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Discussion of Various Articles

(1) This paper examines the article, "Indochinese Refugee Families and Academic Achievement" by Nathan Caplan, Marcella H. Choy, and John K. Whitmore, published in the February 1992 issue of Scientific American, and compares it to relevant writings in The Development of Children by Michael Cole and Sheila R. Cole. The concept presented in this article is that the social support system within the families of refugee children is an important factor in their ability to excel in the educational system in the United States. To Caplan and his co-authors, this is an indication that American schools are actually effective in providing education; their inability to achieve such impressive results with most other students suggests the existence of other factors, beyond the control of the schools. Caplan and his associates argue that society could learn how to support the work of the schools more effectively by studying the model of the refugee children.

(2) The purpose of the article is to report the findings of the authors' study of 536 school-age children and their families living in one of five urban areas across the country. This group had been in the United States for an average of three and a half years, arriving as refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and China. The authors' intent is to show the academic success of the majority of these children, especially in comparison with their American counterparts, and to put forward several theories about the reasons for that success.

(3) According to my textbook, this concept may be explained as the importance of family influences on school achievement (Cole, 1996, pp. 550-551). The authors acknowledge that one of the most important factors in increased IQ scores and success in school is the support a child gets at home. They even cite an earlier (1989) study by Caplan, Whitmore, and Choy of children of refugees which "found the parents' involvement with their children to be crucial" (C...

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Discussion of Various Articles. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 12:14, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1681294.html