| This study revisits Yuka Nakamura's (2004) Master's thesis, "Finding a Way, Finding the Self: The Journeys of Nine Physical Education Students Pursuing 'Non-Traditional' Paths." Semi-structured interviews were conducted with kinesiology students of self-identified "East Asian" descent. Stereotypical perceptions from peers and family members about the participants' program are still commonplace in contrast to "realities." According to participants, their parents did not see an inverse relationship between academic achievement and involvement in sport, and some parents served as the initial catalyst for their children's sport participation. While many family members accepted the participants' career paths, some parents had begun to second-guess the program quality if the participants' peers in other programmes appear to have achieved more immediate success in more traditional programmes of study. Overall, a number of results from this study are similar to Nakamura's (2004) findings despite the contextual changes in the faculty name and its demographic patterns. |
