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ABSTRACT
This study examined the differences in attitudes toward science education among American, Chinese-American, and Chinese parents and students. Parents' expectations for their high school children's science performance were also compared among the three cultural groups. It was found that both Chinese parents and students had more positive attitudes toward science education than did their American counterparts. Chinese parents placed greater emphasis on self-improvement, set higher standards, and more often helped their children to learn science than did American parents. The attitudes of the Chinese-Americans appeared to show the influences of both their Chinese heritage and American culture. Overall, a high positive correlation was found between parents' and students' attitudes toward science education.
Although reports that Asian students greatly surpass their American counterparts on science tests have received attention for many years (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 1985; Stigler et al., 1982), our knowledge of the factors responsible for this difference is incomplete. It has been attributed to differences in national educational systems, including the time students spend in school, the time they spend on solving problems while in the classroom, the content of textbooks, and the comprehensiveness of the curriculum (Hess, Chang, & McDevitt, 1987). However, AsianAmerican students also outperform other American students on tests that measure academic achievement, as well as additional measures of educational accomplishments. An example is the performance of Chinese-Americans in the annual Westinghouse Science Talent
Search, in which the top ten students are selected from about 1,300,000 high school seniors nationwide. One to four Chinese-American students have been chosen every year over the past decade. Considering that less than one percent of the population is Chinese-American, they have performed extraordinarily well in science. In explaining why they did so well, a Westinghouse spokesperson said that at least one thing was certain: they all had the strongest possible support and encouragement from their families throughout their school career (Browne, 1986). It is interesting that the same situation exists in other countries as well (Chung & Walkey, 1989).
This suggests that national differences are not due solely to differences in educational systems, but may also reflect differences in culturally transmitted values, beliefs, and behaviors. Clark (1983) and Havighurst and Neugarten (1971) have argued that a family's...