Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia

Since the pre-independence era, the Malaysian schooling system has remained ethnicized by two cultural boundaries: language and religion. To explain this situation, this article focuses on how these ethnic boundaries work within Malay and Chinese parents’ decisions for National and National Type of...

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Main Author:	Khauthar Ismail
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13248/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13248/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13248/1/25460-89912-1-PB.pdf

id	ukm-13248
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-132482019-08-08T20:58:02Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13248/ Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia Khauthar Ismail, Since the pre-independence era, the Malaysian schooling system has remained ethnicized by two cultural boundaries: language and religion. To explain this situation, this article focuses on how these ethnic boundaries work within Malay and Chinese parents’ decisions for National and National Type of Schools, respectively. Thirty Malaysian Malays and 25 Chinese students born between the 1970s and the 1990s were interviewed in this research. The data showed that the majority of them had been enrolled in a primary and secondary school which could be associated with their ethnic identity. Analysis of the findings also suggested that despite the importance of future career planning, regionality and family socioeconomic background in the choice of schooling, it was the language and religious factors which had determined their parents’ final decision. It also suggested that a schooling pattern based on the factors of language and religion has been sustainably maintained for three decades. The parental decision was not a simple action as it is also related to the ‘everyday’ understanding of what kind of school is appropriate to a particular ethnic group. The results of this study offer a theoretical explanation of ethnicity in everyday life from the constructivist perspective. This study also highlights how ethnic boundaries are the end-product of a social process rather than a taken-for-granted, natural and primordial fact of life ascribed through birth. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018-11 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13248/1/25460-89912-1-PB.pdf Khauthar Ismail, (2018) Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia. Geografia : Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 14 (4). pp. 1-12. ISSN 2180-2491 http://ejournals.ukm.my/gmjss/issue/view/1144
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	Since the pre-independence era, the Malaysian schooling system has remained ethnicized by two cultural boundaries: language and religion. To explain this situation, this article focuses on how these ethnic boundaries work within Malay and Chinese parents’ decisions for National and National Type of Schools, respectively. Thirty Malaysian Malays and 25 Chinese students born between the 1970s and the 1990s were interviewed in this research. The data showed that the majority of them had been enrolled in a primary and secondary school which could be associated with their ethnic identity. Analysis of the findings also suggested that despite the importance of future career planning, regionality and family socioeconomic background in the choice of schooling, it was the language and religious factors which had determined their parents’ final decision. It also suggested that a schooling pattern based on the factors of language and religion has been sustainably maintained for three decades. The parental decision was not a simple action as it is also related to the ‘everyday’ understanding of what kind of school is appropriate to a particular ethnic group. The results of this study offer a theoretical explanation of ethnicity in everyday life from the constructivist perspective. This study also highlights how ethnic boundaries are the end-product of a social process rather than a taken-for-granted, natural and primordial fact of life ascribed through birth.
format	Article
author	Khauthar Ismail,
spellingShingle	Khauthar Ismail, Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia
author_facet	Khauthar Ismail,
author_sort	Khauthar Ismail,
title	Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia
title_short	Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia
title_full	Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia
title_fullStr	Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed	Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia
title_sort	ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of malay and chinese parental choice of national and national type school in peninsular malaysia
publisher	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate	2018
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13248/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13248/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13248/1/25460-89912-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:04:26Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:04:26Z
_version_	1777407063442325504

Ethnic boundaries and everyday understanding: the case of Malay and Chinese parental choice of National and National Type School in Peninsular Malaysia

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