From no child left behind to left behind children? Implications of schooling and pedagogy with Chinese Americans for Chinese diasporic communities

While the US and mainland China are recognized as economic superpowers in popular discourse, both are also heavily critiqued for institutionalized inequities (e.g. healthcare, human rights). Inequities are also prevalent in education, spanning the wake of the US’s much-assailed No Child Left Behind national policy (2001), to China’s millions of ‘Left-Behind Children’ in rural areas. Utilizing a framework of critical theory and ethnic studies, this paper examines issues of equity for students and teachers of the Chinese diaspora in the US educational system, particularly those from low-income backgrounds. This paper more closely considers the diverse range of US Chinese communities including multi-generational residents, Southeast Asian refugees, ‘mixed-race’ families, and recent highly-privileged masses from Greater China. In addressing such diversity against dominant essentializing tropes of research, policy, and pedagogy, this paper draws implications for mobilizing ethnic studies and education work to further address inequities around North America and the Pacific. Copyright © 2017 Canadian Ethnic Studies Association.