The cultural importance of education

A friend of mine just pointed out this very interesting article called Understanding Asian Parents, in which the case is made that if you come from a place where education is directly and dramatically, obviously important to your health and well-being, you'll take it so seriously that you'll confuse and even alienate your American-born children, who don't see the importance of education in such stark terms.

I think it's a great read (albeit with some strong language) not only for people who find themselves trying to bridge a cultural gap with their parents (or with their teenaged children), but also for anyone interested in learning a little more about how culture informs education, and therefore why education can be so difficult to wrap our heads around in America, where a large part of the culture is by its nature a grand patchwork of backgrounds and perspectives.