Chapter 4; Results

Introduction

            This section provides the results of the statistical analysis and autoethnography based on my experience as a student, translator, instructor, and entrepreneur in language and cultural capital transmission to rural Chinese students. The section begins with the presentation of statistics related to the demand for English-language instruction Beijing corresponding with the growth of the migrant population in the 2000s. The bulk of the chapter is devoted to the presentation of results from the autoethnography, which is generated from narrative autoethnography notes and artifacts.  

Data on Urban Migration to Beijing

            Beijing experienced one of the greatest movements of people from rural areas to a metropolitan area in China’s history from 2000 to 2010. In the 2000 census, the government recorded about 2.5 million rural residents living in Beijing (China’s strict residential registration system makes it easy to determine migrant status).[1] By the 2010 census, the migrant population had grown by 4.5 million to more than 7 million of Beijing’s residents, constituting more than one-third of the metropolitan area’s total population. Even though many rural migrants were lower-income and filled relatively low-skilled jobs in the industrial and services sector in Beijing, the officials from the Census and Statistics Department note the fact that many migrants also came to Beijing to pursue business opportunities, including accepting job offers or running small businesses. “73.9% of the migrants in Beijing came to seek employment or engage in their own businesses.”[2] In the subsequent decade (2010 to 2020), rural migration to Beijing slowed considerably, with about 1 million new rural residents being recorded on the official registry roles.[3]

[1] Yanzhou, Gu, Jiangqian, Pian, Ge, Yang, Hui, An, and Zhengyong Li. 2015. “Study on Characteristics and Patterns of Beijing’s Migrant Population.” Census & Statistics Department. https://www.statistics.gov.hk/wsc/CPS028-P6-S.pdf.

[2] Yanzhou et al., p. 2.

[3] National Bureau of Statistics. 2023. “Beijing Records 21.8 million permanent residents in 2022, down 43,000 from 2021.” https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202303/1287719.shtml.

Undoubtedly, most if not all of my clients were more affluent rural migrants. All of the parents of my students had appeared to achieve some economic or professional success in their hometowns or home provinces based on their display of middle- and upper-middle-class lifestyles, including their ability to pay for language tutoring services. Later, many of these clients would receive college preparation instruction, including visits to the United States to visit schools and providing preliminary assimilation activities. While most of my parent clients were not at the level of socioeconomic status as the Beijing elite, they had economic resources unavailable to most rural migrants coming to Beijing to work in less-skilled occupations. Many of my parent clients were pursuing business opportunities in Beijing that represented a continuation of upward mobility.

Data on Growth of English Instruction in Beijing

            The growth of English instruction in Beijing began in 1978, when the state first introduced English as a test subject on the university entrance exam, followed by requirement of English as a compulsory subject in the national curriculum in 2001.[1] Government data on the registration of English schools and other foreign language companies in Beijing is either nonexistent or unavailable through public sources. However, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party has released occasional reports on English instruction in China through its propaganda arm, the People’s Daily. These reports provide data on the number of students taking various examinations for English competency, including Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and China’s College English Test Bands.[2] In the 2000s, an official at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded: “Beijing has the biggest English education market in the world.”[3] Government officials recently claimed that there are 400 million Chinese learning English, and more people from China take the TOEFL than any other country in the world.[4]

            I was part of an influx of foreign English language instructors entering China in the 2000s due to the confluence of population growth (including a large segment from rural areas) with the demand for English. My research on the supply of English instruction schools in Beijing in 2009 detailed 32 companies (Appendix N – English Instruction Businesses). As the data shows in Table 1, most of these businesses opened in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the boom years of both population growth and demand for English instruction in Beijing (some of the companies did not list a starting date so the table does not include all of the companies listed in the appendix). Almost certainly, my tally of outfits providing English instruction in in Beijing only scratched the surface, with many schools lacking an online presence and many private tutors operating as sole proprietors.

[1] Li, Zhenyu. 2020. “English Education in China: An Evolutionary Perspective.” Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.http://en.people.cn/n3/2020/0427/c90000-9684652.html.

[2] Ibid

[3] Li, para. 7

[4] Li

The following sections on cultural capital transmission provides the results of the analysis of autoethnographic data from journal entries, audio recordings of recollections, emails, letters, and other artifacts from my teaching career in China. When possible, these artifacts are provided verbatim in the appendices, such as letters, emails, and audio recorded notes. In other instances, notably the retrieval of data from handwritten journal entries and client records, artifacts could not be provided in their original form for privacy or practical reasons. Autoethnographic narratives were prepared from the analysis of those artifacts, and these narratives are presented as an appendix for each client (Appendix Z – Coding Chart). Anglo first names or abbreviated given names (if the student did not prefer an Anglo given name) are used to maintain client confidentiality.

Transmission of Cultural Capital to Parents

Not all parents presented knowledge of the behaviors necessary, beyond preparing their children academically, to gain admission to quality schools in Beijing. Many parents naively presented their children for tutoring with the belief in a meritocratic admissions process where their children only needed to achieve certain academic standards that qualified them for admissions. My interactions with these behaviors demonstrated the transmission of knowledge about behaviors they would need to pursue to provide their children with an additional advantage beyond their academic performance.

My first experience with cultural capital occurred with Y. Meng, who adopted the English name Ann (Appendix I – Ann Meng Parent Narrative Notes). Ann procured my services to help her son improve his academics to compete for access to one of Beijing’s elite high schools. She understood the higher academic demands of an urban versus rural education, and she told me that one of the reasons she came to Beijing was out of frustration with the low quality of education in rural schools. She knew that her son could never pass the national examination if he stayed at a rural school. What Ann did not realize was that improving the child’s academic performance was just the beginning of the admissions process to a quality Beijing high school. Ann also needed to learn the complex and sometimes ruthless rules for parents who played an instrumental role in working the admissions process for their child’s benefit.

            Based on the knowledge I had gained from my direct observations of the process and accounts from colleagues, I advised Ann of some of the barriers that she would face if she tried to seek admissions to the more elite high schools. The primary barrier was financial, since some school officials demanded gifts or in many cases outright cash payments to approve the child’s mission. This practice took the form of the notorious hongbao, or red envelope, the color of which indicated the contents – cash. Other gifts to school officials included consumer items or in some cases even luxury vehicles.

            Ann’s son was an exceptional student who met the highest academic standards for admission to an elite school, but I knew that admission to many of these schools required either inclusion in the guanxi network of those schools or a corrupt act. Thus, when Ann expressed a desire to seek admission to some of the most elite schools in Beijing, my role was to provide her with knowledge about these features of the admissions process that could present barriers due to financial limitations and ethical concerns. I advised Ann that entry to other high schools of non-elite status but still acceptable quality, would provide her son with a better chance of admissions than competing for entry to a more elite school.

            This transmission of cultural capital to Ann and other migrant parents over the years occurred outside of formal tutoring activities I provided to their children. Additionally, this counsel occurred without billing for this service. Rather, these discussions occurred with the parents as we discussed aspects of my tutoring services and outlined the tutoring plan. These discussions occurred as the parents often came to me with questions before or after their child’s tutoring session. Ann’s son did succeed at a lesser-status Beijing school and gained admission to a desirable university.

            Transmission of cultural capital about the competitive and sometimes corrupt admissions process required addressing the ethical ambiguity of this process. In conversations with another parent, R. Yang, another parent who moved to Beijing from a rural province, conversations focused more on the relationships that were necessary through guanxi before a corrupt practice, such as gift-giving for advantage (i.e., bribery), could be considered. R. Yang stated her belief that it would be more corrupt to engage in an act of bribery before a relationship was formed with the receiving party. The existence of a relationship could mitigate the unethical conduct. For example, R. Yang expressed a belief that giving something to a friend, who in this case would be a school official, would be less corrupt even if the purpose was to gain an advantage than giving a gift to a stranger for advantage.

1. Yang seemed to withhold information from me about whether she engaged in gift-giving. Her child did gain entry to one of the more elite public schools in Beijing. R. Yang discussed conversations that she had with other parents, school officials, teachers, and other private instructors about the norms and rules for admissions to high schools. She was interested in learning as much about the culture of the admissions process as possible in as short a time as possible, given that her daughter was already in middle school.

 Based on my observations and accounts from parents and colleagues, the most common form of guanxi in the admissions process occurred when parents established relationships with school officials after admission of an older child (relatively rare due to China’s one-child policy), a friend with an older child, or a family member with an older child. Gigi Cai, the parent of two of my clients, elicited conversations with me about how the guanxi cultural practices related to school admissions (Appendix K – Gigi Cai Parent Narrative Notes). She was specifically interested in any rules or norms related to legacy admissions (again, not a common practice because most parents had only one child). She asked me for information that I might have, and I conducted some fact-finding with some of my school sources that affirmed a legacy norm in admissions though not a formal policy. Norms in these circumstances provided the younger sibling(s) of the first child from the family a substantial advantage to gain admission themselves. Parents established relationships with school officials, and a type of legacy admissions system evolved, similar to the same admissions practice in higher education in the United States for the children of alumni. A couple of years later, after her second child was admitted, Gigi affirmed her belief that a legacy norm was responsible for her younger child’s admission, since that child had lower grades than the older child.

The more common manifestations of guanxi in the admissions process culture was for parents of children in desirable schools to recommend or vouch for the children of their friends or relatives. Another client, J. Huang, a rural parent whose one child was a client from elementary through high school years, was certainly familiar with the guanxi tradition in her society, but she was less familiar with the specific methods of guanxi in the admissions process culture of Beijing high schools (Appendix D – J. Huang Parent Narrative Notes). I advised her of the important role of relationships between parents that were formed in elementary school. These relationships could be importance sources of information about how to pursue admissions. I told J. Huang of my observations that parents of older children reported information back to parents of younger children about admissions practices. More importantly, I told J. Huang of my observations that parents who did gain admissions to desirable schools provided references to school officials for their friends seeking admission.

When she learned of the role of friends and family members providing recommendations to school officials, J. Huang immediately began cultivating relationships with acquaintances who preceded her in migrating to Beijing and had enrolled their children in quality high schools (not the elite schools but schools that I told J. Huang were good enough to prepare her son for the national examination). J. Huang then proceeded to gain additional cultural capital from these relationships in the guanxi, including referrals to specific schools, identities of administration personnel to contact, and approval to use the names of acquaintances whose children were students at those schools in her communications with administration personnel. I observed J. Huang become increasingly more confident about her son’s chances for admissions to a quality school as her knowledge of the admissions process expanded. Her son was admitted to the school that J. Huang targeted at least at the beginning of middle school as the most desirable high school.

Transmission of Cultural Capital to Students

My transmission of cultural capital to middle school migrant children focused on the specific behavioral knowledge and skills required for the high school entrance examination and the admissions process. Migrant children face a significant linguistic and social disadvantage as their mannerisms, dialect, accent, and even physical appearance (notably clothing) are distinguishable from urban elites and used to justify stereotypes and social discrimination.[1] One of my students, who took the English name Barney, required extensive assistance in learning interviewing skills that are embedded with culturally-distinct features of urban China. (Interviews with student applicants are common admissions practices for many competitive Beijing high schools). Barney, whether as a result of personality or cultural factors, required instruction in how to present himself nonverbally, including proper eye contact and body posture, and in how to formulate coherent and detailed verbal responses to interview questions. He also required instruction that produced a greater understanding of why certain questions unrelated to academics were asked.

By the end of our three-month class, Barney’s speech and presentation skills had changed dramatically, prompting his mother to tell me proudly that she did not recognize her son from the migrant boy who came to Beijing just a year earlier. While this comment prompted some concern from me for its implication of social stratification in China, I knew that Barney’s mother considered the transformation as a distinct advantage for her son. Barney is just one example of many of my students who received cultural capital transmission to prepare for interviews. This transmission was part of the formal and billed tutoring services focused on preparation for the high school admissions process.

By providing Barney and other students with cultural capital related to improving their personal presentation skills, I also provided the ancillary benefit of empowerment. Many of my students, including Barney, concluded their instruction in oral presentation skills with greater confidence about their ability to navigate this aspect of the admissions process. Barney told me he felt more confident about interacting with his urban peers as a result of this module. He told me that his greater confidence in the social environment and interpersonal relations would translate into improved academic performance as his mood transitioned from anxiety to confidence.

Indeed, transmission of cultural capital to migrant students also needed to focus on acquisition of emotional capital, particularly self-esteem. Many migrant children seeking admission to a Beijing high school suffered from a lack of confidence, cognizant of their lower social status in the eyes of their urban peers. Most of my migrant students suffered from low self-esteem, not so much academically as in their social status and linguistic competencies.

A letter from Michele Kuo reflects the psychosocial challenges faced by students from rural areas (Appendix M – Michelle Letter). Michele’s motivation for writing the letter was to address a recent absence and her relatively low performance compared to the other students in the class. She realized their previous English instruction was in Beijing and was far superior to what she received in her rural town. “In my hometown our English class do [sic] not attach great importance to the spoken language, so I do not spent [sic] much time practicing my oral and my vocabulary is seldom” (Appendix M – Michelle Letter, 2025, p. 1). In an even more despondent section, Michele expressed her social difficulties. “I have a very large gap with people. I am the frog living in the bottom” (Appendix M – Michelle Letter, 2025, p. 1). She expressed the assimilation difficulties moving from a small rural town to Beijing, concluding that “I think my hometown is very fit for me. So I do not know how broad is the outside world when I first came to Beijing” (Appendix M – Michelle Letter, 2025, p. 1). Michele states her belief that she comes to class prepared but makes mistakes in oral exchanges in front of the classroom because of her anxiety.

The letter indicates the role of the English language instructor in providing a combination of informal counseling and practical tips on how to manage cultural adjustment. Michele refers to discussions she had with me after class when I asked her about her difficulties of cultural assimilation and appeared to be cognizant of the possibility of her dropping out and returning to her hometown. She refers to feeling empowered by these conversations to continue with her studies despite her demoralization. She also refers to adaptations I made in formal instruction to account for her development stage, noting a time when I allowed her to deviate from the norm in partner exchanges (this was a common problem for rural students who rarely engaged in conversational practices before Beijing). She also refers to my counsel in setting SMART goals for her academic and career plans, which was quite common for elite Beijing students but was not common for migrant students.

Many other student clients experienced the culture shock expressed by Michele in her letter. These students often asked questions about physical appearance, classroom decorum, socialization practices, and academic requirements that were new to them compared to their rural culture. One of these students, who preferred the nickname, Dre, received instruction for five months as a supplement to his high school English class (Appendix O – Dre Narrative Notes). His parents sought my services because of his poor performance, but I soon realized Dre’s academic problems were exacerbated by his difficulties with assimilation. While he was familiar with imported American cultural products, such as hip hop, he lacked familiarity with the cultural features of the social and academic environment in an upper-class Beijing high school.

Dre’s greatest challenge was to adopt the proactive rather than passive approach to classroom decorum in his high school. This cultural trait reflected what many of my Chinese colleagues noted was a cultural shift in the educational environment in China, which was more directive and based on the lecture format. Moreover, the specific requirements of language instruction in the classroom, which required oral participation, presented a combination of an academic, psychological, and social shock to most rural students. Likewise, Josh, a 14-year-old freshman whose parents feared he would fail his high school English, expressed difficulties adjusting to the new social and academic conditions at his new school. He also showed a passive approach to learning, such as a reluctance to participate in oral instruction, which he believed was voluntary rather than mandatory.

Similarly, Daniel, a 13-year-old whose parents enrolled him for English instruction, expressed shock that he was placed into a rudimentary English class rather than the higher-level English class. He was at the top of his class in English at his rural school, which he told me did not require much oral instruction. The assessment standards were also obviously low as Daniel’s written and spoken competencies were lower than those of urban students who had been learning English since Grade 3 as required by the state. I taught Daniel how he could change his behaviors in the classroom to improve his competency, and I taught him the importance of peer learning by modeling behaviors on the top performers in the class, which was foreign to him because he was the top performer at his rural school.

Over time, students such as Josh, Daniel, and Dre became more confident as they learned the behavioral rules and norms for learning in the Beijing classroom. While I imparted instruction about these rules and norms, I also advised them to observe the behaviors of their peers, and I encouraged them to make friends with those students who they admired for their social and academic traits. This confluence between language performance and social status was quite pronounced among many of my migrant clients. One student, Athena, 14 years, often discussed the difficulties of social assimilation with the girls in the classroom and her relatively poor English skills (Appendix J – Athena Huang Narrative Notes). Once she realized that she was actually a poor English speaker, a shock given that she was considered a top performer at her rural school, Athena felt that she lost status and had difficulties making friends. My role was to provide Athena with the behavioral instruction, including assertiveness.

This confluence of social and linguistic assimilation required advising rural migrant students to pursue what was to them a new, informal, student-directed academic activity: the study group. I observed the formation of study groups among some of the students I taught at the class-level of instruction, and I recognized the benefit of study groups for my private clients. Advising migrant students to pursue an English study group required consideration for their self-esteem and social assimilation challenges. One of my clients, Kevin, 14 years, was one of the few who seemed to know that his rural school had failed to provide him with quality English instruction (Appendix L – Kevin Cai Narrative Notes). He was relatively well adjusted psychosocially, and he showed a more proactive willingness, perhaps due to his personality traits of extroversion. After I told him about the informal practice of student-led study groups, he formed one on his own and showed considerable improvement in social and linguistic performance.          

Long-Term Development of Cultural Capital

            While most of my clients received instruction for a period of months, other clients received long-term assistance, in some cases years of instruction from middle school into high school and from high school into higher education. These students provided evidence of the impact of long-term exposure to cultural capital. They developed cultural capital as they applied what they learned from me, their school teachers, and their peers.

            What they demonstrated was a significant reduction in their uncertainty and anxiety about their existing and new cultural environments. They showed improvements in their confidence and self-directed behaviors related to career and academic planning. They engaged in self-directed academic activities, whether student leadership, extracurricular activities, or study groups. They navigated the cultural environment of Beijing schooling and academic preparation to gain advantages as they prepared for university.

Recognizing the benefits of cultural immersion in both language and cultural learning, I organized cultural exchange visits for my older Chinese students. We partnered with the University of California at Berkeley and San Diego, Stanford University, and Cal Poly for a 31-day tour. This included attending engineering and business classes with U.S. students and numerous cultural events (musical concerts, sports events, cultural walking tours of cities and neighborhoods, a ride along with law enforcement). My observations of the long-term development of cultural capital occurred as some of my migrant clients enrolled in my American academy.

            A letter from one client, Dixie, after a visit to the United States illustrates this transition from an anxious migrant student to a confident prospective international student (Appendix H – Email from Dixie). The letter was addressed to myself and her peers who attended the trip and were CC’ed. Without citing the benefit of cultural immersion, she expressed the benefits of cultural immersion. “The trip kind of change [sic] one or more or less member's life in our team. And it also change [sic] our attitude and view to the people, to the world, especially to ourselves” (Appendix H – Email from Dixie, 2025, p. 1).

I observed both similarity and differences between the rural-to-urban cultural shock that Dixie and many of my other students experienced when they first came to Beijing and the China-to-America cultural shock that they experienced on these trips. In both instances, my students experienced anxiety as a result of uncertainty about what the new cultural environment would present. As they became more accustomed to the new culture, their anxiety reduced as they realized they were capable of navigating this new environment. Dixie presented an openness to experiencing new cultures that she envisioned as she would begin her U.S. education, and this excited her, while when she arrived in Beijing she expressed anxiety and demoralization about her social, academic, and linguistic abilities. “In the end, I will say that Five years is a deal, and something new will happen and change, but that promise will not change. Good luck for you, Enjoy your life, guys! You are not walking alone” (Appendix H – Email from Dixie, 2024, p. 1).

            I also observed how students applied the cultural capital skills they developed to adapt to Beijing’s academic and social environment to adapt to the new culture presented in their travels and education abroad. Mike and Jack, both long-term clients, presented as clients who were shy, withdrawn, and insecure about their language, academic, and social competencies (Appendix P – Mike Narrative Notes; Appendix Q – Jack Narrative Notes. By their college prep years, they were student leaders, student athletes, and had achieved language and academic gains to support their attempts to apply to an American university. Mike was successful in his application, and Jack settled on a Chinese university.

            Thus, the cultural capital transmitted to help newly arrived migrant students overcome psychosocial, linguistic, and academic challenges of middle school and high school produced long-term outcomes. Behaviors, skills, and thinking that students needed to learn when they were younger became imbedded in how they talked, displayed nonverbal cues, formed and managed relationships, studied, and developed heuristics about their identity, life goals, and strategies to achieve them. This cultural capital transitioned from exogenous objects of learning to endogenous knowledge, skills, and behaviors.

            In Chapter 5 – Discussion, these results are used to propose a novel theme of Production Cycle of Habitus for migrant students and parents in Beijing. The cycle contains four sequential stages. The cycle and these stages are presented and then integrated with the literature findings on cultural capital, specifically habitus and field.

Appendix A – Notes on Academic, Personal, and Professional Experience

            My ability to transmit cultural capital for my students originated in my own experience learning cultural capital. My experience began when I arrived in Beijing in 2004 and embarked on my three-year degree journey at Peking University. Living with my academic advisor, Mr. Yang, I needed to relearn what it is required for a student in higher education in China due to the stark differences with what it is required for a student in America. Foremost was the emphasis on Chinese discipline, a set of behavioral rules for presenting the self, interacting with others, and performance. I also learned the specific social contexts in which cultural capital was demonstrated, including the family culture, student culture, language culture, food culture, and socialization culture. Each of these required a specific set of behaviors and communications bounded by rules and norms.

            I also learned the Chinese cultural value of filial piety. This concept is often misunderstood to set rules for behavior in family relationship. In fact, filial piety structures relationships in all facets of Chinese society, including the relationship between students and instructors. Filial piety requires much greater adherence to power distance, or a more top-down and formalized relationship structure, than many Americans expect. Indeed, many Americans misinterpret filial piety to be the subordination of the individual to another in power, but I learned that filial piety is about respecting those who deserve to have more authority because of their knowledge, skills, and experience.

            I also learned about the importance of developing and maintaining social networks necessary for my academic and later my professional advancement. I learned how guanxi, this culture of social networks in China, also contested American values and expectations, notably individualism and the myth of the meritocracy. I also saw how guanxicompared similarly to unstated social networks in America that are necessary for success but often downplayed to maintain the myth of individualistic meritocracy.

            Most of all, I learned during my formative years in China how to listen. The only way I could learn cultural capital from my Chinese colleagues was to listen and observe how they talked, behaved, and engaged with each other. I realized how these cultural traits of suzhi, guanxi, and filial piety required me to listen more than talk. An empowering humility emerged as I realized that learning cultural capital was part of a mentor-mentee relationship, or perhaps that of a guide leading a stranger through an unknown wilderness. Diminishing one’s own innate cultural assumptions and preferences requires humility, a trait that I would later admire in my students.

            After completion of my studies, I embarked on a career in the fledgling and rapidly growing English language industry in Beijing. Everywhere one walked throughout Beijing, signage for English language instruction and English language instructors abounded. Several large Western firms entered the market, recognizing the demand for Chinese of all ages to learn English for social, economic, and academic advantage. Chinese businesses were also in search of English-Mandarin speakers. However, the bulk of the demand came from the parents of K-12 students. Not only did they want quality English instruction for their children to give them an academic advantage, these parents wanted that instruction from native English speakers. Many parents would express to me their recognition of the need to teach their children the culture of the English-speaking world, notably America, as well as the language.

            My lessons in cultural capital learning continued in my first years in the English instruction industry in Beijing. Even though I held a management position, I was strongly advised not to associate with those in the higher management ranks. Such association would be perceived as a blatant and crude attempt at careerism. I was told to stay within my lane if I wanted to advance, a seemingly paradoxical yet surprisingly accurate bit of advice. Other cultural capital lessons appeared less productive for organizational efficiency and efficacy. I was told never to raise negative issues with upper management. I saw many problems simply ignored, resulting in losses of productivity.

            The importance of integrating language with cultural capital instruction was evident upon my entry to the foreign language industry in Beijing. One of Pearson’s marketing tactics to recruit students was to hold free language-culture workshops. We would develop scenarios in which language and cultural challenges converged. We would demonstrate how students could resolve the challenges with a combination of cultural and language learning. This tactic proved quite successful as we usually recruited about half of the attendees at the free workshop for paid lessons. The cultural element was essential at proving our value to students and parents. They knew that language difficulties played out in a cultural setting that required learning another set of rules.

            Cultural capital instruction became an important element in curricula development at the language companies. At Pearson LTD, the learning environment was designed to replicate an American learning environment. Ironically, many of the cultural capital values that I learned were so essential to succeed in a Chinese social environment were abandoned for an Americanized classroom environment where Chinese students would learn English and culture. The curricula also integrated cultural content, including popular entertainment. We would show clips of American movies or television shows to illustrate a language and/or cultural learning problem. An entire generation of Chinese students in the 2000s and 2010s spent hours watching Friends and films such as The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Language and cultural analysis also focused on musical culture, such as the lyrics of the performers that many Chinese youth admired but had no idea what they were singing or rapping. Our cultural capital instruction also focused on smaller social units, such as the American family. We would teach cultural norms about regional variations in family vacation preferences and habits. We integrated every aspect of American culture into our curricula – fashion, professional sports, food, the performing arts, and numerous other subcultures. At Pearson, demand meant that our classes ran from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m.

            These demonstrations of cultural capital related to more than just presenting cultural content in the form of television shows, literature, and film. This cultural content was meant to illustrate behavioral and language norms that Chinese students should consider. These norms are facilitators toward effective communication at the level of clarity and persuasiveness. They are also essential to the formation of relationships and identities that establish trust and credibility among all parties.

            My first formal class was for 222 students at Beijing Aeronautics and Astronautics University who were in a new international studies department. The department was established to prepare students for employment in Chinese companies with international operations. All but one of the students was from outside Beijing, mostly smaller cities where their parents ran small businesses or worked in government. The curriculum emphasized language and cultural learning to solve problems that might arise in the business setting. I taught U.S. business standards and practices, crisis management, negotiations, and communications. Central to my pedagogical approach was the use of role playing, a method central to the Pearson approach. I introduced foreign guest speakers to the classroom where they participated in real-time role playing with the students. I used historical case studies to impart cultural values, such as the workplace team culture in America, which is not common in China. For example, I used Steven Jobs’ and Apple’s development of team culture to illustrate this important aspect of workplace culture in the United States. Every Friday night was movie night. I showed an American film to illustrate a topic from the previous module of both language and culture.

            Learning the ethnic/cultural diversity of America was essential to the curriculum. Cultural capital in America might be considered something established by a white or Anglo mainstream culture. Yet the diversity of America means that Chinese students need to prepare for subculture deviance from the mainstream. The Lesson Plan for the World Cultures Class focused on Mexican culture. This began with the playing of Mexican music and continued with instruction on key elements of Mexican culture. The goal was to introduce the students to the reality of ethnic/cultural diversity in the United States. Mexican culture offers an opportunity to further introduce the interplay of indigenous and European cultures. This lesson plan also used the opportunity for cultural learning to teach key events in New World and U.S. history. Other lesson plans delved into other major ethnic groups in the United States, including German, Indian, Japanese, and African American. I also looked for cultural similarities between America and China, such as the cinematic and literature overlap in the works of science fiction and horror genres.

            Of course, my personal identity as an African American, most likely the only African American most of my students had ever met, also presented opportunities for learning about America’s diversity. Most of my students only knew African Americans through entertainment cultural artifacts, notably music and film. Since I did not talk, walk, or behave like the African Americans they knew from media representations, I offered a firsthand opportunity for my students to recognize how their stereotypes and assumptions about others in America failed to align with a much more complex reality of racial identity and representation. Likewise, by teaching them about Mexican culture, I prepared my students for the reality of ethnic diversity in America.

            Recognizing the benefits of cultural immersion in both language and cultural learning, I also organized cultural exchange visits for my Chinese students. We partnered with the University of California at Berkeley and San Diego, Stanford University, and Cal Poly for a 31-day tour. This included attending engineering and business classes with U.S. students and numerous cultural events (musical concerts, sports events, cultural walking tours of cities and neighborhoods, a ride along with law enforcement). Literally all of the students who attended this trip won jobs with large, multinational Chinese firms, thus attaining the objectives for themselves and their parents.

            By the end of the 2000s, a noticeable shift emerged in the demand for native English language instructors in Beijing. High schools, both public and private, began to hire native English speakers away from the language instruction companies. These schools saw the demand for English instruction among parents and decided that they needed to improve the quality to compete for student enrollment. I took a position with Chinese High School 101, a renowned Beijing city school that hired me to write curriculum, recruit teachers, and train teachers. I was among the first foreigners to ever teach at Chinese High School 101, but I was part of a larger influx of foreign teachers entering the Beijing school system. While Chinese High School 101 might have been public, it was still elite. Most of our parents were upper echelon government officials. These children were already fast-tracked for entry to China’s elite universities. Their parents wanted more. They wanted their children to compete for entry at an American or British university. To achieve that lofty goal, their children would need to master not only the English language but also cultural capital.

            At this point, I recognized a cultural capital deficit not just between Chinese students and American/English-speaking culture but between Chinese students/parents and elite Chinese educational culture. This deficit existed most strongly among the Chinese migrant parents and students who came to Beijing for occupational and academic opportunities. Despite claims of a class-free society, China is rigidly stratified by socioeconomic and geographical differences. Beijing elites enjoy much greater privileges not just because of their wealth but also because of their exclusive access to cultural capital and social networks. Migrants, particularly those from rural areas, must find ways to master this cultural capital and somehow gain access to the networks necessary for entry to and success in the best high schools in Beijing. Most of them fail, but many do succeed, and my role as a language instructor was to assist them as a cultural broker. I enjoyed limited success, but the fact is that most of my clients of elite status maintained an extraordinary advantage over my less elite clients in gaining access to the best schools in Beijing.

            In my private tutoring position, in addition to language instruction my secondary function was to identify those behaviors and performance metrics most esteemed by admissions officers at elite high schools. My goal was to prepare middle school students and high school students for admissions transfer to those schools. Beyond the obvious grades and test scores, students needed to achieve the following for a chance at entry to the elite schools:

• English proficiency
• Demonstrate ideal classroom demeanor (i.e., emotional decorum, respect for authority figures, obedience to rules and norms)
• Commitment to tutoring and self-study

Many migrant students came from schools with much less commitment to discipline and classroom management. They and their parents had to be reminded that deviation from behavioral norms was unacceptable. Cultural capital also required a renewed commitment to self-study and tutoring. Many students and parents were unaware that the highest-performing Chinese students are not necessarily the smartest. They are the hardest working. Toward imparting this cultural metric, I would often arrive unannounced at my clients’ homes in the evening to make sure they were studying. Parents, too, needed to learn this cultural metric as they often lacked direct experience with this academic norm in their educational careers, which might have ended at the secondary level.

            The fact was that most migrant students lacked the combination of finances, access to social networks, and cultural capital to gain entry to the best Beijing schools. Some succeeded because they were able to secure subsidies as a result of their exceptional intelligence and work ethic. These students also demonstrated an exceptional ability to comprehend and demonstrate cultural capital as they adopted new academic and social behaviors necessary for success in this new social environment in Beijing.

            Eventually, after starting a private tutoring business, my wealthier clients (the parents) requested a higher level of cultural immersion than I could provide in role playing or presentation of cultural artifacts. From approximately August 2012 to April 2013, my tutoring services included at least once a month visits to the United States with a small group of students and often their mothers. We visited cultural and historical sites referred to in the cultural component of the lesson plan but more importantly participated in real-life cultural activities that placed them into contact, conversationally and culturally, with Americans. These visits also coincided with requests from parents to help their children win admission to American private high schools. These parents realized the value of cultural immersion for their children if they were going to improve their English and prepare for the cultural demands of higher education.

            This preference for cultural immersion would eventually lead me to start two enterprises, Scott Instrument and Garfield Academy. Scott Instrument’s hallmark program was the Big Brothers Big Sisters student mentoring program. The program partnered younger high school or middle school students with older high school students with experience studying in the United States. The mentors would share their experiences about life in America with their mentees, thus transmitting cultural capital from student to student. Mentees in the program were able to learn firsthand the cultural challenges faced by their older peers, while the mentors benefitted from the greater awareness of those cultural challenges and how they could have done things better or performed optimally. Nearly all of the mentees in this program transitioned to study and live abroad in the United States after winning admission to a high school, college, or university. Certainly, other factors played a role, such as their grades, test scores, and family income, but these students reported to me a high level of cultural comfort in the United States due to their participation in the mentorship program.

            Perhaps it was predictable that my next enterprise would go a step further toward increased cultural immersion. At the encouragement of many of my current and former Chinese clients, I started Garfield Academy, a school for Chinese high school students in the United States. Their parents knew that complete cultural immersion was essential for the language and cultural development of their children. Parents knew that mastery of English and American cultural norms was essential for their children to gain advantage in the increasingly competitive admissions process for the best colleges and universities. Now my students had access to a fully immersive experience. They were taught by American instructors and housed with American families. They spent their leisure time immersed in American culture and lifestyle activities. Most importantly, they formed relationships with Americans that provided them with direct contact with language and cultural practices.

Appendix B – Ann Narrative Notes

            Ann Meng, procured tutoring services to help son gain entry to elite school in Beijing. Frustrated with low quality of schools outside of Beijing (rural province). Feared son would not pass the national examination without studying at a good school in Beijing. Said rural schools did not focus on college prep. Recognized need to start this process in middle school to improve her son’s academic performance.

            Ann stated her own need to learn the rules and norms for parents trying to get their kid into competitive schools. Expressed fear that she lacked this knowledge and access to social networks. Recognized that some of the norms were corrupt (red envelope).

            Ann sought information about quality of other schools other than those of elite status. I advised her of the cost and access advantage of pursuing a non-elite school, which have a premium greater than their quality in terms of preparing kids for the national exam. (I provided this not as a paid service but in informal conversations).

Appendix C – Letter from Michele

Unedited

Dear Mr. scott:

First I want to say you that I am very sorry that I was absent for ill last week .I have known that I made a very serious mistakes,

However in any case I should set a high value on my time to study English. Although you treated me very strictly, I fell you

are nice. For example, you allowed me to make a interview with my own partner, others changed their partners. I see you help me and hope I can speak out what I have prepared, you worried about I can not understand the other people said. After class you talked to me lot, when you asked me what are your plans and aim? I reflected a lot, in fact I maybe have forgetted my first goal. The day I think a lot of my school life, Two year ago I never thought to come to Beijing and one day I will work and even life .I also never travel to other places and I think my hometown is very fit for me. So I do not know how broad is the outside world, last term when I first came to Beijing and study in Beijing aerospace university, I found many excellent people around me and it is my first time to see so many Foreigners. I often do not understand what they said. I found slowly I have  A very large gap with people. I am the frog living in the bottom.

Especially in the Oral class, many students speak very fluently

But me…In my hometown our English class do not attach great importance to the spoken language, so I do not spent much time  practicing my oral and my vocabulary is seldom I always can't convey my meaning. So when we have class I will very  nervous, I do not have the courage to see your eyes. so my p performance is getting worse. In fact under class I am very carefully prepared but in class I always make mistakes. Today I am very thank for scott talking to me. You are the first people that said to me to think over my life. I will remember your words and study hard English. I know my English level is very  poor ,maybe my way of learning have problems, maybe I am not very hard, I hope scott can give me some proposal I will thank you a lot. I also know now I do not have the abilities to find a job, maybe not the related sap ,but I will try my best to stay here, for love for me. 

I know that it is dull to read my letter, I also you can give me a litter time to read it, it is my really think. Thank you give me the opportunity to express my mind and listen to me, at last I wish you have a good dream!

Sincerely yours

Michele 

Appendix D – J Huang Parent Narrative Notes

1. Huang, parent of child I tutored from elementary through high school. Appeared in two years of journal entries. Most of references early talked about guanxi in the school admissions process. Talked about the importance of referrals from parents whose kids gained entry. I observed relationships formed by parents in elementary school, including those formed by J. Huang with mothers of older children. Those with older children who gained entry to desirable schools then were sought as references for parents of younger children in their admissions attempts. J. Huang began cultivating these relationships and sought referrals. This solved the problem of the one-child policy that left legacy admissions a rare opportunity exclusive to multi-child families.

Appendix E – Josh Zuo Narrative Notes

Zuo; Josh / male /  14yrs

            Required English instruction to improve English school for the high school courses. Expressed difficulties adjusting to the social conditions at his school. Showed a passive approach to learning. Lacked knowledge of the importance of setting goals. Needed to learn the higher learning curve represented by more rigorous standards of urban versus rural schools. Expressed more confidence of time as the culture shock was muted and he became more socially and academically integrated. Also reported learning and modeling behaviors from his urban peers, particularly study groups.

Appendix F – R. Yang Parent Narrative Notes

1. Yang, mother, came to Beijing from rural province. Journal entry discussed what constitutes a corrupt act, such as bribing a school official to gain admission. Most remarkable part of that discussion was the belief by R. Yang that the act would be less corrupt if the parent already had a relationship with the receiving party. In that case, the bribe would be more like a gift. However, if there was no relationship, simply offering a gift would be considered a corrupt act.

            This shows the ambiguity of guanxi and gift-giving in school admissions. Ethical continuum. On one end, it is slightly unethical to give a gift (note the difference in terminology) to a friend to gain an advantage. On the other end, it is very unethical to bribe a stranger to gain an advantage.

            Withheld information about whether she engaged in gift giving. Implied that she would be willing to do so.

            Her kid did gain entry to a more elite school.

Appendix G – Daniel Chen Narrative

Chen; Daniel male / 13yrs

Parents enrolled him to prepare for high school admission. Needed instruction in English, but they also inquired about the rules and norms for the admissions process for the best schools. Daniel spoke in broken English, and his writing showed lack of knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. He said he received A’s in his English classes in his rural schools. Was shocked that he was being graded poorly in his intake assessment, placed in a rudimentary English class rather than a higher level class. Provided psychosocial and behavioral instruction in addition to English instruction.

Appendix H – Email from Dixie

(Copied and unedited from email, July 31, 2011)

Hello, Mr Scott and everyone here.

Back to China it is more than one week. When I look back on the things we did share in USA, I realize that it is so amazing that we all will not forget. Maybe The trip kind of change one or more or less member's life in our team. And it also change our attitude and view to the people, to the world, especially to ourselves. I will remember the days we shared in USA. And I want to thank you for sharing the time with me. Especilly I want to thank Mr. Scott for anything in USA. Without you, Nothing will happen. I must tell you that this trip change us and give us

the opportunity to learn something that will help us in our lifetime. In the end, I will say that Five years is a deal, and something new will happen and change, but that promise will

not change.

Good luck for you, Enjoy your life, guys! You are not walking alone.

Yours

Dixie

July 31th,2011.

Appendix I – Ann Meng Parent Narrative Notes

Meng; English name; Ann /female / 58yrs. 

Sought services to help her son improve his academics to compete for access to one of Beijing’s elite high schools. Understood the higher academic demands of an urban versus rural education. Frustration with the low quality of education in rural schools. Son could never pass the national examination if he stayed at a rural school. Did not realize that improving the child’s academic performance was just the beginning. Also needed to learn the complex ruthless rules for parents who played an instrumental role in working the admissions process for their child’s benefit. E.g., the hongbao, or red envelope, the color of which indicated the contents – cash. Other gifts to school officials included consumer items or in some cases even luxury vehicles.

            Ann’s son met the highest academic standards for admission to an elite school. Ann expressed a desire to seek admission to some of the most elite schools in Beijing, Advised Ann that entry to other high schools would provide her son with a better chance of admissions than competing for entry to a more elite school.

            This transmission of cultural capital to Ann occurred outside of formal tutoring activities.

Appendix J – Athena Huang Narrative Notes

Huang; Athena / female / 14 yrs

            Required English assistance to improve her competencies relative to what was expected for her grade level. Like others from rural areas she showed far less competency than someone who had apparently been learning English for several years (grade 3 as required by the state). She expressed frustration with the lower status that she held after arriving in China. She showed a lackadaisical approach to oral instruction and asserting herself in the classroom. She showed a confluence between social status and language performance. Spent a lot of time focusing on assertiveness in the classroom during oral instruction. Also told her (like some of the boys I tutored) to make friends with those who were top performers.

Appendix K – Gigi Cai Parent Narrative Notes

            Parent of middle school client. Gigi is Anglo name. Journal notes show that we discussed the guanxi system and its relationship to gaining access to elite public schools or at least quality public schools that were competitive in their admissions. Gigi had two children and she hoped to gain legacy admissions for her younger child if her older child could gain admission. She asked about legacy admissions policies and practices (rules versus norms). I conducted research on this and provided that information from my school sources. Gigi’s children were admitted to good public school, and she told me that the younger child had lower grades than the older child, which indicated to her a legacy admission.

[1] Liu, Inequality in Public School Admission in Urban China

Appendix L – Kevin Cai Narrative Notes

Cai Kevin / male / 14yrs

            Parents enrolled to improve his English performance in preparation for high school classes. Migrated in middle school two years earlier. Had been a top performer, according to mother, though Kevin acknowledged that he could not really understand English when spoken by native speakers (such as American film and television shows). Seemed to know that his English education was pretty weak. Advised him to join study groups with higher performing students. He took advice and showed significant improvement in English skills. Also showed greater confidence and satisfaction with his social environment.

Appendix M – Barney Narrative Notes

Barney required instruction in how to present himself nonverbally. This involved proper eye contact and body posture and how to formulate verbal responses to interview questions. He also required instruction that improved his understanding of why certain questions unrelated to academics were asked.

Taught him for three months. By the end of our three-month class, Barney’s speech and presentation skills had improved. His mother told me proudly that she did not recognize her son from the migrant boy who came to Beijing just a year earlier. (Identify why this comment prompted some concern from me for its implication of social stratification in China).

 Barney’s mother considered the transformation providing an advantage for her son.

Also note that this tutoring was part of the billed tutoring services focused on preparation for the high school admissions process.

Appendix N – Michelle Letter

Unedited and copied from email.

Dear Mr. scott:

First I want to say you that I am very sorry that I was absent for ill last week .I have known that I made a very serious mistakes, However in any case I should set a high value on my time to study English. Although you treated me very strictly, I fell you are nice. For example, you allowed me to make a interview with my own partner, others changed their partners. I see you help me and hope I can speak out what I have prepared, you worried about I can not understand the other people said. After class you talked to me lot, when you asked me what are your plans and aim? I reflected a lot, in fact I maybe have forgetted my first goal. The day I think a lot of my school life, Two year ago I never thought to come to Beijing and one day I will work and even life .I also never travel to other places and I think my hometown is very fit for me. So I do not know how broad is the outside world when I first came to Beijing and study in Beijing aerospace university, I found many excellent people around me and it is my first time to see so many Foreigners. I often do not understand what they said. I found slowly I have a very large gap with people. I am the frog living in the bottom. Especially in the Oral class, many students speak very fluently.

But me…In my hometown our English class do not attach great importance to the spoken language, so I do not spent much time  practicing my oral and my vocabulary is seldom I always can't convey my meaning. So when we have class I will very  nervous, I do not have the courage to see your eyes. so my p performance is getting worse. In fact under class I am very carefully prepared but in class I always make mistakes. Today I am very thank for scott talking to me. You are the first people that said to me to think over my life. I will remember your words and study hard English. I know my English level is very  poor ,maybe my way of learning have problems, maybe I am not very hard, I hope scott can give me some proposal I will thank you a lot. I also know now I do not have the abilities to find a job, maybe not the related sap ,but I will try my best to stay here, for love for me. 

I know that it is dull to read my letter, I also you can give me a litter time to read it, it is my really think. Thank you give me the opportunity to express my mind and listen to me, at last I wish you have a good dream!

Sincerely yours

Michele 

Appendix O – Dre Narrative Notes

High school student. Parents enrolled for five months of instruction in 2010 for English instruction because of his deficient performance in his high school English class. Dre expressed frustration with the culture of English learning that was different than his rural school. He had been the best performer but assessment and pedagogy were much lower standards. No oral instruction in the classroom, and broken English was uncorrected in written assessments (this was very common and still is in China). Similar to Josh’s situation. Needed to learn proper decorum in the classroom from passive to active approach. Needed to learn and model behaviors of peers. Referred for study groups for both social and linguistic benefits.

Appendix P – Mike Narrative Notes

Mike; Mike <lmz246315@163.com>; 2.5 year class (Oct. 2010-May 2013)/ t

Tutored and coached during final High School year at 101 High School, Beijing/ Monitored and natured first 2 years of U.S. High School/ Coached and mentored his basketball training/ Arranged his U.S. university track. Participated in visits to the United States for cultural immersion and to visit schools. This relates to observations of the development of cultural capital over time (the long-term section?). Students who at first showed low levels of competency linguistically and psychosocially, and in academics, developed both academic and CC knowledge and skills. Presentation, demeanor, and reduction in anxiety/uncertainty about cultural differences/settings.

Appendix Q – Jack Narrative Notes

Jack; lls_728 <lls_728@163.com>; / 2 year class (Dec. 2010-Dec.2012)/ same agenda and curriculum as “Mike” Jack received both language and college prep instruction. Participated in American visits for cultural immersion and to visit schools. Showed major progress over the two years as he transitioned from English deficient to nearly English fluent. Changes in his demeanor and presentation. Adoption of academic behaviors outside the classroom, including setting goals, participating in study groups, and engaging in self-directed activities that were reported, such as student leadership. Become more empowered rather than subordinate to his parents direction about school and major choices.