1. Different Ethnic/Racial
Background and Level of
Academic Success
By: Shawn Free

2. Research Question:
How do different ethnic backgrounds in the
United States affect a child’s level of academic
achievement?

3. Cultural Behavior
Background Information
-Different culture behaviors can affect how well
a child is able to perform in a typical Western
school setting and how far they are able to go.

4. Many ethnic groups have different cultural beliefs for the
best way to raise a successful child:
● White Americans believe in authoritative parenting
○ Key behavior:
■ Support: hugging and praising
● Chinese Americans often believe in authoritarian parenting
o Low support (very strict)

5. Many ethnic groups have different cultural beliefs for the
best way to raise a successful child:
● Hispanic American
o Taught to respect authority
 Eye contact with authoritative figures is seen as
disrespectful
● This can cause issues in Western schools because
they are thought to not be paying attention in
class
● Because of this they are sometimes put into lower
level classes as children and are therefore behind
in school from the start

6. Example of a Chinese American mother’s
parenting techniques:
● Amy Chau, a mother of two, wrote the book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger
Mother”
○ Believes in strict discipline in order to assure the success of her two
daughters
○ Admitted in the book that she called a daughter “garbage” for being
rude; and making a daughter remake a birthday card for her because
her daughter didn’t make it the best she could
Amy (middle)
and her two
daughters

7. Racial/Ethnic Differences In Secondary School
Students
● Study conducted on approximately 1 million
7th-11th graders in California.
● Consisted of 8 different ethnic groups.
● Goal of the study was to find what the
achievement gap was between different
ethnic groups and what other factors
contribute to this gap.

8. Works Cited
Chua, Amy. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. New York: Penguin, 2011. Print.
Mcclelland, Frances. "Cultural Differences in Parenting Practices: What Asian American Families Can Teach Us."Research
Link. Frances Mcclelland Institute. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. <http://mcclellandinstitute.arizona.edu/sites/mcclellandinstitute
McGee, Karen. "How Cultural Differences May Affect Student Performance." How Cultural Differences May Affect Student
Performance. Great Schools Inc, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. <http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/
support/704-cultural-differences-student-performance.gs>.
"Racial/Ethnic Differences in School Performance, Engagement, Safety, and Supports." West Ed (n.d.): n. pag. California Healthy
Kids Survey. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
"Status and Trend in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups." National Center for Educational Statistics. N.p., July 2010. Web.
1 Dec. 2014. <http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010015.pdf>.
"The Concepts Of Race And Ethnicity." The Concepts Of Race And Ethnicity. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.elearnportal.com/courses/sociology/race-and-ethnicity/race-and-ethnicity-concepts-of-race-and-ethnicity>.