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Book Review: The Education of Immigrant Children

Book Review: The Education of Immigrant Children Book Reviews 191 The Education of Immigrant Children A. J. Cropley. London: Croom Helm, 1983.206 pp. Given the simmering heat (and less frequent light) in the current debate about Australian immigra­ tion policy, the arrival of this slim volume represents a welcome addition to the literature on the educational consequences of immigration for a predominantly Caucasian society. While Professor Cropley writes essentially in a British context, the issues he raises will be familiar to Australian au­ diences. I hope his book will reach a wide spectrum of Australians, and particularly our educational policy-makers, since its wise, cautious, and amiable tone would add a welcome balance and perspec­ tive to the polemics of recent Australian controversy. For Cropley, immigration is a concrete human circumstance to be dealt with constructively, not something to be wished away or swept blindly under a carpet. As a social psychologist, the author seeks to bring the multiple insights of his discipline to help delineate and resolve the educational problems of Pakistani and West Indian children in contem­ porary Britain. These children are, he emphasizes, caught between two worlds. Despite the for­ midable difficulties of obtaining accurate statistics, it emerges that 3.5 per cent of the present British population are 'coloured immigrants'. Most of them live in Greater London or the Western Midlands. There are also about 450,000 immigrant children presently enrolled in British schools. The educational issue posed by this immigrant presence are therefore considerable. Indeed, Cropley finds substantial evidence of alienation, loss of status, reduced expectations, and social dislocation, of pettiness, gossip, delinquency, crime, and violence, of prejudice, stereotyping, identity conflict, self-doubt, scape-goating, and even mental illness. Awash in the maze of these undesirable social symptoms, immigrant children are expected to succeed at school. Not surprisingly, Cropley points to high failure rates, behavioural disturbances, and depressing unemployment and delinquency pat­ terns after formal schooling. He also finds more than a few chronic double-binds. Pakistani parents in Britain place a high value on formal education, for example, and want their children to attend school, but they are apprehensive about the atmosphere of individualism and personal freedom which their children find in British schools (especially in the case of their female offspring). West In­ dians generally believe that they are fluent in English language, but may well find that they cannot be understood by other Britons when they speak. Apart from regarding the presence of immigrants as given, Cropley offers no easy or ready solu­ tions to the social and individual dilemmas he documents for formal education. He does, however, reject the narrow, one-sided strategy of assimilation in favour of a 'give and take' model which reveals faith in the school's potential as an agency of social harmony. Drawing on this pluralist model, he stresses the importance of immigrant mastery of standard English, and then canvasses the advantages of mother-tongue instruction in the early school grades, of reconstructing the curriculum and content of lessons to incorporate a multicultural dimension, of empathetic presentation of subject content by teachers, and of developing appropriate learning materials such as Asian music. Much of this is familiar territory, yet worth having in a concise format nonetheless. Those readers aware of the educational achievements of Asian immigrant and refugee children in an American context will be aware of the comparatively narrow sample of immigrants on which Cropley has drawn. Because of its British focus, it is unlikely that the book would suit as a text for intending teachers in Australia, but it can certainly be recommended as supplementary reading for courses on contemporary multicultural education. P. C. WICKS Dar/ing Downs Institute of Advanced Education http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian Journal of Education SAGE

Book Review: The Education of Immigrant Children

Wicks, P. C.
Australian Journal of Education , Volume 29 (2): 1 – Aug 1, 1985
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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 1985 Australian Council for Educational Research
ISSN
0004-9441
eISSN
2050-5884
DOI
10.1177/000494418502900211
Publisher site
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Abstract

Book Reviews 191 The Education of Immigrant Children A. J. Cropley. London: Croom Helm, 1983.206 pp. Given the simmering heat (and less frequent light) in the current debate about Australian immigra­ tion policy, the arrival of this slim volume represents a welcome addition to the literature on the educational consequences of immigration for a predominantly Caucasian society. While Professor Cropley writes essentially in a British context, the issues he raises will be familiar to Australian au­ diences. I hope his book will reach a wide spectrum of Australians, and particularly our educational policy-makers, since its wise, cautious, and amiable tone would add a welcome balance and perspec­ tive to the polemics of recent Australian controversy. For Cropley, immigration is a concrete human circumstance to be dealt with constructively, not something to be wished away or swept blindly under a carpet. As a social psychologist, the author seeks to bring the multiple insights of his discipline to help delineate and resolve the educational problems of Pakistani and West Indian children in contem­ porary Britain. These children are, he emphasizes, caught between two worlds. Despite the for­ midable difficulties of obtaining accurate statistics, it emerges that 3.5 per cent of the present British population are 'coloured immigrants'. Most of them live in Greater London or the Western Midlands. There are also about 450,000 immigrant children presently enrolled in British schools. The educational issue posed by this immigrant presence are therefore considerable. Indeed, Cropley finds substantial evidence of alienation, loss of status, reduced expectations, and social dislocation, of pettiness, gossip, delinquency, crime, and violence, of prejudice, stereotyping, identity conflict, self-doubt, scape-goating, and even mental illness. Awash in the maze of these undesirable social symptoms, immigrant children are expected to succeed at school. Not surprisingly, Cropley points to high failure rates, behavioural disturbances, and depressing unemployment and delinquency pat­ terns after formal schooling. He also finds more than a few chronic double-binds. Pakistani parents in Britain place a high value on formal education, for example, and want their children to attend school, but they are apprehensive about the atmosphere of individualism and personal freedom which their children find in British schools (especially in the case of their female offspring). West In­ dians generally believe that they are fluent in English language, but may well find that they cannot be understood by other Britons when they speak. Apart from regarding the presence of immigrants as given, Cropley offers no easy or ready solu­ tions to the social and individual dilemmas he documents for formal education. He does, however, reject the narrow, one-sided strategy of assimilation in favour of a 'give and take' model which reveals faith in the school's potential as an agency of social harmony. Drawing on this pluralist model, he stresses the importance of immigrant mastery of standard English, and then canvasses the advantages of mother-tongue instruction in the early school grades, of reconstructing the curriculum and content of lessons to incorporate a multicultural dimension, of empathetic presentation of subject content by teachers, and of developing appropriate learning materials such as Asian music. Much of this is familiar territory, yet worth having in a concise format nonetheless. Those readers aware of the educational achievements of Asian immigrant and refugee children in an American context will be aware of the comparatively narrow sample of immigrants on which Cropley has drawn. Because of its British focus, it is unlikely that the book would suit as a text for intending teachers in Australia, but it can certainly be recommended as supplementary reading for courses on contemporary multicultural education. P. C. WICKS Dar/ing Downs Institute of Advanced Education

Journal

Australian Journal of Education – SAGE

Published: Aug 1, 1985

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