persecuted
speakers of Gaelic and Celtish in the colonised parts of Britain, and
penalised those who spoke their native language in school. Similarly, in
the Caribbean Hindi-speaking children were caned at school. The result
has been a tragic alienation of cultural identity. Now only a minority of
Welsh people can speak their ancient language, and knowledge of Hindi
in the East Indians of Trinidad and Guyana has been all but lost. This
language imperialism survives in Britain today, with the assimilationist
insistence that children of immigrant parents must, above all things,
learn English as early as possible. Their native language, if it is tolerated,
is seen as an irrelevant curiosity or an embarrassment. The ethnocentric
assumption that 'native' language - the language of nativity - has to be
English, can no longer be justified in the multicultural society that
Britain has become. The native languages of Britain are English, Welsh,
Gaelic, Cantonese, Greek, Bengali, Gujerati, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu,
Hakka, Jamaican Creole, Yuroba, Efik, Italian, Spanish, Polish,
Hungarian, Turkish, and many more (Pullum, 1980).
For each child his or her native language is a precious birthright. It is