中国新移民的教育期望及其面临的挑战、制度限制和社会支持——以美国和新加坡为例

Educational Expectations, Challenges, Institutional Constraints, and Social Support: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Immigrant Parenting in the U.S. and Singapore

论文以美国和新加坡为例,论述了新移民产生的背景、中国新移民在移居国所面临的挑战、移居国的制度限制与社会支持机制的作用,探讨了海外华人移民子女教育的成功因素。认为在西方或东方不同的社会结构、教育制度和文化环境下,子女教育问题对于中国新移民家庭来说都是共同关注的重要问题。美国华人家庭面临着种族歧视的结构障碍以及文化和代际的双重冲突,新移民除了依靠自身能力和经济社会背景外,还通过华人社区的社会支持机制来缓解家庭内部的矛盾和代际冲突,使移民子女取得教育的成功。而在深受儒家文化影响的新加坡,择优录取的教育制度和中国的应试教育有很多相同之处,中国新移民在子女教育上面临的挑战主要来自制度和结构引致的机会缺失,他们更多依靠自身的经济、人力、文化资本和跨国家庭资源应对新加坡的考试制度和过早分流带来的激烈竞争和焦虑。海外华人移民子女教育的成功,除了新移民由于超高端筛选而有较高起点这个因素外,还因为重视教育的儒家文化的影响和虎妈式的严管良教,以及与多层面的移出环境和移入环境等结构性因素和社会支持机制密不可分。

Confucian heritage culture values education, holding that a good education is the effective path to upward social mobility. Children’s education is a primary concern for new Chinese immigrants who are resettled in different host societies with different social structures, educational systems, and sociocultural environments. Our comparative analysis shows that new Chinese immigrant families in the United States face racial discrimination and complex cultural and intergenerational conflicts. They must rely not only on family socioeconomic resources, but also on social support mechanisms available in their ethnic Chinese community to mitigate the dual conflicts within the family and ensure children’s educational success. In Singapore, though Confucian culture is ingrained in society and the merit-based education system is similar to China’s exam-oriented education system, new immigrants face challenges and lost opportunities due to institutional constraints. Comparatively, new Chinese immigrants in Singapore rely more on their own advantages of hyper-selectivity. They are more likely to utilize their own economic capital, human capital, cultural capital, and transnational family resources to cope with the intense competition and anxiety brought by Singapore’s education system, in particular the streaming mechanism. Our study reveals that educational success of children of new Chinese immigrants can be attributed to not only the influence of Confucian culture, but also the multi-faceted factors pertaining to the context of their exit and reception.