2025 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

4-15-2025

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Iryna Babik

Abstract

The present study evaluated how cultural backgrounds influence parents' perceptions of education, and how these perceptions vary across individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Interviews with US parents (n=30) and Taiwanese parents (n=32) examined parents’ perceptions on the importance of education for children’s future and the critical factors for children’s academic success. Qualitative analysis identified the prevalent patterns in the two cultures. Findings showed that across the two samples, education was highly valued for its holistic role in shaping character, life skills, and personal growth, such as responsibility and curiosity, rather than merely for career readiness. US parents, reflecting an individualistic culture, emphasized creating positive, interactive learning experiences tailored to children’s unique needs, focusing on fostering autonomy, personal choice, intrinsic motivation and persistence, self-esteem and self-maximization (Tamis‐LeMonda et al., 2008). In contrast, Taiwanese parents, influenced by a collectivistic culture, prioritized education as a means to secure jobs and build social networks, while promoting values of respect, obedience, relatedness and interdependence and connection to the family (Tamis‐LeMonda et al., 2008). Taiwanese parents also encourage special evening education schools to secure better quality and high ranking schools (Benjamin, 2006). These findings align with previous research suggesting that American parents believe that their children's success or failure is due to natural abilities while Asian parents seem to be more concerned with their children's efforts and the learning environment (Cheng, 2013). Western cultures encourage children to grow according to their specific needs and potentialities and see education as a way to empower them to go and respect themselves as individuals, while collective cultures see school as a tool for socialization, teaching kids how to adjust to the norms of a wider group (Cheng, 2013). Despite these differences, all groups emphasized the importance of meeting children’s basic needs and fostering their well-being to support academic performance as well as supporting the development of skills in children that are essential for adaptive functioning in their local communities (Tamis‐LeMonda et al., 2008). These results demonstrated how culture shapes parental values.

References

Benjamin, J. (2006). Cross cultural comparison of rural education practice in China, Taiwan, and the United States. Online Submission.

Cheng, K. M. (2013). Can education values be borrowed? Looking into cultural differences. In Leading Schools in a Global Era (pp. 11-30). Routledge.

Tamis‐LeMonda, C. S., Way, N., Hughes, D., Yoshikawa, H., Kalman, R. K., & Niwa, E. Y. (2008). Parents' goals for children: The dynamic coexistence of individualism and collectivism in cultures and individuals. Social Development, 17(1), 183–209.

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