SCHOOLING SECOND GENERATION PUNJABI SIKH YOUTH: EXPLORING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ONE PUBLIC MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract

A U.S. Midwestern public high school has undergone a significant convergence of Indian immigrants from Punjab, India, a state whose citizens predominantly speak Punjabi and practice Sikhism. Over the past decade, countless first and second generation immigrant Punjabi Sikh youth have attended this school. Although the academic successes of aggregated populations of the Punjabi Sikh Diaspora have been documented, little is known about how Punjabi Sikh youth and their parents feel about the ways in which U.S. public schools have served them. This qualitative interpretive study will use interviews with both student participants and one or both of their parents to ascertain whether each party believes U.S. secondary schooling has fostered each student’s academic strengths, and aided them in addressing their own perceived academic weaknesses. Because Punjabi Sikhs are often characterized as hard-working and accommodating, they are presumed to be exemplars of educational performance or model minorities, which is a form of prejudice that remains all too prevalent in the United States. This cultural ‘othering’ by the majority hinders rather than facilitates access to various opportunities and may also result in discrimination as well as indifference regarding the individual needs of Asian American students. Close examination of each student participant’s schooling experience will provide the Midwestern U.S. public high school a critical view of whether Punjabi Sikh students and their parents feel their experience has been impeded or enhanced by the school site. Discussion of each student’s experience and what role the school has played in the experience of student participants, may pinpoint ways in which the school can better serve Punjabi Sikh youth.