Poster presented at the European Conference on Educational Research,
University of Geneva, 13-15 September 2006
A Study on the Status of the Foreign Brides
and Their Children at Risk in Taiwan
By Dr. Ruey-chuan Cheng
Providence University
e-mail: [email protected]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
Abstract ......................................................................................................3
Purpose of the Study .................................................................................6
Literature Review .....................................................................................8
The Definition of Multicultural Education ..................................8
Educational Objectives of Multicultural Education ...................9
The Relationship between Multicultural Education and the
Issues of the Foreign Brides .........................................................10
Methods of the Study .............................................................................. 11
Findings and Discussion ......................................................................... 11
Implications of the Study........................................................................17
References ................................................................................................19
Appendix A ..............................................................................................21
Appendix B ..............................................................................................22
2
Abstract
In the past ten years, many Taiwanese men got married with women from other
countries, whom we call “foreign brides.” According to the official records, more
than one-fourth of the men who got married in the past year were married with
women from other countries, such as China and South Eastern Asian countries. This
unique phenomenon causes the researchers’ interest to study why so many Taiwanese
men married women from other countries, what problems happen from such marriage,
and how the government, the society, and the schools can help the families and their
children at risk to be successful in the school.
According to the advocates of multicultural education (Banks, 1989, 1994;
Gollnick, 1994; Hilton, 1994; Kincheloc & Steinberg, 1997), one of the educational
objectives of multicultural education is to help students from different social class,
race, culture and gender get equal education and learning opportunities.
The
researchers believes that the children of the foreign brides need more attention and
help from their teachers in order to be successful in the school.
The researchers collected documents from the official records and the mass
communication about the status of foreign brides in Taiwan. Then we interviewed
some foreign brides to understand their life in Taiwan. Finally, we interviewed five
elementary school teachers who have students from the family of foreign brides to
3
know their learning situation in the school.
After collecting documents from the official records, the mass communication
media, and interviewing some foreign brides and the elementary school teachers, the
researchers find the following reasons for Taiwanese men to marry women from other
countries. First, it’s getting hard to find suitable women in Taiwan for marriage
because more and more women select jobs to support themselves instead of getting
married. Second, it’s hard for the men of low social economic status, old men,
divorced men, and widowers to marry Taiwanese women.
Instead, they “buy” wives
from other countries with cheap price through the matchmaker companies.
Third,
some fishermen married foreign women when they sailed to other countries and took
them back to Taiwan.
On the contrary, most of the foreign brides marry Taiwanese
men in order to improve the economic status of their maternal families.
Accordingly,
some problems happen when more and more foreign brides come to Taiwan. These
problems include life adoption, relationship between husband and wife, children’s
educational problems, health problems, and the problem of human rights.
After analyzing these problems, we suggest several methods for the government,
the society, and the schools to do to help the family and their children.
First, the
government should manage the matchmaker companies well to avoid that they
“import” foreign brides for sex business instead of real marriage. Second, the
4
government needs to help the brides to learn mandarin and Taiwanese culture well to
get used to Taiwanese life soon. Third, the social institutes should offer counseling
courses to the couples before and after their marriage and provide sources to them
when they need help.
Fourth, the social institutes need to keep frequent contact with
the families to find any potential family violence.
Fifth, the society should offer jobs
to the foreign brides to improve the economic status of the families. Sixth, the
schools need to help the foreign brides’ children at risk learn successfully in the
school.
Finally, the researchers point out what multicultural perspectives a society should
have and suggest that Taiwanese society needs to respect these foreign brides and
their families in the belief that people, no matter whose races, age, gender, social
economic status, religion, share the same right and duty in the world.
We hope that
anyone in Taiwan no matter where they are from can enjoy their marriage and their
children can get well education in the school.
Keywords:
Multicultural Education, Foreign Brides, Children at Risk
5
Purpose of the Study
Human races in the world have developed a whole new life since the year of
2000.
It means that politics, economics, culture, and education among the nations
are searching a national-wide cooperation. So called “earth village” or “international
village” means that people, no matter whose races, age, gender, social economic
status, religion, share the same right and duty in the world.
This vision is wanted,
not only in the western nations, but also needed in Taiwan.
In recent years, the percentage of the foreign brides among the married
population is getting high. According to the statistics in February, 2006 from
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C.,
there are 141,000 married couples (282,280 persons) in Taiwan in 2005.
Among
them 50,000 couples are formed by international people. Among the 28,427
non-Taiwanese spouses, 14,167 brides are from Mainland China and 11,121 brides are
from other countries.
Contrary to the high percentage of foreign brides, the
population of the new born babies is getting low.
However, the babies from the
foreign brides occupy a certain percentage of the new born population.
In 2005,
there are 206,000 new born babies. Among them 27,000 are from the foreign brides,
which is about 12.9% of the total new born babies.
After getting married and moving to Taiwan, these foreign brides not only need
6
to adapt themselves to the new environment and learn Taiwanese language and culture,
but also is responsible for the rearing of the next generation.
It is very important for
the foreign brides to educate their children, help them to learn successfully in the
school, communicate with the school teachers, and transfer their maternal language
and culture to their children. According to the statistics from Taipei Educational
Bureau in October 2003, 2199 elementary students are from the families of the
foreign brides. Among them, 838 students could not perform well in the school,
which is 38.11% of the total students from the families of the foreign brides. The
reasons for this phenomenon are that the foreign brides cannot communicate well with
other family members, is low educated, is unknown of the spelling system of
Mandarin, cannot help their children learn, is not familiar with Taiwanese culture,
lack of parental knowledge, and lose communication with the school (Chen & Chen,
2003; Hsu, 2003; Wu, 2004).
Due to the above phenomenon in Taiwan, the researchers conducted a qualitative
research for the following purposes:
1. What are the reasons that so many Taiwanese men marry women from other
countries?
2. What are the problems from such marriage?
3. How can the government, the society, and the schools help the families and
7
their children at risk to be successful in the school?
Literature Review
The Definition of Multicultural Education
There are different definitions of multicultural education. According to Sleeter
and Grant (1988), the definition of multicultural education changes during different
eras.
In 1960s, multicultural education focuses on the education of the minority
students and the students of low social economic status.
Besides, it also researches
on specific group such as Asian people.
In 1970s, multicultural education extends its research to people of different
culture, race, language, gender, handicapped people, and social economic status.
For
instruction, its content includes the ideas of the above people and their contribution to
the society.
In 1980s, multicultural education emphasizes on social action to change the
society and encourages students to do critical thinking and join movements.
From 1980s to 1990s, Banks (1989, 1994) offers wider definitions to
multicultural education. He states that multicultural education is an education which
searches for freedom and is a current trend. This education is achieved by the
formation of the concept of multicultural education, the change of schools, and
curriculum and instruction. Regarding the concept, multicultural education means
that people no matter whose race, religion, social economic status, age, gender, share
the same right and duty and should be treated respectfully. Regarding the change of
the schools, the implementation of educational policies and the formation of schools
should allow people to be educated equally. As for the curriculum and instruction,
the design of curriculum, the instruction, and teacher’s beliefs can achieve the aim of
equal education. Overall, multicultural education means an education which aims to
8
educate people equally and help people get along with each other peacefully, that can
be achieved through the implementation of educational policies and the school
curriculum and instruction.
The Taiwanese researchers of multicultural education also provide their
perspectives of multicultural education. Hong (1999) states that multicultural
education teaches people to care about the minority and respect different culture.
Through curriculum, students can know different culture, get rid of their stereotypes
of certain culture, and work hard to promote social equity. Chen (2000) mentions
that multicultural education is the foundation of a democratic society which can
promote justice and freedom among people of different race, social economic status,
gender, language, religion, and handicapped students.
Educational Objectives of Multicultural Education
Based on the advocates of multicultural education (Banks, 1989, 1994; Gollnick,
1994; Hilton, 1994; Kincheloc & Steinberg, 1997), the educational objectives of
multicultural education can be classified into the following points:
1. Multicultural education tries to shorten the distance between the ideal democratic
thought and its implementation and reduce the unequal treatment of people due to
the difference of race, gender and social economic status.
2. Multicultural education helps students from different social class, race, culture and
gender get equal education and learning opportunities.
3. Multicultural education enables students to know and value their own culture and
history and build up self-esteem.
4. Multicultural education teaches students to respect other people, help the minority
9
students, and promote the whole human being’s equity.
Duncan (1986) also points out the purpose of multicultural education as follows:
Multicultural education is for the students:
1. to know: the difference among people, the unique history and culture of
themselves,
2. to see: their stereotype toward people,
3. to accept: their unique culture, and
4. to develop: positive self-image of themselves and be confident of themselves.
The Relationship between Multicultural Education and the Issue of the
Foreign Brides
How does our society look at the issue of the foreign brides? Although we are
moving toward to a new nine-year coherent curriculum, it seems that this new
curriculum is lack of the accommodation of multicultural education and the new
group-the foreign brides and their families (chen, 2003). The government, the
society, and the school should work out a multicultural action strategy to help this
new minority.
For example, the government should reconsider immigration and
marriage policy to avoid any discrimination toward the minority. Multicultural
education should not be limited only to the education of the aboriginal people or
mother language.
It should be implemented in an aim to help people from other
backgrounds (races, groups, nations, sexs, genders, social classes, religions,
handicapped persons, ages, and languages) (Bank, 1993; Huang, 2000).
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Methods of the Study
In order to deeply understand the phenomenon of the foreign brides in Taiwan,
the researchers conducted a qualitative method, including reviewing literature
regarding the foreign brides, collecting documents from the governmental statistics
and the mass communication, interviewing one foreign bride, and five elementary
school teachers who have students from the families of the foreign brides.
The
interviewing questions are listed in Appendix A (with the foreign bride) and Appendix
B (with the five elementary school teachers).
During and after data collection, the
researchers used a comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to analyze, code and
categorize the data with deep description and reflection.
Findings and Discussion
After half year’s data collection and analysis, the researchers have the following
findings:
1. The reasons for Taiwanese men to marry the foreign brides
According to the report from the mass communication and the research (Huang
& Chang, ?; Hsu, 2003; Huang, 2004), there are several reasons for Taiwanese men to
marry women from other countries.
First, it’s getting harder to find suitable women in Taiwan for marriage because
more and more women become financially independent instead of getting married to
11
support their life.
Second, it’s hard for the men of low social economic status, old men, divorced
men, and widowers to marry Taiwanese women.
Instead, they “buy” wives from
other countries with cheap price through the matchmaker companies.
Third, some fishermen married foreign women when they sailed to other
countries and took them back to Taiwan.
Fourth, some illegal matchmaker companies import women from other countries
for a fake marriage, but they manage a sex business actually.
2. The reasons for the foreign brides to marry Taiwanese men
After interviewing the foreign bride, the researchers summarize several reasons
for the foreign brides to marry Taiwanese men.
First, the foreign brides are favor of the life style in Taiwan. As being a well
developed country, Taiwan’s life is better than the life of the foreign brides’ countries.
Second, the foreign brides marry Taiwanese men in order to improve the
economic status of their maternal families.
Usually, Taiwanese men will give a big
amount of money to the foreign bride’s parents to marry their daughters.
Third, some foreign brides really fall in love with Taiwanese men no matter of
the difference of language and culture.
3. The problems with the international marriage
12
Accordingly, some problems happen when more and more foreign brides come
to Taiwan.
First, due to different language and culture, it takes time for the foreign brides to
adapt to Taiwanese life, such as food, weather, traffic, etc.
Second, the foreign brides need to learn to maintain the relationship between
husband and wife. Since the marriage is built upon different needs, some quarrels
may happen between husbands and wives.
If they cannot communicate well through
mutually understood language, the situation will get worse.
According to some news
report, there are many cases of family violence in the families.
Third, there are some health problems with the foreign brides. According to the
statistics from Center for Disease Control, Taiwan in 2002, among the 352 HIV
infected foreigners, 64 persons married Taiwanese, 61 of them are females, and 90%
of them are from south eastern countries. These numbers reveal that the foreign
brides have potentially high health problems.
Fourth, the foreign brides’ children have learning problems in school.
According to the statistics from Taipei Educational Bureau in October 2003, 2199
elementary students are from the families of foreign brides; 838 of them could not
perform well in the school, which is 38.11% of the total students from the family of
foreign brides.
Why do these children have learning problems in school?
13
According to the interviews with the school teachers, these children’s parents seldom
join the parent-teacher meetings, the fathers are busy with working and the mothers
do not understand Mandarin and cannot help the children’s homework.
Some
foreign brides are not familiar with Taiwanese educational system and cannot help
their children adapt to school life.
Fifth, the phenomenon of the foreign brides reveals the problem of human rights.
Can a person be “bought” to be a wife of someone whom she never knows?
person be valued as an object in the marriage market?
Can a
After coming to Taiwan,
some foreign brides are not well treated by the husbands and are labeled as “the
foreign brides” by Taiwanese. Their children are called “the new Taiwanese
children.”
It seems that these foreign brides are discriminated and do not share the
human rights in Taiwan.
4.
Suggestions to the government, the society, and the school for helping
the foreign brides and their children at risk
After thinking of the above findings, the researchers provide some suggestions to
the government, the society, and the school in the hope that these foreign brides can
live well and happily in Taiwan.
First, supervise and manage the matchmaker companies
The government should supervise and manage the matchmaker companies
14
strictly to avoid that some of them import foreign women for sex business instead of
real marriage, although most of the matchmaker companies legally process the
matchmaker business.
Second, strengthen language and culture courses
The government should provide Taiwanese language and culture courses to the
foreign brides through matchmaker companies, communities, and schools before and
after the marriage.
If the foreign brides can learn Taiwanese language and culture
early, they can adapt to Taiwanese life soon.
Third, care about the foreign brides’ life in Taiwan
Social workers need to visit the foreign brides’ families to see whether they have
any problems.
The police officers need to check the families to find any potential
family violence. The communities should provide translation service and
consultation hot lines to the foreign brides in case that they need help.
Fourth, reasonable requirements for becoming Taiwanese citizens
According to the interview with the foreign bride, it takes 8 years to become
Taiwanese citizens.
too long.
This timetable causes many foreign brides’ complaint for being
She hope that the government can reduce the requirements and shorten the
time for becoming Taiwanese citizens.
Fifth, the schools need to provide more help to the children of the foreign brides
15
for their adaptation to school life and academic learning. Since the foreign brides
cannot teach their children Mandarin, these children need more help in language
learning.
Besides, the schools should communicate with the families frequently to
see any learning problem at home.
5. Suggestions to the foreign brides
In addition to the above suggestions to the government, the community, and the
school, the researchers also suggest some points to the foreign brides for them to
adapt to Taiwanese life soon.
First, the foreign brides need to do well prenatal check to see any potential
problems with the babies.
Second, the foreign brides can interact with their children with their mother
language. Although the foreign brides are not good at Mandarin, they can speak
their mother language with their children which will stimulate their children’s
language development and awareness of mother culture.
Third, the foreign brides can do a lot of outdoor activities with their children to
strengthen their children’s physical development.
They can also interact with other
mothers of the communities to exchange experiences of rearing children.
Fourth, the foreign brides can consult their parents-in-law and other relatives for
the methods of rearing children. Since their experiences of rearing children are
16
different from Taiwanese, they need to communicate and negotiate with others to find
the best way for the children.
Fifth, the foreign brides should educate their children by themselves instead of
depending on school teachers totally. They need to communicate with school
teachers and ask their husbands to help in case that they cannot use Mandarin.
Sixth, the foreign brides can participate language and culture learning groups and
parental education courses in school and the community to learn Taiwanese life and
education of children.
Seventh, the foreign brides can encourage their husbands to join the class of the
foreign brides’ maternal culture in order to understand the foreign brides more and
strengthen their family bond.
Eighth, the foreign brides can form self-help groups to communicate with other
foreign brides and exchange the experiences of living in Taiwan.
Implications of the Study
Believing the concept of multicultural education that people no matter whose
race, religion, social economic status, age, gender, share the same right and duty and
should be treated respectfully, the researchers conducted this research on the foreign
brides in a hope to push the government to pay more attention to the issue of the
foreign brides. There are several problems with this international marriage. The
17
researchers also encourage the whole society to accept the foreign brides as being the
family members of Taiwan although their language and culture is different from ours.
Do not label them again as “the foreign brides” although this paper still use this term
for the purpose of discussing this issue.
The researchers mostly expect that the
school can do their best to help the children of the foreign brides to adapt to school
life soon and learn successfully.
Most importantly, schools should adopt the concept
of multicultural education to teach all students that they need to respect these foreign
brides and their children no matter where they are from.
We do hope that
“multicultural education” is not just a slogan, but really roots in the minds of all
Taiwanese.
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References
Banks, J. A. (1989). Multicultural education: characteristics and goals.
Banks & C. A. M. Banks (Eds.),
Perspectives, 2-26.
In J. A.
Multicultural Education: Issues and
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Banks, J. A. (1993). Multicultural education: characteristics and goals.
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Multicultural Education: Issues and
Perspectives (2nd). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Banks, J. A. (1994).
An Introduction to Multicultural Education.
Boston: Allyn
and Bacon.
Chen, M. R. (2000).
The Belief and Action of the Curriculum of Multicultural
Education. Taipei: Normal University’s Bookstore.
Chen, C. F. (2003). The Educational Foresight and Content Analysis for
Multicultural Society: Cultural Loss of the Foreign Brides and Their Children.
Journal of Education Research, 110, 135-143.
Chen, P. C., & Chen, S. Y. (2003). The Language Development of the Children of
the Foreign Brides.
Elementary Special Education, 35, 68-75.
Duncan, C. G.（1986）. Developing a multicultural approach to the curriculum.
K. Arora and C. G. Duncan (Eds.),
In R.
Multicultural Education, 36-46, Boston:
Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Gollnick, D. M.（1994）. Multicultural education.
Viewpoints in Teaching and
Learning, 56, 1-17.
Glaser, B. C., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory.
Aldine.
Hilton, S.（1994）. Kentucky Education Reform: Towards the Practice of
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Hon, R. L. (1999). The curriculum and instruction of the aboriginal people in
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Report, 11, 32-49.
Hsu, H. C. (2003). My Mom is a Foreign Brides.
The Educator Monthly, August,
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Huang, T. M. (2000). Discussing the Literacy Education of Taiwan from the Point of
View of Multiculturalism.
Multicultural Education. Taipei: Bookstore of
Normal University of Education.
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135-169.
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Cropping the Seed of Hope for the New Minority Group.
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20
Appendix A
Interview questions with the foreign brides:
1. Why did you marry Taiwanese man?
2. Did you have any adaptation problems after getting married?
3. Do you have any Taiwanese friend?
4. Do you find any different points of Taiwan before and after you come to Taiwan?
5. Do you think that it’s easy to get along with Taiwanese?
6. Do you regret of coming to Taiwan?
7. How do you get along with your parents-in-law?
21
Appendix B
Interview questions with the five elementary school teachers:
1. What grade are you teaching?
2. How many students in your class are from the families of the foreign brides?
Where are their parents from?
3. Are these students are from the families of single parent, nuclear families, or
families of three generation?
4. Is there any learning difference between these students of the foreign brides from
other students?
5. How is these students’ Mandarin ability?
Can they speak their mothers’ mother
languages?
6. What is these students’ strength and weakness?
7. Do you have any special program for these students?
8. What is the parents’ attitude toward their children’s learning in the school?
9. How do you communicate with these parents?
10. Do you think that current curriculum and instruction is suitable for these students?
Is it necessary to make some change upon the curriculum?
11. Does your school offer any workshop or course for you to know how to teach
these students?
22
12. Do you find any difference between these students and other students in
adaptation to school life?
13. Do these students have any cultural difference from the other students?
14. Do these students’ parents require you to take care of their children more?
15. Have you ever offered any suggestions to the parents of these students for
adapting to Taiwanese life?
16. What’s the social relationships between these students and other students?
17. Do these students are shamed of themselves for being the children of the foreign
brides?
18. Do these parents join parent-teacher meetings?
Do they communicate with other
parents?
19. Do you have any suggestions to the educational government and the school for
helping the children of the foreign brides?
20. Do you need any help or courses for you to know the children of the foreign
brides?
23