Making a “Good School”: Cultural Politics of a Racially and Socioeconomically Diverse Mandarin-English Immersion School

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Examining School Contexts and Student Experiences (Table 38)

Abstract

As the US becomes more multicultural and multilingual, dual language immersion (DLI) programs are increasingly popular amongst families. Some studies posit how DLI serves the interest of White, middle class parents at the expense of Black/Brown parents in underserved urban schools. Yet, there is a gap in understanding how, in the process of making public schooling attractive to certain groups of parents, these programs may, in fact, also alienate other stakeholders like teachers. I conduct an ethnographic case study of diverse parents and teachers at a Mandarin immersion school to probe the overlapping and conflicting desires of these actors that unfold everyday. I find that what makes these programs attractive to parents may be the very factors that challenge teachers.

Author

• Catherine Park, University of California - Berkeley