Education, Upbringing

Abstract

American cultural anthropologists like Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961) and Mead (1953), together with scholars of Hispanic background such as Diaz-Royo (1974) and Landy (1959), agree about several important differences between the U.S. and Hispanic approaches to education and upbringing. Some of these variations come from different philosophies and principles about children and childrearing. The American view stresses the autonomous individuality of the child and regards upbringing as a process of promoting physical and intellectual development, being careful to avoid interfering with the individuality of the child or imposing constraints and restrictions which would affect his or her autonomy. The dominant Hispanic view of the child is that of a person in the process of development and limited in his or her capability to make independent decisions. Upbringing involves the use of external influences and discipline to shape the child into a mature human being to fit the norms and expectations of the community. This approach places a strong emphasis on upbringing as a process of inculcating ethical norms, social values, etc. While these divergent philosophies are broadly discussed in the literature, it remains uncertain how they affect personality development and to what extent they are applicable to our present U.S. and Mexican comparison.