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Educational attitudes and aspirations of Asian girls

South-east Asian girls are frequently categorised as 'Asian' without taking into consideration their gender or religious up bringing. South-east Asian girls are not a homogeneous cluster as perceived by ethnocentric British establishments and institutions. They are discernible, for example, by religion, sect, linguistic association, caste and country of origin. The Asian culture has the prevalent image of being peculiarly oppressive and restrictive for women and the pronouncements of the 'community leaders' are often relied upon, and not the views of women themselves. Hence it is important to permit women to verbalise about their own situation and views. Researchers have, in the past, used their personal experience in formulating hypotheses. Being a British born Asian, one appreciates that the attitudes and aspirations of young Asian women are changing and more research is obligatory if educational establishments and other institutions are to understand and help their Asian female colleagues and students better, by aiding the policy making process and practice. This research has explored the relationship between religious upbringing and attitudes of Asian girls and women in higher education towards school education, further education, employment and settlement. The case study was intended to be illuminative. It was found that the girls answered in different ways and it was clear that some of the responses were clearly categorised by their religion. The findings suggest that if institutions in Britain fail to understand the contrasting effects of religion on ethnic minority students then South-east Asian students will experience 'creedism' and lack of support due to the non-religious orientated assumptions made.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:364070
Date January 1997
CreatorsSingh-Raud, Harkirtan
PublisherManchester Metropolitan University
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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