tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/asian-students-16552/articlesAsian Students – The Conversation2023-06-30T12:41:25Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2051122023-06-30T12:41:25Z2023-06-30T12:41:25ZMilitary academies can still consider race in admissions, but the rest of the nation’s colleges and universities cannot, court rules<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534925/original/file-20230629-25-jj8v31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=116%2C35%2C5820%2C3889&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A person protests outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on June 29, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXSupremeCourtAffirmativeAction/3df7c369e0494252b2d9e333d079c0bf/photo?Query=affirmative%20action&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=642&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In a 6-3 <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf">ruling</a> on Thursday, June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/06/29/us/affirmative-action-supreme-court">struck down the use of race in college admissions</a> at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, outlawing the use of race in college admissions in general. The Conversation reached out to three legal scholars to explain what the decision means for students, colleges and universities, and ultimately the nation’s future.</em></p>
<h2>Kimberly Robinson, Professor of Law at the University of Virginia</h2>
<p>Writing for the majority in a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf">case that bans affirmative action in college admissions</a>, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that such programs “unavoidably employ race in a negative manner” that goes against the Constitution.</p>
<p>The research, however, shows that the ban could potentially harm many college students and ultimately the United States. The reason this can be said with certainty is because in states where affirmative action has been banned, such as California and Michigan, <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/race-conscious-admission-bans">many selective state colleges and universities have struggled</a> to maintain the student body diversity that existed before affirmative action was banned.</p>
<p>Robust research shows how students who engage with students from different racial backgrounds <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654309352495">experience</a> <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/258117/pdf?casa_token=q8qNOOU6_RsAAAAA:ypmjnl3Bwxzo1r-NxasqzKkCcgfN-x_ijZFd-SL3awMASAjcR0wn9EkMPIOAzjUp01XBx5XWSA">educational benefits</a>, such as cognitive growth and development and creating new ideas. For those reasons, a substantial decline in enrollment for underrepresented minority students carries many repercussions. </p>
<p>It means, for instance, that many students at selective colleges will have far fewer opportunities to learn from and interact with students from different racial backgrounds.</p>
<p>The nation’s elite colleges, such as Harvard and the University of North Carolina, educate a <a href="https://www.tulanelawreview.org/pub/volume96/issue1/affirmative-action-and-the-leadership-pipeline">disproportionately high share</a> of America’s leaders. Those who don’t attend these selective schools are dramatically <a href="https://www.tulanelawreview.org/pub/volume96/issue1/affirmative-action-and-the-leadership-pipeline">less likely</a> to complete a graduate or professional program. This is because these selective schools carry certain advantages. For instance, students who attend them are statistically more likely to graduate and be admitted to professional and graduate programs.</p>
<p>That means for students from underrepresented groups who don’t get into selective colleges, the chances of getting an advanced degree – which often paves the way to leadership positions – will be even lower.</p>
<p>The decision may also affect the workplace. Research shows that in states that eliminated affirmative action, <a href="https://gap.hks.harvard.edu/impact-eliminating-affirmative-action-minority-and-female-employment-natural-experiment-approach">meaningful drops in workplace diversity</a> took place. Asian and African American women and Hispanic men experienced the most significant declines.</p>
<p>These shifts in elite college enrollment, leadership and workplaces will weaken long-standing efforts to dismantle the nation’s <a href="https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=4420&context=nclr">segregationist past</a> and the privilege that this segregationist past affords to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Black-Wealth--White-Wealth-A-New-Perspective-on-Racial-Inequality/Oliver-Shapiro/p/book/9780415951678">wealth</a> and <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/white-privilege">whiteness</a>.</p>
<p>To help mitigate these potential harms, selective colleges will have to devote their attention to limiting what I believe are the decision’s harmful impacts and reaffirming their commitment to diverse student bodies through all <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-130/fishers-cautionary-tale-and-the-urgent-need-for-equal-access-to-an-excellent-education/">lawful means</a>.</p>
<h2>Kristine Bowman, Professor of Law and Education Policy, Michigan State University</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534940/original/file-20230629-26-bekrzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protestors holding posters saying, 'Black Lives Matter' and 'Defend Diversity.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534940/original/file-20230629-26-bekrzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534940/original/file-20230629-26-bekrzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534940/original/file-20230629-26-bekrzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534940/original/file-20230629-26-bekrzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534940/original/file-20230629-26-bekrzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534940/original/file-20230629-26-bekrzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534940/original/file-20230629-26-bekrzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">People protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on June 29, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SupremeCourtAffirmativeAction/de1a9f99d5854446b9283100babf7778/photo?Query=court%20affirmative%20action&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=328&currentItemNo=16">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</a></span>
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<p>In striking down race-conscious admissions practices, the Supreme Court overturns the court’s <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/76-811">1978 decision</a> that held that race-conscious admissions were constitutional.</p>
<p>This reversal was not unexpected, but it will have profound implications for building and maintaining diverse and inclusive colleges and universities, particularly among selective institutions. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720904433">most effective way to enroll a diverse student body</a> – and achieve the educational and social benefits that come with it – is to consider race as a factor in admissions. In the 10 states that have had affirmative action bans in admissions, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720904433">diversity in selective institutions has declined</a>.
This remained true even as alternative strategies were employed to achieve racial diversity, such as targeting recruitment efforts and focusing more on socioeconomic status diversity.</p>
<p>Although the court does not say outright that institutions cannot pursue diversity, it is not clear what diversity-related goals, if any, could constitutionally support race-conscious admissions. The court states that the benefits of diversity that Harvard and UNC articulate are not sufficiently “measurable,” “focused,” “concrete” or “coherent.” “How many fewer leaders Harvard would create without racial preferences, or how much poorer the education at Harvard would be, are inquiries no court could resolve,” the court wrote.</p>
<p>And yet, as Justice Sotomayor’s dissent highlights, the majority also says that race-conscious admissions with a “focus on numbers” or particular “numerical commitments” are also unconstitutional.</p>
<p>The opinion did not go as far as it could have in restricting the consideration of race. Institutions can still consider what a student’s comments about their racialized experiences reveal about their characteristics, such as “courage,” “determination” or “leadership.”</p>
<p>This provides a way for institutions to consider how race has impacted a student’s life. Although this unfairly places the burden on students of color to write about their racialized experience, it is arguably lighter than the burden that would have been borne if the court had attempted to prohibit consideration of such experiences. </p>
<p>Furthermore, efforts to pursue diversity through other means remain lawful. These alternative means include <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/UH4YSS3QHRCBY2VJEKPT/full">increasing attention to socioeconomic status</a>, making campus communities more inclusive. It also involves checking whether students are passing classes and graduating at the same rate regardless of race. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720904433">hasn’t shown</a> that these efforts will result in as much diversity at selective colleges as race-conscious college admissions. These efforts, however, now stand as a critical way forward to keep America’s elite colleges and universities diverse.</p>
<h2>Vinay Harpalani, Associate Professor of Law, University of New Mexico</h2>
<p>Although the court struck down the use of race in college admissions – as predicted by many experts and observers – the court left room for one narrow exception.</p>
<p>The majority opinion stated in a brief footnote that its ruling does not apply to race-conscious admissions at the nation’s military academies, such as West Point or the Naval Academy. </p>
<p>This issue had come up at oral arguments. When articulating the U.S. government’s position, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar raised the point that the military may have compelling interests beyond those that universities have. Specifically, the U.S. government argued that a racially diverse military officer corps was necessary for national security. In response, Chief Justice Roberts briefly noted the possibility of a military academy exception. This was not lost in his ruling.</p>
<p>The majority opinion stated that there could be “potentially distinct interests that the military academies may present.” Because the academies were not parties to these cases, the court did not directly address this issue and left it unsettled. </p>
<p>This was not the first time that the military influenced the court’s view of race-conscious admissions. Twenty years ago, national security interests played a significant role in the majority opinion in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-241">Grutter v. Bollinger</a>.</p>
<p>Citing the amicus brief of former military leaders, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s majority opinion in the Grutter case noted that diverse military leadership was “essential to the military’s ability to fulfill its principle mission to provide national security.” She found that “[i]t requires only a small step from this analysis to conclude that our country’s other most selective institutions must remain both diverse and selective.”</p>
<p>In its latest rulings, the court left alone O'Connor’s claim that diverse military leadership is essential to national security, but it soundly rejected her view that diversity can justify race-conscious admissions at the nation’s colleges and universities.</p>
<p>The military is not the only place where the court has noted that security interests can justify use of race. The court also cited a 2005 ruling, Johnson v. California, where the justices held that prison officials could temporarily segregate prisoners by race to prevent violence. </p>
<p>It seems that the court is willing to uphold use of race when government power is at stake – as with the military and law enforcement. But it will not do so for the education of America’s citizenry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205112/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Three legal experts weigh in on what the Supreme Court’s ban on race in college admissions means for students, colleges and universities, and the nation’s future.Kristine Bowman, Professor of Law and Education Policy, Michigan State UniversityKimberly Robinson, Professor of Law, Professor of Law, Education and Public Policy, University of VirginiaVinay Harpalani, Associate Professor of Law and Henry Weihofen Professor, University of New MexicoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1731822021-12-22T20:05:10Z2021-12-22T20:05:10ZAmid COVID-19 stressors, international students and their university communities should prioritize mental health supports<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438854/original/file-20211222-19-rnf9di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C550%2C7073%2C3933&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">International students living abroad who face unpredictable pandemic travel restrictions during holidays may be feeling vulnerable, and reaching out is important.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/amid-covid-19-stressors--international-students-and-their-university-communities-should-prioritize-mental-health-supports" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>After experiencing weeks or months of excitement building up before you left your home for the thrill of a North American education, you might now be feeling vulnerable in a foreign country, especially with news of <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8461227/covid-19-cases-canada-omicron-variant-threat/">the new omicron variant</a>.</p>
<p>You may feel lonely and wondering what to do during this holiday as your friends are spending time with their families, a luxury you may not have due to <a href="https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2021/12/07/i-just-want-to-go-home-omicron-variant-casts-doubt-on-international-students-travel-plans/">complicated international travel restrictions</a>. In addition, as some campus and university services have been restricted due to COVID-19 and many will be on holiday hours, you may face isolation which can evoke emotional memories and hardships.</p>
<p>So, here we <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/sgs/public-scholars/profiles/ezgi-ozyonum.html">are, Ezgi</a> <a href="https://education.jhu.edu/directory/qiyang-zhang/">and Qiyang</a>, two international students. Our research expertise is respectively in critical analyses of international education, and student well-being and school-based mental health intervention. We study at Concordia University in Montreal (Ezgi) and at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (Qiyang). We offer suggestions to you — and your communities — on how to better support your mental health and wellness.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young man on the phone outdoors in a snowstorm and snowflake earmuffs smiling" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438773/original/file-20211222-19-ipsajz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438773/original/file-20211222-19-ipsajz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438773/original/file-20211222-19-ipsajz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438773/original/file-20211222-19-ipsajz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438773/original/file-20211222-19-ipsajz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438773/original/file-20211222-19-ipsajz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438773/original/file-20211222-19-ipsajz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It is important to take steps to stay connected and find support when facing obstacles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Managing elevated pandemic stressors</h2>
<p>On top of the obstacles you have probably faced, such as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354061768_Approaches_to_Internationalize_A_review_on_international_students_and_the_internationalization_of_the_curriculum">adjusting to the drastic change of food, weather, language and culture</a>, the pandemic has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247999">disconnected you socially</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.201016.001">applied severe economic pressure on you</a> and <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/education/how-the-pandemic-has-disrupted-the-lives-of-international-students-in-canada/">made immigrating much more challenging</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, if you are an Asian international student, you have likely been coping with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000275">the stressors of elevated racial discrimination</a>. Research in the U.S. shows this discrimination in the pandemic has included hate crimes and vicarious discrimination (seeing or hearing about hate crimes and discrimination and worrying about them), and that these experiences are associated with poorer self-reported mental and physical health. In Canada, researchers similarly documented a <a href="https://www.covidracism.ca/resources">surge of COVID-19 anti-Asian racism</a>; hate crimes <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8063163/hate-crimes-rise-canada-2020">targeting East or Southeast Asian</a> descent people rose by 301 per cent in 2020. </p>
<p>Studying under these circumstances is challenging. Therefore, we consider your psychological, social, and emotional well-being as we write this holiday letter to you. </p>
<h2>Mental health stigma</h2>
<p>We care about you, not only because of the obstacles you face, but also because of the lack of help-seeking behaviours among international students. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12388">Almost half</a> of the international students in the U.S. and Canada come from India and China. Researchers with the China-India Mental Health Alliance have found <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/series/china-india-mental-health">that people often associate mental health counselling with negative connotations</a> in these countries. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/18/millions-people-mental-illness-china-india-untreated-study-lancet">Social stigma</a> can burden you heavily, especially when we consider that your host institutions may be unaware of these cultural barriers.</p>
<p>Therefore, mental health may not be a topic you have previously been encouraged to reflect on. Maybe you’ve been told to keep your head down and just get good grades. Or perhaps you think that it is only you who is struggling, and everyone else has it together.</p>
<h2>Peer-support groups</h2>
<p>Have you previously tried peer support groups? These groups provide <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2012.12.005">informational and emotional support</a> and expand your network. While socializing with your peers, you can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-021-00479-7">reduce a sense of alienation, improve your self-esteem and have feelings of empowerment</a>. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/students/life/all-groups.html">Concordia University offers various student groups,</a> including the Canadian Asian society, that help students with <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/cunews/offices/vprgs/gradproskills/blogs/2021/10/07/essential-skills-for-building-strong-professional-communities.html">essential skills for building strong professional communities</a>. There are also <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/health/zen-dens/calendar/active-listening.html">peer wellness ambassadors</a> trained in active listening and providing peer support. Search for your institution’s social support opportunities to get involved and benefit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two students seen wearing masks walking outside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438779/original/file-20211222-129369-qzzzxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4302%2C2228&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438779/original/file-20211222-129369-qzzzxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438779/original/file-20211222-129369-qzzzxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438779/original/file-20211222-129369-qzzzxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438779/original/file-20211222-129369-qzzzxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438779/original/file-20211222-129369-qzzzxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438779/original/file-20211222-129369-qzzzxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Peer wellness ambassadors can be one source of support.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Charlotte may)</span></span>
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<h2>Combatting systemic racism and cultural biases</h2>
<p>Experiencing discrimination could <a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-impacts-your-health-84112">undermine both mental and physical health</a>. You are likely frustrated by injustices and would like to take action against racism. It is necessary to combat anti-Asian racism and other <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/cunews/offices/vprgs/sgs/public-scholars-21/2021/08/30/a-warm-welcome-to-international-students.html">systemic problems on and off-campus</a>. </p>
<p>Princeton University <a href="https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2021/09/princeton-history-racism-activism-orientation">began offering a workshop during new first-year student orientations on its racist history and the power of student activism</a>. We advise you to keep your eyes open for similar workshops.</p>
<p>Participating in unconscious bias <a href="https://hbr.org/2021/09/unconscious-bias-training-that-works">workshops is essential to empower us to become agents for change, equipped with concrete tools</a>. The most effective training does more than help students become aware of their own biases in a new environment, but also to build stronger networks with other students concerned with bias, discrimination or systemic racism <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-intersectionality-all-of-who-i-am-105639">from intersectional perspectives</a>.</p>
<p>Although we encourage you to find these workshops, your institutions may not offer or tailor them to your needs. We suggest seeking ways to have your own racial justice task force and build bridges with fellow students <a href="https://cfs-fcee.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Anti-Racism-Toolkit-Final-1.pdf">engaged in countering systemic racism</a>. Raise your voice and share <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/cunews/offices/vprgs/sgs/public-scholars-21/2021/08/30/a-warm-welcome-to-international-students.html">your perspective while learning from others, broadening your vision and widening your social network.</a> This engagement is essential.</p>
<h2>Culturally responsive counselling services</h2>
<p>It is OK not to be OK. University counselling services are available to help. Please do not worry about privacy issues, as all conversations will remain confidential. We encourage you to try at least one session, especially if you have doubts.</p>
<p>Having said this, we know that mental health and student support campus programs tailored to <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/inside-the-mental-health-crisis-facing-college-and-university-students/">specific communities are critical</a>. Research proposes that one reason for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/016128498249042">Asian Americans’ under-use of mental health services is existing services aren’t culturally competent</a>. <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/services/base-peer-leaders">Peer leaders may help you navigate</a> what culturally relevant services are available at your campus.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mental-health-issues-get-stigmatized-in-south-asian-communities-culturally-diverse-therapy-needed-164913">How mental health issues get stigmatized in South Asian communities: Culturally diverse therapy needed</a>
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<p>Some universities have counsellors and therapists who are proficient in foreign languages or have international backgrounds. For example, Tufts University’s counselling and mental health team hires a culturally sensitive generalist clinician who is bilingual in English and Mandarin <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20211025095928462">and has expertise in counselling international students on life transitions, cultural adaptation and racial dilemmas</a>.</p>
<p>We worry about your well-being and encourage you to take steps to take care of yourselves. For students, this might mean stepping forward to ask for help or pinpoint what social supports, engagement and institutional supports you need, or sharing this article with your peers, communities and institutions so that they can become aware of your needs and support you better. </p>
<p>For people in university communities, it might mean making an extra effort to reach out to international students on or off campus they know over the holidays. In the longer term, what’s critical is prioritizing hiring counsellors of diverse backgrounds, providing more social chances for international students to bond and organizing workshops to discuss international students’ needs and concerns.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Peer support, opportunities to engage in responses to combat racism and bias and culturally responsive counselling are important for the mental health and well-being of international students.Ezgi Ozyonum, PhD Candidate, Education, Concordia UniversityQiyang Zhang, PhD Student, School of Education, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1455022020-10-06T12:17:06Z2020-10-06T12:17:06ZPaid internships elusive for women and Asian college students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357325/original/file-20200909-18-pw2zpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C387%2C258&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers examined the quality of students' internship experience.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/asian-young-college-student-looking-at-her-computer-royalty-free-image/1205174505?adppopup=true">Juanmonino/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Women and Asian students are significantly less likely than their counterparts who identify as men or white to receive payment during internships. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/csd.2020.0042">This finding</a> is based on an analysis of 2,410 responses to the <a href="https://nsse.indiana.edu/">National Survey of Student Engagement</a>. The trend held up even when student background, academic major and the type of college attended were taken into account. </p>
<p>These data were part of a set of survey questions that measure the quality of students’ internship experiences. Our study was published in the July/August issue of the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/238">Journal of College Student Development</a>. Using statistical analysis, we found that the calculated odds of women getting paid during their internships were 34% lower than for the men in the sample. For Asian, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander students, their odds were 50% lower than for white students.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Our finding that women were less likely than men to land a paid internship adds to <a href="http://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/women-searningsdeptoflabor-1519686344.pdf">concerns about the gender wage gap</a>. Data show a <a href="http://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/women-searningsdeptoflabor-1519686344.pdf">wage gap of 27%</a> between women and men.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>Since the sample size was small, it remains to be seen if the results would be the same using a larger sample reflective of the nation. This sample included only 12 four-year institutions. Data from additional colleges and universities and two-year community colleges would enhance the research on this topic. Black and Latino students were included in our analysis, and their likelihood of receiving an internship was not statistically different compared with white students.</p>
<p>Furthermore, it also remains to be seen how interventions such as bias training for career counselors, transparent data on internship pay and <a href="https://www.wayup.com/guide/community/negotiate-salary/">salary negotiation training</a> might come into play.</p>
<p>Bias training could help counselors understand the role that their identity – as well as the identity of the students they advise – may play in how they support students. Transparent data could help students make more informed decisions on which internships to take and which ones pay. Salary negotiation training may also prepare students to advocate for themselves when seeking compensation for internships.</p>
<h2>What other research is being done</h2>
<p>Our research on the roles that gender and ethnicity can play with paid internships aligns with research the <a href="https://www.naceweb.org/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/trends-and-predictions/women-are-underrepresented-among-paid-interns/">National Association of Colleges and Employers</a> is doing. Results from their Student Survey Report, which includes more students and more institutions, include similar disproportions of interns receiving pay based on gender and race.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145502/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Findings add to growing concerns about the wage gap between men and women – as well as a gap between Asians and whites.John Zilvinskis, Assistant Professor , Binghamton University, State University of New YorkJennifer Gillis, Professor of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkKelli K. Smith, Assistant Vice President for Student Success, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/937412018-04-02T19:59:04Z2018-04-02T19:59:04ZWhy some migrant school students do better than their local peers (they’re not ‘just smarter’)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212541/original/file-20180329-189830-tb953a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Asian Australian students tend to spend more time studying than Anglo-Australians.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australians from some migrant backgrounds achieve better results than their local peers, according to recent reports on the academic performance of school students.</p>
<p>The 2017 OECD <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/the-resilience-of-students-with-an-immigrant-background-9789264292093-en.htm">review of migrant education</a> found that students from the Philippines, China and India were more likely to achieve baseline academic proficiency than their Australian born counterparts. Baseline academic proficiency is demonstrating key knowledge and skills in science, reading and mathematics at the standard expected for age 15.</p>
<p>Similar patterns <a href="http://www.nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/naplan-national-report-2017_final_04dec2017.pdf?sfvrsn=0">have been seen</a> in the 2016 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results. Students who don’t speak English at home scored higher in spelling, grammar, writing and numeracy tests than those from English speaking backgrounds. Numeracy scores were also higher among primary school students who came from a non-English speaking background.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/international-study-shows-many-australian-children-are-still-struggling-with-reading-88646">International study shows many Australian children are still struggling with reading</a>
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<p>This isn’t a new phenomenon, nor is it unique to Australia. Since the 1980s, researchers have hunted for explanations. Why do migrant students, who otherwise experienced considerable challenges settling in a new country, do better than local-born students? And why is this seen not in all, but in particular, migrant groups?</p>
<h2>Not just smarter</h2>
<p>The stereotype of the model minority student dates back to a <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=Ed012275">1966 US report</a> that found Asian Americans matched or exceeded the performance of “white” Americans on IQ tests and basic achievement. Studies in the <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1987-98782-000">1980s</a> and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/24938938">1990s</a> showed similar findings. </p>
<p>The answer isn’t as simple as “they’re smarter”. In 1991, the intelligence researcher, James Flynn, reanalysed previous IQ research with Asian Americans and <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/7864008/asian-americans-achievement-beyond-iq">concluded that</a> their mean IQs roughly equalled those of North Americans. Similarly, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01443410220138502">our study</a> with Chinese and Vietnamese Australian primary students found they had higher mathematics achievement than their Anglo-Australian counterparts, despite having the same IQ.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/six-ways-australias-education-system-is-failing-our-kids-32958">Six ways Australia's education system is failing our kids</a>
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<p>Asian Australian students also reported spending more time studying than did Anglo students, which contributed to their higher maths achievement. But that they worked harder wasn’t a sufficient explanation for better results. </p>
<p>Occupational and educational aspirations, so important to the migrant experience, were a crucial factor. Our Asian Australian participants had much higher goals for their future education and hoped for higher status- and-income occupations than did their Anglo peers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212551/original/file-20180329-189801-arbd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212551/original/file-20180329-189801-arbd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212551/original/file-20180329-189801-arbd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212551/original/file-20180329-189801-arbd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212551/original/file-20180329-189801-arbd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212551/original/file-20180329-189801-arbd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212551/original/file-20180329-189801-arbd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212551/original/file-20180329-189801-arbd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Confucian, East Asian, cultures place a high value on education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/TVSRWmnW8Us">Photo by Tra Nguyen on Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Migrant aspirations</h2>
<p>In our research, Asian-Australian children <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0144341022000023662">reflected the aspirations of their parents</a>, pointing to what might be called a migrant effect. This is a pattern of <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED264336">higher educational aspirations</a> among immigrants in general. </p>
<p>Migrants are motivated to exploit opportunities that aren’t available in their homelands, with the ultimate goal of increasing their social standing. Researchers <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1987-98782-000">have proposed</a> that education is an <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-10744-005?doi=1">attractive way to achieve this</a> as it’s a system assumed to be based on merit and less affected by the racial discrimination and prejudice encountered by migrants in other areas.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-were-making-no-progress-tackling-the-exploitation-of-migrant-workers-62961">Why we're making no progress tackling the exploitation of migrant workers</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>This is particularly the case for migrants who are visibly different from the majority, such as those from India, China and the Philippines, compared to those from the UK, Scotland or non-Maori New Zealanders. The latter were found to be less likely to attain baseline proficiency than Australian born students in the OECD report. </p>
<p>But not every country’s educational and social systems offer educational opportunities, which may be why the OECD findings show country of destination matters. </p>
<p>The differences between countries could also be due to cultural factors that interact with the drive for social mobility through education. These include the <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-10744-005?doi=1">high value placed on education</a> in Confucian (East Asian) cultures and in countries like India.</p>
<p>Valuing education, having high educational aspirations and working hard might also translate into teachers <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1034912X.2014.984591">holding higher expectations</a> for students from some minority groups, which in turn, could enhance academic performance.</p>
<h2>So, what about Australians?</h2>
<p>This doesn’t mean local-born Australians don’t value education. Our study showed they just may not <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0144341022000023662">make it the same priority</a> as some migrant parents.</p>
<p>And it’s important to remember that high expectations can have negative <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2014-36696-001">mental health consequences</a> for some children and young people. This was perhaps the reason why some Anglo-Australian parents in our study said it was more important their children were happy and free to choose whatever occupation they wanted, than encouraging them to focus on academic achievement and high status occupations. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/migrant-children-are-often-their-parents-translators-and-it-can-lead-to-ill-health-55309">Migrant children are often their parents' translators – and it can lead to ill health</a>
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<p>But this is arguably the privilege of those born into the majority cultural group who aren’t subject to the same obstacles as some migrants, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who still lag behind their peers in educational attainment. These differences highlight a bigger question: how can we can ensure all Australian children take advantage of the educational opportunities on offer?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justine Dandy has received funding from the Ministerial Council for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs in the past. She is a member of GetUp and CARAD, the Coalition for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees.</span></em></p>Students from the Philippines, China and India consistently achieve better results at school than their Australian-born counterparts. This is due to a number of factors, including parents’ values.Justine Dandy, Senior lecturer in Psychology, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/650282016-09-14T10:03:37Z2016-09-14T10:03:37ZScience achievement gaps start early – in kindergarten<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137619/original/image-20160913-4958-1n9zghz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/martincron/2208024963/in/photolist-4n7GTV-EPYBw-EPYzJ-EPY98-cBo6h-4MZcyJ-4Barme-6EPxDS-dAs1tX-dAxuFE-5dG1WJ-iS6sD-4aHC9E-dArYQr-5dBFAR-dArXRP-cQKuTb-cQKuzj-cQKvPm-hoj72P-cQKuju-9fn3ab-8MtafS-4MUUfi-2saPB2-qWeHvS-4zu8pR-dN3Evf-bUBJEC-pBQqjU-2hYSYe-2khPBd-h1ZuP7-dc7xAX-7qCmEv-e4x7LY-79SQJK-JcYvJS-7A9bKJ-7A5pA2-Ha1Bs4-7A9byj-oYVWDp-EWyyM-usbQH-7A9bkm-iXJHvm-9ccufc-iXGxhC-6fDypu">Martin Cron</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The annual back-to-school season is filled with high hopes for making new friends, meeting new teachers – and, from the <a href="http://www.nap.edu/read/13158/chapter/4">view of many policymakers</a> – promoting gains in science achievement. Scientific learning and research <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/sosp/econ/weinberg.pdf">carry substantial economic benefits</a>.</p>
<p>Historically, however, not all groups have excelled in science equally. <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/stem-index/articles/2015/06/29/gender-racial-gaps-widen-in-stem-fields">Black and Hispanic individuals as well as women</a> have been less likely to enter or persist in science-related studies or occupations.</p>
<p>These gaps have been well-studied at the level of <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/50/5/1081.short?rss=1&ssource=mfr">high school</a> and <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009161">higher education</a>. These gaps, however, actually start much earlier.</p>
<p>My <a href="http://edr.sagepub.com/content/45/5/273.full">research</a> found that these gaps exist at the level of kindergarten. However, these gaps can also change significantly in the first two years of schooling.</p>
<h2>Large gaps in science</h2>
<p>In a <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16656611">2016 study</a>, my research assistant, <a href="http://umbc.academia.edu/AnnKellogg">Ann Kellogg,</a> and <a href="http://www.fchriscurran.com">I</a> examined the science performance of over 10,000 kindergarten students who began school in 2010. We analyzed data from a national study called the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) conducted by the federal government. </p>
<p>The data included science achievement tests that assessed concepts in physical, life and environmental science as well as scientific inquiry. Examples of science instruction in kindergarten includes studying how plants grow, experimenting with erosion on a water table or constructing a picture of the solar system.</p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16633182">Previous research</a> had examined science gaps in early grades. Our study, however, looked at science gaps as early as kindergarten with newer data and better science achievement tests.</p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16656611">Our study revealed</a> large gaps in science achievement in kindergarten between white students and racial or ethnic minorities. And, where science gaps existed, we found that they were generally larger than the gaps in reading or mathematics achievement. However, we did not find significant gaps by gender. </p>
<h2>Achievement gaps are not stagnant</h2>
<p>On average, black students and Hispanic students performed significantly lower than white students on the science achievement tests in kindergarten. Approximately 41 percent of black students and 49 percent of Hispanic students scored in the bottom 25 percent. In comparison, only 12 percent of white students were in this category. </p>
<p>The difference in science achievement between black or Hispanic students and white students is roughly equivalent to what an average elementary student learns over a period of nine months between kindergarten and the end of first grade. The gaps between black, Hispanic and white students might be expected given <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0038040715573027">similar gaps in mathematics and reading</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137618/original/image-20160913-4955-i5vb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137618/original/image-20160913-4955-i5vb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137618/original/image-20160913-4955-i5vb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137618/original/image-20160913-4955-i5vb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137618/original/image-20160913-4955-i5vb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137618/original/image-20160913-4955-i5vb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137618/original/image-20160913-4955-i5vb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asian students performed lower on science.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdsemma/2769032804/in/photolist-5dG1YU-e4x7P5-cA8V8A-4k2Hdw-cA8VQS-6robm-nGzSVF-dPt2G4-4uBBX-9YqxJe-dm5UiU-auHnEp-94GRs1-dAxsSL-5X9Fpm-aTGukZ-5tgZWx-cA8T3J-apeSDm-cA8SUN-at72xn-oHF9yR-cCAV5U-78zioW-i8Ccft-bRGxge-cA8Rs3-cA8Su9-8Mq7Pe-cA8VFh-cA8SLh-awFaMV-cA8UJN-6T9bfs-pEf93B-cA8UWb-at73eB-MMdAo-rN1xyk-cA8RK3-7dswpJ-cA8Vjy-5dG21U-K7g7H-6T9bfw-nmiH5p-dm5SLM-88TtS3-a9wERC-4Pjwru">Jennifer Smith</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What surprised us was that Asian students in our study performed significantly lower than white students in kindergarten on the science achievement test. Approximately 31 percent of Asian students scored in the bottom 25 percent on the science test. In contrast, only 12 percent of white students did so. This gap was present even though Asian students performed as well as or better than white students in mathematics and reading.</p>
<p>Interestingly, unlike the black-white gap, the science gap between Asian and white students closed rapidly between kindergarten and the end of first grade. In fact, by the end of first grade, the gap had reduced by almost 50 percent.</p>
<p>It’s unclear what causes this rapid decrease in the Asian-white science gap. However, what it does show is that achievement gaps are not stagnant.</p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X15598539">Prior research</a> conducted by scholars <a href="http://rossier.usc.edu/faculty-and-research/directories/a-z/profile/?id=218">David Quinn</a> and <a href="https://education.utexas.edu/faculty/north_cooc">North Cooc</a> showed similar findings. By eighth grade, Asian student performance in science was <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X15598539">equivalent to or higher</a> than that of white students. Other researchers have also found Asian students’ performance in science <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16633182">increases rapidly</a> relative to white students throughout elementary and middle school. </p>
<h2>No gender gap</h2>
<p>Additionally, we found no difference in science achievement between boys and girls in kindergarten. A small male advantage was evident only in first grade. This too is an important finding given the <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X15598539">documented</a> gender gaps in the later grades of elementary school.</p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X15598539">Prior work</a> has found that boys outperform girls in science at third grade. Similarly, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011451">results</a> from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) show a male advantage in science in the fourth grade.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137617/original/image-20160913-4955-2r4wbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137617/original/image-20160913-4955-2r4wbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137617/original/image-20160913-4955-2r4wbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137617/original/image-20160913-4955-2r4wbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137617/original/image-20160913-4955-2r4wbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137617/original/image-20160913-4955-2r4wbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137617/original/image-20160913-4955-2r4wbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Study found no gender gaps in science during kindergarten years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/16791332781/in/photolist-rzMYeB-f2SRD1-rxBaoE-nGZcJK-5PmGwC-2aJd8u-nQMtyt-5mJzBi-FG5QVk-8AQgAB-5Uxub9-7bBuvR-7EjXVJ-9txHbj-pkbkn1-5NrGER-6RrkmU-bvEVbc-fm2pY7-aadxu7-6ijKYp-4Fgues-p3GYWi-8LhniS-76VJq8-q155aH-aadxEj-9mPpDq-gEYgS-p3GZfp-ee8Z9g-b6PGze-63dzxm-63dCdw-szJ5Q-639nTR-fkMeVe-63dAo5-639m8a-639oJg-639h2c-doiTpG-DtPUhC-CcrTfG-oiYi2c-e67QFb-bnPi5S-wzC7UB-pugG2a-65gMAX">Ars Electronica</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16656611">Our work</a> shows, however, that these gaps in later grades do not extend back to kindergarten. Instead, boys and girls appear to begin schooling on relatively equal footing when it comes to science achievement. It is only as they progress through school that the gender gap emerges.</p>
<h2>Science gaps larger</h2>
<p>Finally, we found that the kindergarten gaps by race or ethnicity tend to be <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16656611">larger in science</a> than in mathematics or reading.</p>
<p>For example, on the kindergarten achievement tests, the Hispanic-white gap was about twice as large for science as mathematics or reading. Similarly, the black-white gap was slightly larger in science than in mathematics and was about twice as large as the gap in reading.</p>
<p>It is possible that students lagging behind in math and reading struggle even more in science as it requires the <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16633182">application of language and mathematics</a> to scientific content.</p>
<p>In sum, our findings point to the importance of the early elementary grades for equity in science achievement. We show that many gaps, such as the black-white gap, already exist when students start school. We also show, however, that these gaps can change significantly in the first two years of schooling as evidenced by the Asian-white gap and the emergence of a gender gap. </p>
<h2>What’s happening in classrooms?</h2>
<p>All this means that the early elementary years may be an appropriate point for addressing inequities in science achievement. However, science instruction has not been a high priority in the early elementary grades.</p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415616358">Research</a> comparing kindergarten in 1998 to that in 2010 found that teachers cover fewer science topics than before and students spend less time using science equipment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137621/original/image-20160913-4955-hvtyc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137621/original/image-20160913-4955-hvtyc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137621/original/image-20160913-4955-hvtyc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137621/original/image-20160913-4955-hvtyc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137621/original/image-20160913-4955-hvtyc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137621/original/image-20160913-4955-hvtyc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137621/original/image-20160913-4955-hvtyc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Is science instruction the problem?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2458666314/in/photolist-4KgiQw-cA8Uwu-ataj5A-a3JkQ7-2L86u-cA8VZd-9xAES4-5pYXhS-9FTJMe-dAim4m-nomvhR-h1YVSp-a9u4iM-MMo5V-h1Z21S-7UkadE-qAWzYQ-7Xecsw-pEf9K8-fVddvw-h1Zb1V-mrQV5-qjAnrX-qFX3f-5pUAMF-bw6U2r-5dG27G-5T32yc-cA8SkJ-h1ZmdC-7n9G4N-e3R82c-h1Z7as-9cfuCs-e3R8wM-3H7icY-5Leucr-e3R8eH-33zZuP-h1ZvDd-8TAHye-5ZsbDG-6PpTnY-cA8Th7-5VKweG-qEicKc-qjnQC8-63jLJE-drrUTq-6VXNhy">woodleywonderworks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Furthermore, kindergarten classrooms today are much less likely to have <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415616358">science or nature areas</a>. Indeed, in kindergarten classrooms, teachers spend only about a <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0002831213513634">fourth of the amount of time on science</a> that they do on mathematics or language arts.</p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p>Our findings point to the need for increased emphasis on science in kindergarten and first grade. I believe, for example, that teachers and school leaders should look for opportunities to incorporate science concepts into reading and math lessons. </p>
<p>Looking beyond the classroom setting, the findings of our work and that of <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16633182">others</a> suggest the need to provide support to informal science learning opportunities. Visiting museums, interacting with nature and exploring novel tools all represent ways in which parents and caregivers can support early science inquiry.</p>
<p>Science achievement gaps begin early. It is important that our policies and interventions take steps in those early years to ensure increased science achievement for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65028/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran has received funding from the AERA Grants Program with support from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Researchers have found large achievement gaps in science in kindergarten. However, these can change significantly in subsequent years.F. Chris Curran, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/492222015-10-22T19:09:49Z2015-10-22T19:09:49ZWhat is the secret to being good at maths?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98774/original/image-20151019-25125-147fqvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why do Asian children perform so well at maths?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a common belief that Asians are naturally gifted at maths. </p>
<p>Asian countries like Singapore and Japan lead the ranks in first and second position on maths performance in the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)</a> tables – an international survey that ranks education systems worldwide – while Australia sits around 12th.</p>
<p>What is the secret to being good at maths? Are you simply born clever, or is it the result of a lot of hard work? </p>
<p>To understand the reasons behind exceptional maths performance, I travelled to Japan to see how <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ftjsOHv-Z4">Japanese children are able to instantly multiply three- or four-digit numbers together in their head</a>. </p>
<h2>How children are taught maths in Japan</h2>
<p>From the age of 7 or 8, all Japanese children are taught the times table jingle kuku.</p>
<p>“Ku” is the Japanese word for “nine”, and the title reflects the final line of the jingle, which is simply “nine nine (is) eight-one”. </p>
<p>Children rote learn the jingle and are made to recite it with speed in class and at home.</p>
<p>Local competitions pitch second-graders against each other to see how fast they can rap all 81 lines of the kuku. </p>
<p>This takes lots of practice with a stopwatch. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-get-kids-to-remember-times-tables-40471">constant association between the problem and the correct answer</a> eventually allows the child to know the answer to the problem as soon as they see it. </p>
<p>As the popular science writer <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=FA_HwoEzSQUC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=alex+bellos+kuku&source=bl&ots=bggDgHLJIH&sig=jsuHhWkuj1Jmm-RXgZoUD50g4ds&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDAQ6AEwA2oVChMIj_3U9s_QyAIVQyqmCh3lgAkD#v=onepage&q=alex%20bellos%20kuku&f=false">Alex Bellos</a> noted, Japanese adults know that 7x7=49, not because they can remember the maths, but because the music of “seven seven forty-nine” sounds right.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99283/original/image-20151022-7999-1s1ut8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99283/original/image-20151022-7999-1s1ut8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99283/original/image-20151022-7999-1s1ut8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99283/original/image-20151022-7999-1s1ut8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99283/original/image-20151022-7999-1s1ut8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99283/original/image-20151022-7999-1s1ut8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99283/original/image-20151022-7999-1s1ut8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Learning maths with the abacus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIRSXUGF&SMLS=1&RW=1769&RH=1221&RW=1769&RH=1221#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIRSXUGF&SMLS=1&RW=1769&RH=1221&POPUPPN=10&POPUPIID=2C04082TULOVX">Issei Kato/Reuters</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some Japanese children also attend after-school maths programs. In May, I visited a school in Tokyo specialising in abacus instruction for primary and high school students. This was one of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2012/oct/25/abacus-number-joy-japan">about 20,000</a> schools operating independently throughout Japan.</p>
<p>Here, the students start by learning how to use a physical abacus to perform arithmetic calculations. They then progress to using the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKCb-ek9Vs8">mental abacus</a> by simply imagining the movement of the beads. </p>
<p>Children at the abacus school dedicate a phenomenal one to two hours on two to four evenings a week to practising arithmetic drills on pre-set worksheets at speed. </p>
<p>This is on top of the four 45-minute maths lessons per week allotted by the <a href="http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/new-cs/youryou/syo/index.htm">Japanese government</a>. </p>
<p>After a couple of years at the school, the very best students can multiply seven- and eight-digit numbers in their head faster than Australian children can say the solution to 7x8.</p>
<h2>Why Australian schools are against rote learning</h2>
<p>Despite the impressive performance of these Japanese children, the intensive “drill and kill” approach used by abacus schools is derided in countries like Australia where educators explicitly discourage such practice.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/modern-maths-no-textbooks-year-levels-or-rote-learning-20150826-gj7z91.html">In Victoria</a>, schools have recently been encouraged to throw away textbooks and old worksheets, teachers discouraged from teaching mathematical formula, and children warned against learning their times tables by rote. </p>
<p>These recommendations follow from the ideas of American psychologist <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1962-00777-001">Jerome Bruner</a> who argued that learning is most effective when children actively discover concepts for themselves. </p>
<p>Since then, rote learning methods in which children spend most of their time memorising facts, following prescribed formula and completing drills are <a href="http://eatmorecake.co.uk/is_rote_learning_effective/">widely perceived</a> to contribute poorly to deep understanding of mathematics. </p>
<p>However, research suggests that <a href="https://theconversation.com/chalk-and-talk-teaching-might-be-the-best-way-after-all-34478">memorisation and rote learning remain important classroom techniques</a>. </p>
<p>According to cognitive psychologist <a href="http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/willingham.pdf">Daniel Willingham</a>, children cannot appreciate the relationship between mathematical concepts if all of their mental resources are used to execute simple arithmetic operations. </p>
<p>As problems become more difficult, practice and rote learning are essential in speeding up some of these operations so they become automatic. This allows the child to devote more of their cognitive resources towards higher-level understanding. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=8SDs8LZl41EC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=willingham+why+don%27t+students+like+school+memory+routine&ots=INA9BfW1hO&sig=KW4SaYRw9PcB4EegcT2OXBScrIk#v=onepage&q&f=false">repetitive practice is not always fun</a>. </p>
<p>One reason educators shy away from rote learning techniques is because they <a href="http://www.youcubed.org/fluency-without-fear/">undermine children’s engagement and motivation</a>. </p>
<h2>The drive to succeed</h2>
<p>But Japanese children at the abacus school <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2012/oct/25/abacus-number-joy-japan">enjoy performing calculations at speed</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99280/original/image-20151022-7993-199z89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99280/original/image-20151022-7993-199z89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99280/original/image-20151022-7993-199z89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99280/original/image-20151022-7993-199z89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99280/original/image-20151022-7993-199z89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99280/original/image-20151022-7993-199z89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99280/original/image-20151022-7993-199z89g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Japanese children compete to move beads on the abacus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIRSXUGF&SMLS=1&RW=1769&RH=1221&RW=1769&RH=1221#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0FCIRSXUGF&SMLS=1&RW=1769&RH=1221&POPUPPN=12&POPUPIID=2C04082TULAQP">Issei Kato/Reuters</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many treat mental calculation like a sport and participate in various local, regional and national competitions. These are not restricted to boys. I attended a regional competition for young girls while I was in Japan.</p>
<p>This contrasts with <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-01/earl-aussie-kids-play-to-win-lets-keep-it-that-way/5358070">an increasing avoidance of competition in Australia</a>, where children are cocooned from the realities of failure as well as the rewards of success. </p>
<p>In junior Australian Football League sporting policy, for example, children under 10 now play football with <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/no-scoreboard-ladder-or-match-results-for-junior-footballers-under-changes-to-be-unveiled-by-afl/story-fni0fit3-1226869120535">no points, no scoreboards, no awards and no recognition of individual performance</a>.</p>
<p>Removing these objective benchmarks of performance leaves children with nothing to strive for.</p>
<h2>When passion breeds talent</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/our-obsession-with-natural-talent-is-harming-students-11549">Stars are made, not born</a>. Research shows it takes <a href="http://www.actionkarateonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/HarvardBusinessReview_DeliberatePractice.pdf">at least 10,000 hours of intense training</a> to become expert in a particular area. High achievers in maths sustain these hours because they are motivated to excel. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://doi.apa.org/psycinfo/1993-40718-001">deliberate practice</a> is hard work. From ever faster times in kuku recitation to increasingly longer mental arithmetic problems, my observations in Japan show that Japanese children use competition to fuel their passion for maths.</p>
<p>Such competition is lacking in Australia. </p>
<p>Discovery-based methods for maths instruction might be more enjoyable, but they are also <a href="http://spp.sagepub.com/content/2/2/174.short">less effective at producing fast and accurate performance at an elite level</a>.</p>
<p>How can we encourage Australians to share the Asian love of competitive maths? </p>
<p>In China, the television game show <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brain_%28game_show%29">Super Brain</a> attracted <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/19/national/china-in-shock-after-japanese-girl-wins-brain-battle/#.ViepWW7Udua">22 million viewers in March</a> as contestants battled to solve increasingly difficult arithmetic problems. </p>
<p>So given the recent success of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/the-great-australian-spelling-bee-gets-the-nation-buzzing-over-spelling-20150803-giqqjp.html">The Great Australian Spelling Bee in generating renewed interest in spelling</a>, perhaps what we need now is The Great Australian Times Tables to motivate children to achieve the same levels of maths performance as our Asian neighbours. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Steson will be on hand for an Author Q&A between 3 and 4pm AEDT on Friday, October 23, 2015. Post your questions in the comments section below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steson Lo received funding from the Australian Government and the University of Sydney to conduct research in Japan. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Andrews receives funding from Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Memorising facts and completing drills is likely to improve your maths skills – just so long as you find a way to stay motivated.Steson Lo, PhD candidate, University of SydneySally Andrews, Professor of Cognitive Psychology, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/407972015-05-27T10:18:12Z2015-05-27T10:18:12ZWhen teachers see similarities with students, relationships and grades improve<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82605/original/image-20150521-1001-1ex9l0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When people are nudged to see their similarities, outcomes in classrooms improve.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=5eSZ_UXDZz7XhMed7gVRUg&searchterm=teacher%20classroom&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=44513719">Teacher image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of our world’s most pressing challenges arise between groups who perceive the chasm between their opposing views as too vast to bridge. </p>
<p>Conversely, discovering shared preferences, personality traits and common values serves as a powerful social glue. Unfortunately, people either share certain qualities with others or they do not. </p>
<p>So, the question becomes, how can we leverage similarities to bring together people with opposing views?</p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://panorama-www.s3.amazonaws.com/research/similarity.pdf">study</a>, my colleagues and I applied the power of similarities to the challenge of improving teacher-student relationships. </p>
<p>As we had hoped, when teachers and students are encouraged to see their similarities, it helps improve classroom relationships. But what’s more, it also leads to a large reduction in the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/studies/gaps/">achievement gap</a> between white and Asian versus black and Latino students. </p>
<h2>Shifting focus towards commonalities</h2>
<p>As a prelude to our study, it is worth underscoring the power of similarities to improve relationships. </p>
<p>Even when the similarities are surprisingly trivial – like having a birthday <a href="http://www.scu.edu/cas/psychology/faculty/upload/Burger-et-al-PSPB-2004.pdf">in common</a> with someone else or having <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/%7Eda358/publications/ames_toolkit.pdf">a preference</a> for paintings by <a href="http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/press-release-archive/2003-releases/651-october-28-klee-and-kandinsky-the-bauhaus-years">Klee versus Kandinsky</a> - the consequences on relationships are typically substantial. </p>
<p><a href="http://mollyireland.nfshost.com/Ireland...Pennebaker2011_PSci.pdf">A study</a> that compared how closely participants’ speech patterns and diction mirrored their partner’s in a speed-dating setting found that those who conversed via more similar styles went on more second dates together. They also dated for longer. </p>
<p>Focusing on work settings, other scholars found that group members who share initials produce higher-quality group work. Perhaps it is no mere coincidence that the similarity of the authors’ names - <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0079039">Polman, Pollmann and Poehlman</a> - led to this study’s success! </p>
<p>Based on these studies, our research group was excited by the potential of similarity to enhance teacher-student relationships. We hoped it might lead to other downstream benefits. </p>
<p>Yet, we remained stymied by how to make teachers and students more similar to each other. We could not tell teachers to listen to different music or make students appreciate biology more deeply.</p>
<p>Eventually, we realized that, like beauty, similarities might lie in the eye of the beholder. </p>
<p>In other words, any two people have certain commonalities and certain dissimilar qualities. Rather than trying to change what teachers and students had in common, we could nudge their attention toward those qualities, beliefs and values that they happened to share. </p>
<p>In this way, we might alter their perceptions of how much they had in common. </p>
<h2>Effects of perceived similarities</h2>
<p>To shift perceptions, we designed a get-to-know-you survey that both teachers and students completed. In the survey, participants responded to 28 questions about personal characteristics, learning preferences and values. </p>
<p>We asked a wide variety of questions. For instance, one item asked: “The most important quality in a friend is: a) Being there when you need him/her, b) Listens to you and understands you, c) Always has your back.” Another question focused on shared values: “If you could have one thing in common with your teacher, which of the following would it be: a) Sense of humor, b) Interest in the same subject matter, c) Mutual respect, d) Similar personality.” </p>
<p>For every teacher-student pair, we identified five responses that matched.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82607/original/image-20150521-985-e68uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82607/original/image-20150521-985-e68uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82607/original/image-20150521-985-e68uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82607/original/image-20150521-985-e68uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82607/original/image-20150521-985-e68uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82607/original/image-20150521-985-e68uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82607/original/image-20150521-985-e68uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Once people’s attention is drawn toward their commonalities, their relationships improve, despite their differences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/students+shoes+campus/search.html?page=2&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=259708769">Student image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This set the stage for our intervention, in which we directed teachers’ and students’ attention toward similarities through feedback sheets. This feedback was presented differently for each of our four treatment groups:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Group 1: In our control group, neither students nor teachers received feedback on what they had in common.</p>
<p>Group 2: Only students learned five things they had in common with their teacher.</p>
<p>Group 3: Only teachers learned five things they had in common with their students.</p>
<p>Group 4: Both students and teachers learned of five things they had in common.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After conducting a follow-up survey and collecting students’ grades, we found the following by the end of the grading period: Teachers and students who learned that they shared commonalities with their counterpart perceived greater degrees of similarity.</p>
<p>Teachers who learned that they shared commonalities with their students perceived more positive relationships. (By contrast, the intervention did not significantly affect students’ perceptions of their relationship with their teachers.)</p>
<p>Finally, students earned higher grades when teachers learned about their similarities to those students.</p>
<h2>Improving achievement of underserved students</h2>
<p>Our initial analyses also led to another intriguing finding. We examined white and Asian students separately from students who have been historically underserved – primarily black and Latino students. Our findings suggested the intervention was most effective in improving teachers’ relationships with these historically underserved students. </p>
<p>We found that the intervention closed the achievement gap between these student groups by over 60%. Specifically, the grades of underserved students, which were typically less than a B-, went up to about an average of a B. The white and Asian students averaged just less than a B+. </p>
<p>It seems possible that redirecting attention toward those things teachers have in common with their students helped teachers see similarities with their students who appeared most dissimilar. </p>
<p>In other words, teachers may assume substantial differences with a particular student upon initially meeting him or her in class. But when it is revealed that the student enjoys museums, values honesty and spends time at the YMCA - just like the teacher does - the teacher may see the student in a new light. </p>
<p>Furthermore, these similarities may give teachers a new way to generate conversations with students or ways to begin connecting content to students’ interests.</p>
<p>Our study raises many questions. As we attempt to replicate our findings within education, we hope to learn whether some types of similarities work better than others; or why teachers benefited more from the intervention than students and whether the effects are different in other settings.</p>
<p>However, we remain excited by the prospect that by shifting people’s perceptions of similarities, we might gain new insights into other vexing social problems beyond education. </p>
<p>Perhaps, groups negotiating over environmental issues can begin meetings by noting all the common actions they both take toward mitigating climate change. Perhaps those living in regions with ethnic tensions can learn about traditions that permeate both cultures. </p>
<p>To be sure, nudging people’s focus of attention away from differences and toward commonalities will not singlehandedly solve the climate crisis or bring peace to warring factions. </p>
<p>But big changes often start with small steps, and shifting people’s focus toward the common elements of their humanity seems like a promising starting place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hunter Gehlbach has received funding from Panorama Education, The Spencer Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>When people are nudged into noticing their commonalities, instead of remaining focused on their differences, it leads to remarkable results.Hunter Gehlbach, Associate Professor of Education, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/403602015-05-01T10:02:44Z2015-05-01T10:02:44ZWhy do so few black males go into STEM areas? Here’s what made DeAndre give up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/79995/original/image-20150430-30711-9gc0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Negative stereotypes hamper the success of black males in STEM fields.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/black+male+science/search.html?page=2&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=149239352">Student image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dressed in a black hoodie and sagging jeans, DeAndre (name changed) swaggers down the street, singing loudly the gritty lyrics of a gangsta rap.</p>
<p>This routine typifies DeAndre’s journey to and from school. Many of those watching DeAndre’s behavior during his school commute could assume him to be a thug and a gangster.</p>
<p>Such a narrative, a result of the <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11256-013-0265-2">racialized and gendered narratives</a> that black male adolescents live with in urban areas, is part of DeAndre’s schooling as well as out-of-school experiences. </p>
<p>Black males are presumed to lack intelligence when it comes to academics, particularly <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/49/4/363.short">mathematics</a>. </p>
<p>For more than ten years, I have been <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/49/4/363.short">researching</a> the lives and experiences of black STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) high school students all the way up the pipeline to black STEM faculty. I have looked at the achievements of black students in mathematics within their first eight or nine years of schooling. </p>
<h2>Negative messages</h2>
<p>I have found that black males who consistently outperform their peers in mathematics, are also victims of <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11256-014-0317-2#page-1">covert racial stereotypes</a> and <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/48/6/1347.short">racial microaggressions</a>.</p>
<p>The truth is DeAndre is a high school junior and a high-achiever in mathematics and science from an urban area. DeAndre is not hardened, but he is fragile. </p>
<p>His STEM identity is especially tenuous. </p>
<p>DeAndre is not alone. There are <a href="http://journalofafricanamericanmales.com/issues/jaame-issue-archives/vol2no1">thousands of young men</a> like DeAndre in urban cities across the country, who are STEM high-achievers and have the potential to succeed as STEM professionals. </p>
<p>However, too often they receive negative messaging about their continued success in STEM. Such <a href="http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=44fCBDIPrZYC&oi=fnd&pg=PA193&dq=counselor+discouraging+Black+males+in+STEM&ots=4zy3XrEOMN&sig=muzQTkQVe2dvjys-eMetklU_nRk#v=onepage&q=counselor%20discouraging%20Black%20males%20in%20STEM&f=false">messages</a> from teachers or counselors <a href="http://hipatiapress.com/hpjournals/index.php/remie/article/view/remie.2013.15">downplay or minimize</a> their mathematics abilities. The low expectations from these talented boys serve to further <a href="http://ed-osprey.gsu.edu/ojs/index.php/JUME/article/view/178">discourage</a> them from pursuing STEM fields. </p>
<h2>Academic challenges</h2>
<p>As a result, <a href="http://beta.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2013/acs/acs-24.pdf">black participation</a> in STEM fields has been left far behind. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-24.pdf">In 2011</a>, whites held 71% of STEM jobs, Asians held 15% and blacks only 6%. In 2009 white students obtained 65.5% of the STEM undergraduate degrees. However, STEM undergraduate degrees for blacks have <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c2/c2s2.htm">remained flat for the last 9 years</a>. </p>
<p>Blacks received just 6% of all <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/24/stem-education-and-jobs-d_n_1028998.html">STEM bachelor’s degrees</a> and less than half of those went to black males. Overall blacks received <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010015.pdf">4% of master’s degrees, and 2% of PhDs in STEM</a>, despite constituting 12% of the US population. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black kids face many challenges related to schooling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=OUgCl0HU1Q9CkyFOG1ECzg&searchterm=black%20boys%20school&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=154179290">Boy image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When it comes to academic success, young black students face many other challenges that are only made worse by the negative messaging. </p>
<p>There are societal messages that equate black maleness with criminality, with teachers often being afraid of their black male students.</p>
<p>Often enough, as my own <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/49/4/363.short">research </a> shows, unequal access to treatment results in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613003778%20and%20%20http://isw.sagepub.com/content/52/4/459.short">poorer health</a> outcomes for black kids.</p>
<p>The early academic years for these students are riddled with long-term (two months or longer) illnesses that negatively impact their schooling and result in attending at least one summer school term. </p>
<p>Some of <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/49/3/487.full">these students</a> also <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/49/4/363">change schools</a> <a href="http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mF_me7HYyHcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=Whither+Opportunity%3F:+Rising+Inequality,+Schools,+and+Children%27s+Life+Chances&ots=wsca4NG2s6&sig=ISm6f11uBDoLUy6p8p8eWLjm6y4#v=onepage&q=Whither%20Opportunity%3F%3A%20Rising%20Inequality%2C%20Schools%2C%20and%20Children%27s%20Life%20Chances&f=false">quite often</a>. </p>
<p>DeAndre, for example, has a higher rate of school transfer; his current school is his third high school in three years. This lack of continuity for high achieving black male students can lead to additional pressures to prove their intellectual abilities in mathematics to an unwelcoming or skeptical school culture.</p>
<p>Fighting racial stereotypes can also <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11256-013-0265-2#page-1">wear them down.</a> DeAndre is weary of racial stereotypes in general and stereotypes about black males in particular.</p>
<p>DeAndre’s coarse behavior during his school commute is actually performed to repel or deflect potential violence via <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11256-013-0265-2#page-1">aggressive posturing</a>, as evident in his “swagger.” In reality, he hasn’t been in any “real” fight since second grade and is filled with trepidation every time he walks home from school. </p>
<h2>Such few options</h2>
<p>Young black students also work toward what is called “performing whiteness.” This in their words means: talking ultra proper English while enunciating every syllable, dressing preppy, not talking about their families, pretending to go on vacations, not telling too many jokes and proving to their white female teachers that they are not to be feared but to be loved and nurtured. </p>
<p>The result is that their intrinsic motivation for learning mathematics and steadfast internal drive get constantly eroded by a host of structural and environmental challenges.</p>
<p>In addition to all these above challenges, they are often at schools that do not offer enough academic opportunities to support their interests. DeAndre’s school does not offer AP classes that would position him more favorably for a STEM college major. </p>
<p>Another problem that black kids face is an absence of role models. The successful black role models that students like DeAndre are exposed to are mostly athletes and rappers. DeAndre does not want to be an athlete or a rapper. </p>
<p>Even so, the likelihood of DeAndre going on to pursue STEM remains frail. </p>
<p>Instead DeAndre has chosen to be a social worker. Through this justice-orientated work, DeAndre wants to address the social and racial inequities in his neighborhood. We don’t know if he will use STEM in the future or not.</p>
<p>If DeAndre has managed to come this far, it is thanks to the support he has received from family members. DeAndre has fond memories of playing dominoes with his grandfather and mathematically complicated card games with his aunts. </p>
<p>His first mathematics teacher was his father. Today, DeAndre is like a human calculator, spitting out complicated number algorithms. </p>
<h2>Diversity vital to STEM</h2>
<p>As we work to minimize the fragility factors affecting youth like DeAndre, we often overlook what protects DeAndre’s STEM and academic identity. The socialization in mathematics that does happen in many black households remains unappreciated by schools as it does by the predominantly white social structures. </p>
<p>My experience of investigating lives, such as those of DeAndre has convinced me of the need for rigorous research that contributes to a more accurate and nuanced portrayal of black males in STEM. </p>
<p>The vitality of United States will be derived in large part from fostering the STEM identities of young men like DeAndre who reside within our urban communities. Their participation is important for innovation – and for a more equitable society. </p>
<p>Our DeAndres should not see a conflict between pursuing a STEM college trajectories and an unyielding sense of responsibility for the improvement of their home communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ebony O McGee received funding for the research from the National Academy of Education and the Spencer Foundation.</span></em></p>Black male kids who start out by excelling in STEM gradually lose interest due to low teacher expectations and racial stereotyping. The result? Blacks hold only 6% of all STEM jobs.Ebony O. McGee, Assistant Professor of Education, Diversity and Urban Schooling, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.