Culture

One of the emerging themes that arose from the research was the effect of culture on a child’s choice of role models. We found the older the students, the more likely they were to choose a family member as their role model, especially for the girls. How does this relate to culture? The subjects in our study were from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. However, the girls who chose family members as their role models were predominantly of East Indian, Taiwanese, and North African Muslim descent.

As teacher researchers working with East Indian students, we observed that strong cultural and family ties exist for them. Six of the female subjects chose family members as their role models. Most identified their mothers, but Gurdave, a high school student, deviated from the others by choosing her grandfather. Initially, she wanted to choose an entertainer, which is consistent with younger children as was seen with the Grade Three subjects. Her views later conformed to those of her female peers, as evidenced in her statement, that “I learned that I thought a person had to be a singer or a dancer to be a role model and then I looked at my grandfather and realized he had all the characteristics I admired.” Gurdave is East Indian and in this culture, close-knit families with many generations living under one roof are the norm. As well, it is common for the whole family including the very young to be included at all social gatherings. “Due to this kind of socialization, the children internalize the values of the parents at an early age and, thus, learn to behave in accordance with the ethos of the family. They also feel they owe a debt of gratitude to their parents” (Basit, 1997, 426).

Eve, one of the five Asian student participants born in Taiwan, chose her parents, her sister, and her grandfather as her role models. Even though the students had been asked to pick only one role model, she felt strongly that all three deserved mentioning. In a study of Asian and Caucasian mothers and teenagers with regards to value expectations and autonomy issues, Stewart et al. (1999) found that “an individual’s value priorities are heavily influenced by the dominant ideologies of a culture” (577) and that while collective societies, such as Asia and South Asia embraced interdependence, Caucasian societies valued autonomy.

Farah belongs to a close-knit Muslim family. She chose her eighteen-year-old sister as her role model citing her sister’s popularity, intelligence, and determination as the reasons for her choice.

It must be noted that none of the boys, regardless of culture, chose family members as role models. Young boys tend to gravitate to superheroes or sports figures when choosing role models. This could be due to the fact that in some cultures, especially in the South Asian community, young males are more autonomous and given more latitude than females of the same age. Boys have more freedom, more access to the outside world and therefore more experiences while the girls seem to be more sheltered (Basit, 1997; Dasgupta, 1998).

In contrast, girls have more familial and cultural expectations placed upon them. Muslim girls rarely adopt western practices such as going out unchaperoned, dating, wearing suggestive clothing or engaging in pre-marital sex (Basit, 1997). Mani (1992) (cited in Dasgupta, 1998) argues “women, meanwhile, are quite frequently policed with the stick of tradition: it is women who are called on to preserve the ways of the old country” (964).

One cultural aspect that needs to be mentioned is that four of the subjects are deaf or hard of hearing. Significantly, none of them chose a deaf role model. This contradicts Hill’s (1993) assertion that deaf children need deaf role models. The profoundly deaf boy chose an athlete, whose main characteristics are determination and drive. One possible reason is that Sam attends a hearing school, achieves good grades, excels in sports, is popular, and feels more affiliated with the hearing world. The only thing he cannot do is hear, which has not impeded his progress. Sam’s choice of role models is consistent with other boys his age and, clearly, he associates with the hearing world as opposed to the deaf culture.