British Chinese pupils and Laddism - Book Report/Review Example

Critical review of 'Negotiating the Dichotomy of Boffin and Triad Bristish Chinese Pupil's Construction of "Laddism". This paper is a critical review of Becky Francis and Louis Archer's study on British Chinese pupils and how they view themselves in relation to the trend of 'Laddism'. The construction of 'Laddism' is inherently a British phenomenon, concerning male values and their projection of masculinity as their main ideal, education, although important is less valued than other pursuits such as sports. 'Laddism' in Britain is a widely accepted phenomenon and lampooned in the media in comedy shows such as 'Men Behaving Badly'. The term Boffin however, is the exact opposite of 'Laddism', if 'Laddism' is viewed as boys behaving badly and having a 'lark' to embody a masculine ideal, 'Boffins' are studious and hardworking, an American equivalent of 'geek' or 'nerd'. Francis and Archer tries to portray and understand how is it that Chinese pupils view themselves and also by their peers and how school educators view the concept of Chinese pupils' performance in school and their behaviour. The construction of 'Laddism' is a sexist phenomenon1and they are encouraged a 'boyish gang mentality' where they exist as the epitome of masculine entity, 'Lads' usually perform less better than their female counterparts and their behaviour is easily accepted through proverbs such as 'boys will be boys'. 'Laddish' boys tend to ignore academic pursuits because of the female prevalence within that area, by distancing themselves from performing or even trying to perform better in school. This is in contrast to the Chinese boys found in the study, school educators seem to perceive Chinese boys as being diligent and hardworking2 and those who have 'strayed' as being affected or 'infected' by White British boys and Jamaican Black boys. The study indicated that Chinese boys' diligence and them being 'Boffin' had a high probability of them being affected by the high morals of 'Confucianism' and that being studious has always been inherent within their cultural tradition. It is also mentioned by one of the boys being interviewed named Heihei who commented that his friends from childhood who used to be 'Boffin' started to change and became 'Laddish' in behaviour. This indicates that although education is highly prized by Chinese parents 'Laddism' among the boys was also an attempt to 'fit in' with the rest of their non-Chinese peers. However, the study actually does not attempt to examine further the implications of non-Chinese 'lads' and how they became to act in such a way. It is known that most of the British and Black British boys came from a working class background, this is different from the Chinese boys' family perception of 'working class'. When we perceive the term 'working class' an identity is already evolved around such a concept, the British and Black British communities are within the reach of the 'class' image that it was understandable that they were not achieving as well in school compared to middle or upper class peers3. Bourdieu's argument that middle or upper class backgrounds upheld academic syllabuses because they were already taught such systems from childhood but this is contrary to the British Chinese pupils especially those who are first generation immigrants who are less likely to have received educational instruction that were beneficial to their background but they were remarked by British born Chinese peers as being more hardworking and studious as well as achieving better marks4. This is also contrary to the British and Black British students who are already speaking English as their first language and many of the Black British students as being British born, their background should have supported their education better than the Chinese born students who actually do not have English oriented syllabuses in China. The other factoring theory Francis and Archer (2005) proposed was the strict educational interests Chinese parents had over their children. J.W.B. Douglas' (1954,1970)5 longitudinal study concerning the correlation of parental supervision on education and academic performance of their children. Although the evidence suggests that children with better academic performance had better encouragement from their parents concerning their education this is also open to debate as it is difficult to pinpoint exactly as to how parents measure 'successful' raising of their children. It could be that the British and Black British boys' parents prioritize different values and that education is secondary compared to these values. This further suggested in the study itself as Chinese families construe that British parents are less disciplined when it came to involvement in their children's education. Several of the British Chinese children mentions this even going as further to say that Brtish families allowed their children to 'grow freely' and that primary school was expected to be 'a stroll'. Chinese families do have a higher tendency to take seriously even primary school achievements as a benchmark to see how successful and disciplined they will be later on when they move to higher education. Most of the ethics described by the other has a lot to do with the fact that every member of a family is a representative of the family itself, a good reputation by one member 'reflects' the abilities of the rest of the family members while failure and bad results brought shame and made families 'lose face'. The Chinese family then is constituted differently than the British family. The Chinese family is a collective unit that works together, although traditional Chinese beliefs have long been eradicated but the concepts have been inherent within Chinese people themselves. The traditional idealized extended family form of kinship mean solidarity among all (although original patrilineally) Chinese families. The British family on the other hand stressed individuality on choices, choices are supposed to be made by the individual themselves and not made by the parents thus there is evidence of 'independent' behaviour among British students. Chinese parents are obligated to be more responsible towards their children as whatever choices their children makes would reflect on them as parents, individual choice for the average Chinese student is not a matter of individual choice but the choice in which parents who provide the livelihood of the children's choice to make. However, the term 'Laddism' is also based on scrutiny. Although most of the interviewees mentioned that there wasn't a difference of 'Laddish' behaviour among different ethnicities but several respondents of Francis and Louis' study seem to remark that 'Laddish' behaviour exhibited by Chinese boys were more in line with being fashionable, this is different from British boys' conception of 'Laddism'. 'Laddism' in essence is a masculine venture and does not bother with fashionable attempts and pursuits, they were different from the likes of late 60s and early 70s 'Mods' who were fashionably conscious. The Chinese boys who did exhibit some form of educational attendance relapse in comparison to their peers were remarked to have 'bleached' hair and were excessively in line with the latest trends and fashions. But their educational relapse could be that if some Chinese families value high education, those who had limited education but successful businesses were more likely to pay less attention to their children's school attendance and most likely will apprentice their children on how to run their businesses after they grow up6. And, to a certain extent most of the Chinese children's response to 'Laddism' among themselves were said to be less violent in comparison to British or Black British forms of 'Laddism' even when they were under the pretense of being in triads or gangs. This is also true of their academic performances, those who were termed as being 'lads' not only freely played truant in school such as the case of the respondent named Donald7 but also managed to achieve high grades and performed well academically despite having an image of a 'Lad'. The whole idea for Donald was that he wanted to be able to fit in with his peers, adding to that Donald was a Hong Kong born Chinese who just immigrated to Britain. In more ways than one the study seems to indicate that most of the British Chinese students reflected some form of 'Laddish' behaviour in response to peer pressure and expectations as well as their ability to negotiate their 'Boffin' expectations. The study of 'triadism' that was thought to be prevalent among 'Laddish' boys were conceivably only a 'media hype'. Although in some form or another there existed triads but these were merely initiation groups concerned with membership unlike the triads of Hong Kong which had a purpose to pursue illegal businesses in order to make a profit. Francis and Archers' study then seems to conclude in a more positive note in the light of British Chinese students' academic achievements despite dabbling in 'Laddism'. Conclusively, their behaviour was an exhibition of trying to fit in with their peers and also the fact that they have to formulate a new identity for themselves as unlike their Chinese born peers, British born Chinese had a gap between themselves and their parents as they begin to absorb other forms of cultures and traditions inherently different from their own as well as attempt at some level to negotiate between the two extremes. Although it seems that the pressure for Chinese British students to excel is greater by school educators, peers, parents and society but most have managed to reconcile their obligations and provide both an image that they could portray to their peers and an achievement that could be the pride of their parents. Reference: Francis,B. and Archer,L., Negotiating the dichotomy of Boffin and Triad : British Chinese Pupils' Construction of 'Laddism' (2005) in Roehampton Research Papers, Retrieved on 19/05/2005 from http://rrp.roehampton.ac.uk/edupapers/5 Haralambos,M. and Holbornm M. (Eds.), Sociology Themes and Perspectives (6th ed.), London : HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 2004 Read More