(File photo by Flickr user Nate McBean via Creative Commons license)
Asian-Americans are the highest-earning and fastest-growing racial group in the United States.
They’re also the best educated, as new numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau demonstrate. More than half of Asians in the United States, 54 percent, have at least a bachelor’s degree. That’s up from 38 percent in 1995. It’s an impressive number, especially when compared to the 33 percent college-graduation rate for the total U.S. population.
The Census Bureau also found that higher-education rates for native-born Asian-Americans are the same as their foreign-born counterparts.
Experts say this impressive rate of educational achievement has a lot to do with a U.S. immigration policy that favors the applications of highly-educated immigrants from Asian countries.
“Since 1965, some Asian-American immigrants have come to the U.S. under certain immigration preference categories that favor professional skills and training,” Eliza Noh, an associate professor at California State University, Fullerton, said in an email. “Those groups tend to already have educational training and economic resources, which they invest in their children’s education. Their access to social and economic capital is what fuels academic achievement.”
Asian-Americans — immigrants and their descendants who come from the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent — account for about 6 percent of the U.S. population. Six groups make up the majority of this population, including people of Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese origin.
These highly-educated immigrants build so-called “ethnic capital“, which results in programs such as tutoring and college-prep courses that build their children’s academic achievement.
“Besides being able to spend more money on their children’s curricular and extra-curricular activities, such as tutoring and academic clubs,” Noh said, “middle-class parents can pass on their knowledge of how to be successful in academia, such as study skills, professional networking, and navigating educational institutions.”
And if Asian-Americans push their children to excel, there are practical reasons behind it, according to Noh.
“If Asian-American parents emphasize education, it has more to do with their perception that education can help them overcome existing barriers in the labor market,” she said. “They know they cannot rely on just their hard work and experience and ‘who they know’ in order to move up the ladder.”
These kinds of statistics have resulted in Asian-Americans being dubbed the “model minority”. Lumping all Asian-Americans into one group contributes to the stereotype that all Asian-Americans are highly educated.
A 2010 report focusing on Asians in California — a state with the highest U.S. Asian population outside of Hawaii — found that expectation to be false. In California, for example, 45 percent of Hmong, 40 percent of Cambodians and Laotians, and one-fifth of Fijians had less than a high school education. The report also found that 20 percent of Pacific Islanders in the state eventually drop out of high school.
The model minority myth — the stereotypical expectation that Asian-American students will excel at school and on the job — is taking its toll.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death — behind unintentional injuries such as car accidents — among Asian-American women between the ages of 15 and 24. The highest female suicide rates, across all ethnic groups, occur among Asian-American women between the ages of 15 and 25 and those over 65. So-called “model minority” expectations and family pressure are often cited as factors contributing to the suicides.
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Like Jewish Americans, we know that having a good education is the way to move ahead in the New World. Welcome to America.
There are some glaring misrepresentations in this article. First the majority of that “Asian” with bachelors degrees that are American via birth or legal immigration are Indians. So when you post an article Asian and have oriental faces (no disrespect intended), you paint a misleading picture. The majority of Asian Orientals in higher education are foreign nationals attending US Schools. Secondly, many Asian Indians that came in the 2nd wave (80’s-90’s) were business people that opened businesses -their children have gone to school and excelled-not all were highly skilled tech people. What the bottom line is the Indians that came were highly skilled and their children have done well, but the children of less skilled and poorer Indians have also done well.
We’ll if you have a college degree, you know for certain that “Asians” includes Chinese, Indians, Koreans, Malaysians, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Pakistani and the list goes on and on.
Perhaps we should all wear kilts and be comfortable.
They’re Asian. “Oriental” is used to describe products being imported, not people. Welcome to the year 2016
“It’s alright with me”
This is a common mistake but only English language purists get riled when common English term is misspelled. Personally it doesn’t bother me. It might be a good idea to inform that the term “alright” does not appear in the English dictionary.
Stop discrimination is the way for everyone having an equal opportunity to move ahead in the New World.
I disagree. Much discrimination is brought on by attitude. When a person is disruptive and not willing to follow the rules, they will be treated accordingly.
High achievers are discriminated against in the US. Asians will be the next “whites” to be told they are racists.
yup
Not all that impressed, it is more of a class issue than cultural. Most of the Asians coming over to American and can afford the schooling have to have money. I have not been to China, but do know people that are from China and visit family. It’s not like everyone or even most of the Chinese are doing well. You really cannot compare Japan to almost any other country because they are isolationalist.
It’s also been my experience that no matter what the nationality, if they worked hard to get to American the first generation of kids really do well. After that, the individual success drops off, it is made by networking with like individuals. Nothing wrong with it, but people try to put these numbers out there like there really are differences between whether certain individuals want to learn and succeed.
Not true, many Asian immigrants are extremely poor.
To me, the fact that Asian Americans have done so well with education is inspirational- they’re an example to follow. I wish Latinos would embrace the educational opportunities in the USA, much like the Asians have done.
Like Muslim Americans in this country you see the importance on education and marriage is secondary to post education.
As Asian, we moved to achieve our goal in studies through our parents constant admonition, reminders & support that having education is a must.
Yes, nothing like a good but gentle swat on the head to adjust a child’s unruly attitude.
Wrong, like me, they find nothing better to do 😛
Right… and a bit of cronyism and endogamy doesn’t hurt either.
Sounds like the writer of this article did not do a good research and is an uneducated sour grape. The fact is among Asian-Americans the Chinese, Japanese and the Philippians are the people who take education seriously, in that order. Even back in their hometown.
The Indians, the Thais, the Vietnamese and the Koreans are not far behind.
Filipinos not Philippians
well said.
hi,
I agree with your idea.
Sincerely,
They will soon be discriminated against like whites are now. This country punishes high achievers.
most educated, but not the most intelligent
Asians were writing on paper when the white man was still living in caves.
The primacy of education goes back to the 30’s and 40’s when my father’s generation went from being gardeners and tenant farm workers to physics professors, engineers and lawyers in one generation. This could ONLY happen in the US, they knew it and we know it still.
Tiger parents. Not that that’s neccesarly a good thing.
Asian Americans have the highest IQ. The IQ of a particular group correlates quite closely to its income (and academic success).
To me, it is the culture, not the money, not the fact that parents are well educated. Culture!!
Unlike rich white kids, few AA students go to expensive private high schools / prep schools.
There are numerous success stories about kids from poor families living in China towns going to top colleges.
Money cannot buy hard-working culture!
Exactly! Immigrant parent came to the USA with little of resources or often empty hands. They started from the bottom of the job scale but saved money and teach their children to work hard on education to get out of poverty. It’s the Asian mentality – work hard and archive goals.
I don’t know where you live but elite high schools throughout the Northeast are filled with Asian-American students, day schools like Bronx Science and as well as boarding (“prep”) schools.
Just plain hard work does not make wealth. (Hard work at maintaining Inherited wealth does not qualify.) It needs to be hard-work-at-getting educated. Lackadaisical achievement of just any college degree doesn’t propel anyone to good, high-paying jobs – whether here or anywhere in the world.
Another reason why this group does so well, is because of their family first culture. You won’t be asked to leave, or be kicked out of the house when you reach the age of 18. Another big factor is there isn’t a ton of illegal immigrants coming from these countries. A few overstays here and there, but they cannot arrive in waves like any of our neighbors from the south, therefore, we get an above average sampling of their population.
Well said Frankie. Good values and a good education goes a long way.
To my knowledge, they underlying suicide rate in many Asian countries is slightly higher than in the US for the same gender/age group. This probably explains some, if not all, of that.
The nice thing I have noticed about many Asians is that they do not focus on IQ tests, instead they focus on work ethic. Oftentimes, many of these kids are quite intelligent so when you combine the hard work ethic with intelligence you get a very high achieving kid. I think we are very lucky in the US to have them and should encourage more and more.
I cannot argue with the results. The constant study and tutoring sessions did have a hand in making sure I could stand on my own two feet career wise. Knowledge based work for many of us is thus relatively easy as we have the academic background to excel in fields like: Medicine, Finance, and Engineering/Technology.
However, I wonder if one sided focus on ONE aspect of life has us severely “LACKING” in another? Moving up the career ladder in many cases require more than just bare bones intellect. One must have a cordial relationship with both those in power and one’s peers, not to mention one’s potential customers. Many Asian Americans never fostered this “Emotional Intelligence” to the detriment of our careers. Having a customer buy your product isn’t always about who has the most “technically sound” solution. A round of golf or a Sporting Event sometimes goes a longer way to forging a successful partnership.
I though African immigrants were the most educated group in the USA. hmmm
I thought African immigrants were the most educated group in America. hmmm.
Why? Affirmative Action is one reason..
Are you kidding? Study after study has shown that Asian-American applicants suffer from an informal *negative* form of affirmative action (they have to do better than their Caucasian counterparts).
Education had been the only path (tool) for commoners to break the “glass ceiling”, or, to advance to upper-class, in feudal china that last more than 4000 years. Europeans discovered that only at the beginning of renaissance.
Among Asian-Americans, it is well known that economic and educational diversity is strongly driven by which parts of Asia you are from which factor in economically. Asia is such a vast place, with population levels being so large, that statistics and college enrollment should be based off of that, rather than ‘Asian’. As an Asian American woman, I can attest to a very strong misogynistic mentality in regards to expectations, freedoms and opportunities.
BS. Vietnamese Americans arrived here after 1975, and not like their counterparts such as Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Korean and Japanese, Vietnamese were refugees of war, not immigrants!
Many Vietnamese immigrants to the U.S. (the so-called “boat people”) were ethnically Chinese.
These studies are not accurate. The best way to determine what race in Asian Minority is separated out each of the country. I believe, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Indians are top of other Asians, far east & southeast Asians.
They love sacrifices to achieve their goal in life for their future!
Asians also have 12% out of wedlock births….. they are a family unit, and they value education, discipline, respect, and hard work. Contrast that with 25% OOW births for whites- – almost 60% and growing rapidly for hispanic and 74% for blacks. There are cultural differences between the races that ultimately effect success. That is why it is very sad that liberals want to blame racism for any failure within any non-white community- – by not point out the cultures and personal decisions of members of a race and holding them accountable- – we perpetuate victim-hood and future failure
I really cannot argue with you, there. I am black, and female. I also come from a home with two parents who put our needs first and did not let us slack off academically. I have a master’s degree, and I often wonder if I would have continued my education or taken it so seriously if my parents had not been so involved. Honestly, I doubt it. I am not denying there is racism in America, but I still believe the best way to combat that is to fortify the black community from the inside. And the best way to do that is with strong families, which are the building blocks for any community. I am not saying you won’t be successful if you don’t come from a stable home, but I am saying that for the average person, it can make a world of difference.
An incredibly lazy article which attempts to promote the fallacy that Asian American student success is a derivative of an immigration policy which focused on immigrants with professional backgrounds. The reality is that the vast majority of Asian students today are 2nd or 3rd generation kids who are in families where they are definitely not sons or daughters of doctors, scientists and tech managers.
In NYC alone, Asian poverty (29%) is higher than White, Black and Brown levels and yet the children of these families are the ones who are succeeding to gain entrance to the top schools such as Stuyvesant. In fact, nearly 50% of the Asian kids at Stuy and the other premier “test-in” schools are eligible for reduced lunch programs.
Anyhoo, obviously silly articles like this are shallow attempts to explain away Asian student success since that would allow idiocy like “White Privilege” as the reason why Black and Brown kids are not successful in America’s schools. Asian kids are just the children of doctors, White kids succeed because of something called White Privilege, and Black and Brown kids are being held down by mysterious forces which created White Privilege.
Occam’s Razor: Asian kids are from good genetic stock and they understand that they have to work hard to achieve their potential.
Whites are discriminated against? Whites benefit from undeclared affirmative action in college admissions. A lot of whites complain that they unfairly lose out to less qualified blacks and hispanics in college admissions. In truth, if admissions were truly based on academic qualifications, all the top colleges will be admitting far more Asian Americans than they are admitting now.
I have no different access from anyone else as far as education goes. If anything, I’ve heard that Asians are discriminated against by schools such as the UCs. Yet, many of us Asians, regardless of where we come from, gravitate towards earning the best education we can get within our abilities. Others can do exactly the same thing but choose not to, which has always puzzled me.
why even bring up the cambodians, laotians, and fijians? they represent such a small population of the asian american “bucket”. They are probably not even statistically important for all intents and purposes of this subject.
Immigrated from Hong Kong in 1969 with limited means, I was the first and only college gradutate among six siblings. My 3 adult children and their spouses are all college grads. In fact all my grown nieces and nephews, a pretty impressive number, are clollege grads or in college. So I think the 54% is not an exageration.
Before I make this posting, I have never thought about that fact.
Asians are smart people
Why? Look at the pic at the beginning of the article. They are sharp. No “colors” here. No weed on them. No gang wannabe’s. They work diligently and responsibly. They earn their way…..not thru whining and legislation but thru hard work with the books. They look respectful and successful. The old saying of “you are what you eat” applies here but in this way…..”you are how you act”. I am proud of them.
They take pride in their grades and achievement. They still listen to their parents and obey them (for the most part). They are culturally motivated, their culture respects honor and integrity over entertainment and frivolity.
I am moderately confused and somewhat disheartened over what seems to be a regular verbiage on the educational accomplishments of the Asians, these focus, as far as I am concerned, borderlines insulting and callous. Yes, we can acknowledge the Asians’ importance relating to acquiring education; however, we should also note the other American groups who also push for education of their young, yet due to life’s struggles or circumstances beyond their circle of control, they are not afforded the opportunity to send their kids forward to higher education. To what point are these articles useful or meaningful? I have yet to understand how such articles help in explaining how the education accomplishments of the Asians’ can bring them closer to mainstream America; in some States in America Asians’ are still seen as foreigners. It does appear that their highly educated culture has not done much in bringing them out of their isolated Asian cultured communities. As such, they remain elusive from most of the mainstream issues of America, however, they have benefited a great deal from the civil rights movement, which continues to be fought by other Americans. The Asians’ accomplishments in the class room has thus far not filtered into our political, social, media, education, entertainment, military, government, corporations, or neighborhoods’.
A thought, you may want to balance this topic by reporting on the pitfalls of the Asian blind push to educate their young. You may be surprised to find that a large percentage of these educated Asians face an Asian glass ceiling when they enter the workforce; they are often not trusted and ostracized, not because of their education, but because of their inability to integrate that education into a workforce setting. Most of these Asians’ go no further than a computer analyst, research technician or mathematician, very few reach management level.
You’re making some broad claims here. Can you cite any sources?
No doubt that Education is and has been the factor for development in any society from the ancient civilizations to the current period.
Second thing which i noticed is they have not mentioned Iranese in that highly educated asian american groups and it is not they are not visible group and even the jewish has to be included as they are asians too. I wonder why the writer of this column missed these two notable country men from this list. And even filipino’s are not that highly educated group to be bracketed with the above mentioned countries.
Good looks fade with time. Wealth and money vanish when not replenished.
Education is knowledge. Knowledge is power. No one can ever steal knowledge for as long as one there is the healthy mind and body.
Knowledge in a healthy mind and body is success. Success is a life well lived and a life worth living.
A good friend of mine who originally comes from the Philippines holds a postdoctoral in food science and works as principal scientist for a conglomerate food company.
Outperforming all other groups in educational attainment and income?! Hey, I thought America was institutionally structured to crush the hopes and dreams of all minorities so evil whitey could continue controlling the world! It must be that Asians are cashing in on “white privilege”, right? That’s right, we whites invited them to the secret worldwide meetings where free passes are granted throughout life, no hard work or talent needed.
If this post sounds ludicrous, it should. This is exactly how preposterous liberals sound when parroting their the pseudo-intellectual, non-falsifiable mantras about “white privilege” when real and specific counter-examples show their armchair sociology to be complete drivel.
We Asians are not really that smart. We allow other people to put us in the corner. Jews would never claim they have three in the supreme court.
They would never claim they have that many in the congress. They would never claim they have: FB, Starbucks, Oracle, Intel, Apple, Levi,
Feds, Einstein, Oppenheimer, Teller, auntie Yellen……………………… come on, Asians. You are embarrassed yourselves. Please stop.
Based on the Movie “The Good Earth”. I told their teacher to beat them and he beat this one so good that he is going to the University!
respecting to high-education people had been typical tradition of our eastern people.
It’s probably because the classification of Asian Americans are too broad. One has to just look at segments of populations by country of origin. E.g. Hong Kong SAR is different from Mainland Chinese, which is different from people from Taiwan.
Good for them. For any minority the way to move up is through education. Education is the great equalizer and is the fastest way to join middle class in America. Other minorities should follow this example. I am Hispanic and I do admire what Asian are doing, as well as what Jewish did to get educated.
Why can’t we promote similiar immigration policy toward other nations as well? Most Americans are happy to bring in educated immigrants – illegal, uneducated ones…..not so damn much.
So LEGAL immigrants who follow the laws and wait in line CONTRIBUTE to the community? So why do some people want more illegal immigration and give illegals a free pass?
Wouldn’t it be so helpful to the world if scientists spent time figuring out what Asians do right?
The only studies we will find is identifying how external factors destroy Hispanic and African Americans implying they are completely helpless. Maybe if these “disadvantaged” minorities would model the behavior of Asians, they might have better success.
To point out that personal choices and individual responsibility are important for better or worse may not be politically correct or comforting but it sure may be useful on turning certain cultures around.
Ignoring the obvious is why sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists and historians have become irrelevant. It is why most people are also skeptical of the “sciences.”
> “Since 1965, some Asian-American immigrants have come to the U.S. under certain immigration preference categories that favor professional skills and training,” Eliza Noh
What Eliza Noh said is a myth that won’t go away. Many Asian immigrate that came the the US have very low level of education. As stated by the end of this article, many South and South East Asians immigrates from countries such as Hmong, Cambodia and Laos perform very poorly in school.
My own personal experienc after living in San Francisco for 30+ years know of MANY Chinese immigrates that come here with a less then high school education. Often with both parents working in restaurants and have nobody at home to take care of the kids. And yet they believe in hard work and often push way too hard for their children to excel in school, (aka Tiger Mom). Reminding them if they don’t want to end up like their parents working in a restaurant they better study hard. Though that tactic doesn’t always work, many do succeed in school and beyond.
I’m a Chinese guy living in NYC. My parents and their siblings were part of a wave of immigrants that came to America in the 1960’s from Hong Kong. They were all working-class people with barely a high school education. They came to America seeking a better life for themselves and their children. They worked in factories and restaurants but they managed to instilled a good set of values into their children. Most of us excelled in public school (not private) and went on to college. There were no special training courses that our parents enrolled us in so I don’t know where this writer gets his information from.
1st generation parents did NOT have it easy as this article makes it seem. Most 1st generation Asian Americans I know came from Asia with education, yes. But with no money and could not speak the language. They owned very small businesses, had manual labor jobs and were constantly working to provide a roof and food for their families (and lets not forget all the racism they had to endure from whites, blacks, and Mexican’s). Our parents practically sacrificed their lives for their children’s education, knowing that this was our ticket to success in America.
Also, the suicide statistics may be correct but I don’t know of one Asian that has ever committed suicide because of the pressures of academics.
Funny who statistics can be manipulated. By demographics Black Females are the most educated and White Males are last. Look it up.
Only Chinese, Indian, Korean and Japanese origin. Not all Asian Americans are the most educated group.
EXCUSE ME…..Filipinos are well educated & can speak & write the english language.
We do not need interpreters to communicate here in America.
Long been known Asian parents make them hit the books. In America we have values that go beyond that e.g. love thy neighbor, do unto others as you would like them to do upon you and most importantly American Values… Do Asians know about these values? Thou shall not covet money or material things? It’s not about who drives the fastest BMW but who can make this country a better place. It’s not about who lives in the biggest house but, who can house the biggest amount of people.
With the Bachelors degree, my wife and I were able to migrate and come to america with six kids,..we put in our kids mind that education is the best weapon to join and compete the rat race in this country. The six kids are now with a Bachelors degree too,…have a good stable job, have their own educated family and have their own house to live happily in their adopted country…
Rich Chinese emigrants to US may be Trojan horses:
A new report shows that 64 percent of Chinese millionaires have either emigrated or plan to emigrate―taking their spending and fortunes with them. The United States is their favorite destination.
It is said that the main reasons rich Chinese are leaving is to pursue better educations for their kids, to escape the pollution and overcrowding in urban China and to protect their fortunes.
But, the emigration of rich Chinese may be a systematic one with a certain malice trap backed by Chinese communist party.
It is well known that China has the ambition of the world conquest inspired by a dream of Mao Zedong.
For that goal, China must conquer the United States first.
Not by military power, but by a slick trap.
The simplest method to accomplish the purpose is to make a Chinese American the US President. There are a lot of Harvard graduated Chinese born in the US.
The rich Chinese who had immigrated to the United States will provide an infinite fund for a presidential election.
If the Chinese American President will be born, he will let the American economic and military power weak rapidly. American military and industrial information will leak out to China freely. Chinese emigration to the United States may increase explosively.
The United States will be taken over in this way by Chinese emigrants.
As for the stupid American, nobody notices this trap of China.
Baseless claim. China is not a communist country anymore. It is now more capitalistic than America! Even if some Chinese Americans still love China more, they cannot become US president. Look at USA, it was made of people from Europe especially UK. How long had they been loyal to UK?
Obama has been doing that for the Chinese.
I am a second generation Chinese immigrant. I grew up here in San Francisco in the 80s. Most immigrants families (mostly Chinese and South East Asian) that I knew were low income and parents were not highly educated. Most of them held low paying jobs with long working hours. Majority of my classmates started having a part time job after school. I had a paper route and a part time job as a cook/cashier in a fast food restaurant when I was in high school. My mom had a 3rd grade education, didn’t speak much English, and worked 18 hours a day to put food on table. My father was disabled and not working. So from my perspective, most immigrant families were not as ideal as the article described. I was not what our parents possessed that made us successful. As a matter of fact, it was what they did not have that motivated the next generation to work hard and achieve our goals. My parent knew we were the disadvantaged but we never whined about it. My parent were not able to save up money for my college education, so my sister, brother, and I worked our way through undergraduate school and graduate school to pay for the tuition. Whining would not get you anywhere. All you needed to do was to bite the bullet, work extra hard, harder than anyone else.
Bravo! Well written.
well its fine now for the Immigrants to excel but when the next generation of the these immigration born,Because they come from impoverish background,but there children will be same as regular American who are settled here for centuries.
Looking at one statistical metric leads to a myopic view of the Asian American population. if you look at post graduate achievements – Asian immigrants have a higher attainment level than native born Americans of asian descent adults. An immigrant’s language barrier can also insulate an immigrant community to some degree from racism by outsiders. Wealth can also insulate asian americans from racism by mainstream society. If asian americans attempt to fully assimilate into western culture without economically establishing themselves they become more at risk from racism by mainstream American society. High education does not necessarily equate to economic success Economic success is not only associated with having achieved e a protected labor status (like being a medical doctor or a lawyer) but also because one has established social economic relationships. The H1B, EB2, and F1 Visa programs act as a eugenics-socio-biology programs that favor the very smart super immigrant –OR the EB5 US immigration policy that favors Crazy Rich Asians. Compare this with a Laos-Cambodian war refugee who barely has a grade school’s education and is coming to American with only the shirt on his back. With both eyes open you can see many sides to a story — but most people see only what they want to see.
There is something that is rarely touched upon in such studies. Asians in America — whether foreign born or native born — are really pushed to succeed by their parents. This sets them apart from Asians in, well, Asia. We are the cream of the crop. Imagine if the world were different and China was the economic and innovative capital of the world (instead of the United States). The people who move there for jobs would be the cream of the crop — whether white, black, Hispanic, etc. This is what has happened in America. We (or our parents) realized the value of education to set us apart for economic dependence. This has been instilled in us by our parents.
From a first generation American of Indian heritage, the emphasis comes from the very real background of coming from a poor country………….if you have a chance to study and then have enough to eat, have a roof over your head, and access to healthcare – you’ll work hard.
I’ll be curious to see how the trend continues as second generation Americans are being born who will have parents who were born and raised in America. Having immigrant parents is a big motivator, you see how hard they have it. Having well off parents may present a new challenge.
“Experts say this impressive rate of educational achievement has a lot to do with a U.S. immigration policy that favors the applications of highly-educated immigrants from Asian countries.”
These experts are wrong. I know of many Asian-American families where the parents didn’t attend college in their native countries, but their American-assimilated children have advanced to achieve higher education. These parents recognize the value of an education for their children, whereas many other demographic groups simply do not. Whatever a person thinks incessantly in his/her mind, he/she will achieve.
It is true that certain Asians, Cambodians, and Laotians, are at the bottom of the educational and economic ladder; only blacks are below them. The reason is simple: Cambodia all but exterminated its educated and Laos never had an educated class to begin with. They immigrated as destitute refugees.
This is unlike the first waves of Vietnamese refugees who were the educated class from South Vietnam.
What is also noteworthy is that Mexicans who immigrate to the US tend to also be from the poor and uneducated class from Mexico. Educated Mexicans can do quite well in their home country and therefore tend to stay there.
Since we are talking about Asian Americans, many came to the United States with very little money. We believe in the American Dream and worked very in order to get ahead. We spent countless hours studying and working odd jobs beside a few hours of sleeping. Unfortunately, because we are able to get the grades, we are now have a glass ceiling. It seems that Asian American students got to have a GPA of 4.5/4.0 in order to compete for a spot of admission to the top schools.
Why do Asian American Students able to achieve such grade and knowledge? It may have something to do with the sacrafices that the parents have been making. They are willng to spend time with the teachers, helping their kids with homeworking, drive them to tutors and/or do whatever it takes so their kids get ahead. As a result, they are able to achieve better grade. Some believe that they have been the victims of their own successes. We are being judged on a higher standard for colllege admission or have a limited spaces because of the quota system which many institutions would not admit.
Because they are working hard and getting ahead, they are being discriminated against. They have a high household income, and yet they are rarely featured in commercial or taking any lead role in television shows or movies. Asian Americans are approximately 10% of California population, but we are hardly mentioned in the political arena.
My only hope is that mainstream America accepts Asian Americans as Americans. Just like JFK mentioned in his speach to the Protestants, “I am not a Catholic Candidate, but a Candidate who happens to be Catholic.” Therefore, we are Americans who happen to have Asian heritage.
Asian Americans are not the most educated groups in American. When it comes to being academically smart
African students beat out Asian students two to one. For the last 12 years African students have been the brightest foreign students in merican. NOw please do your research and do it well. Skin color has nothing to do with it the African students are just smarter than the Asians. In my 37 years of teaching I have witness this first hand. Now do your research!!!!!!! They may be poor but they are the brightest!!!!
This is correct. African immigrants are the most educated group in the United states, not Asian Americans. A lot of people do not realize this and this article just plays into the “Model Minority” stereotype.
Yes because the smartest Africans are leaving the continent. I don’t blame them. Who wants to deal with the mess the Europeans left behind?
An education coupled with a work ethic will take you far in life. Having a supportive family helps as well.
This is nonsense since I teach English in China. You cannot measure achievement by the record number of Asians who have at least a bachelor degree. Asians are pushed by their parents to achieve educational success no matter the cost and often times it can lead to cheating and bribing officials since it is common practice in China. There are other articles that say Asians cant communicate with others which often leads to non-managerial jobs where the pay is often lower.
I want to add do not forget Asian(Chinise) and Indians are the largest population in the world.
Asians put a high premium on education. Generation to generation, it has always been education and a respectable profession are a must. There is much pressure for children of Asian parents to make their parents and family proud of their achievements. There is however a negative to this whole issue. I can recall my mom telling me to “go to school and get good grades”. My mom was a working widow of six children, and I both love her and admire her, but she was not there physically to help me with school or to continually encourage me. I never blamed her for this, but I made it a point to be more involved with my own children. Not only did my wife and I dig deep to put our children in parochial schools (not sure this was the smartest use of our money btw), but we shelved out lots of money for after school programs to enrich their lives. My wife and I were quite involved in their studies, school, and activities. Now that 2 of our 3 kids are in college, we insist that they complete what they started (college), but find a profession that will make them happy. We want them to have a good life/work balance and enjoy what they have accomplished.
This is hardly surprising it makes me yawn. As Asians we value education, hard work and our tight-knit families. These make the strong foundation for success.
how bout blacks
Just because the model minority stereotype doesn’t apply to as many Southeast Asians or Polynesians, doesn’t mean it still doesn’t apply largely to East Asians (which it statistically does).
Also, U.S. immigration policy doesn’t favor the applications of highly-educated immigrants from ASIAN countries – it simply favors the applications of highly-educated immigrants. East (& South) Asian countries just have far more of them.
Meanwhile, work ethic and higher IQs as obvious reasons to the headline are continually omitted like elephants in the room…
Every Americanized article on this topic uses LOGIC FAILS to deny simple credit to East Asians for maintaining stable families & academic achievement.
No Taiwanese at all?
most go to school in there country wher education is CHEAP and then come here as guest and overstay!
Chinese parents always tell their kids to complete college education. They always tell their kids to finish their homework, else don’t play. For Asians immigrants, college here in the US is relative easy for them since their high school academic level is relatively higher, especially math, physics, chemistry. This is especially true in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. That’s why those subjects are easy for them. especially true in the first and second year of college, no matter in which college in the US.
The best investment my parents ever made had a wooden stick on it and could also be used to sweep the floor
The success of Asian students has to do with cultural differences with other Americans.
Asian people are more serious, convinced of having to study hard in order to get a job.
They are not focused on partying, sex, cars, leisure as their (white) counterparts.
This woman Eliza is one of the most misinformed person. How is she even qualified to comment.
“Those groups tend to already have educational training and economic resources, which they invest in their children’s education. Their access to social and economic capital is what fuels academic achievement”
Really, how about the poor immigrants like the Vietnamese boat people who came to America with nothing. They lived in the slums and had to dig their way out through hard work, saving for the future and education. If anything, they were significantly more disadvantaged than their American peers but have strive to create a better future for their children.
Also, Asians have higher IQs than everyone but the Jews.
The disparity with blacks and hispanics really tells the story. Study hard and work hard and you get ahead. Whenever will blacks figure that out and quit expecting some kind of free ride? Probably never because white liberal politicians and bureaucrats will keep giving them their “free stuff”.
Not true at all. Unlike Blacks, Asians were given immediate opportunity upon arrival. Many blacks don’t believe there is a purpose to trying because the system has been against us for so long. Luckily someone like myself or my family has been successful since the first time it was illegal for whites to discriminate. Even before then we were always the top in our all black communities. I was taught from a young child that business ownership was the key not necessarily education although that is stressed too. Every one of my cousins has their bachelors and some have masters. I have an advanced associates and in a year will have my bachelors. It’s a matter of application, but to say blacks in general are lazy as you imply is ignorant. Actually only 30% of our population is struggling. Compare that to just 50 years ago and we have doubled almost tripled in capital. All this while be given illegally high loan rates or simply denied all together. All this while being targeted by redlining and other economic blocking apparatuses. I’m not completely sure why we were targeted for so long. Maybe it was a social experiment, but we have grown and will continue to grow as a people. Not to mention that through sheer Darwinism our poor are killing each other, dying from diseases, getting long jail sentences for minor crimes such as pot, and are getting abortions at record rates the middle to rich class blacks will continue to stifle our disparaged. Unless the system makes some ridiculous rules again we will naturally catch up t the status quo of this country.
True, like Jewish Americans started at Grand St. Lower Manhattan, NY, their parents mostly under-privileged and uneducated immigrants working in the low end of industries, like Chinese apart from railroad slaves worked as Chinese launderers and restauranteurs. However, Jewish and Chinese have similar values in terms of pursuing education as the only “emerging chances” and way to be someone and to be able to leave Lower East Side Ghetto and Chinatown to Long Island and Uptown East Side, and they never in the past asked for “entitlements” or “hand-outs” from the government. They sacrificed and worked hard in order to earn “respect”. Thus, Chinese Americans transformed from “railroad slaves” to today’s status. In 1970, I recalled one of my friends, a Chinese American, who is a doctor of internal medicine, asked me whether he should open and practice in Long Island instead in Chinatown. My answer was then “go for it”. Mindful, at the time, the existing norm of most American women were “uncomfortable” being checked and diagnosed by Asian doctors, they rather preferred Caucasian doctors. I told him that “respect” of a profession must be earned NOT given. He successfully practiced his medicine for the last 30 years, and recently, I was told, he sold his practice to other doctors.
As an American, I believe America is a land of opportunities, in 1845 for Irish immigrants, the early 20th Century for Italians and the 21st Century must be for Asian Americans.
Asians that have strong Confucianism cultural bases are among the more ethical and hardworking people. It is part of their core value: to be achieving and bring honor to the family. They don’t have heavy-duty organized religions (religions in Asia is a utility, God help people and people reward the high performing God), but their zealous in education is very religious.
“Experts say this impressive rate of educational achievement has a lot to do with a U.S. immigration policy that favors the applications of highly-educated immigrants from Asian countries.” — This shows that we SHOULD have this kind of IMMIGRATION POLICY for ALL IMMIGRANTS! Coughbuildthewallcough. vote Trump!
Ok. It’s cool that Asian-Americans are well educated and such. That’s nothing new, but can we put an end to the term “model minority”? I hate that term, and as a 1.5 generation AA, I feel that this term is so derogatory. Wake up, ‘Murica!! This is no longer the nation of whites or people of European descent. Why do we need the distinction that one group is a “minority”? Call us what we are. Americans. Get rid of that stupid, outdated idea of “model minority.”
Actually African immigrants and Greeks are the most educated group
For most Asian Americans, an above-average performance is not good enough – be it in academics, the arts, the work environment or otherwise. Discipline is strictly emphasized in the home. If necessary, tutorial programs are availed of if only to excel. The motivation to excel is an integral part of a culture that begins and ends in the home -and this is a common denominator among the six (6) nationalities mentioned in the article. Part of such culture is the mindset that self-esteem is reinforced by hard-earned excellence.
Why did the article just stop at Asian suicide rates? Otherwise good article. This is something that weighs in on immigration debate. It’s the “1%” from these Asian countries that make it the USA, typically. So naturally they would be competitive in education. There’s super competitive students from Latin America too, of course, but they are outnumbered by the many poor that cross the border. The debate should be how to make a system that works, but the 1% in Latin American countries are not interested in helping the poor. It benefits the 1% in Mexico to have low wages and endless labor. That’s the problem we don’t talk about.
However, there are unfair regulations such as the affirmative action the raise the standard for Asian Americans mostly Chinese Americans and lower the standard for African Americans. Why the system punish the Asians who work hard to succeed and give easy path to the ones who don’t. Asian Americans are not only highly educated but also make more positive contribution to American society than others. But the are not recognized, promoted and praised. Instead, they are being punished again and laughed at. There are so many white policemen kill Blacks and without punishment. But the only Chinese policeman who killed Black got heavy sentencing.
I think the main reason why Asians got more education is what they have learned from parents when they were young. My parents always told us if we want to get better jobs and earn more money, we have to get better education so we always study hard. My parents are not rich, I have to work part time and borrowed student loans to go to College. I was taught that if we wanted to have better lives and should get more education and get high paid job. Of course, we have to wok hard too, That is why education is so important to everyone. It is not just for rich or poor. If the person really wants to do it, no matter how hard it is, they do whatever they can and meet the goals.
Asian American does not include Filipinos.
People call their mother ‘tiger mom”, call the asian kids smart but boring, etc. The truth, asian parent will work their butt off to sent the kids to best school if possible, pay extra tuitions make sure kids excel , strict rules and disciplines.
Sorry, but this article implies that Asian Americans have an economic advantage, and thus, can invest in education. That is usually not true. If anything, Asian Americans come from poor backgrounds with many parents not having the luxury of any college or even high school education and BECAUSE of the discipline instilled in them and the recognition of the need for education to survive and provide for their families, they put in the hard work to succeed. What is the basis of Ms. Noh’s claim? What resources is she citing? To insinuate that there are racial immigration preferences is huge. I know plenty of families that were well off compared to mine, and they could have invested in their children’s education, or maybe they did but the children did not take it seriously. There are too many variables to make such a ridiculous conclusion. It is not just Asian Americans that make the most of what they have, but other ethnicities have also succeeded despite their adversity. To claim that Asian Americans have access to education because of money is absurd. That is implying a causal relationship between money and academic success, and that is not always true. Where are the facts? What were the methods? Were the methods reliable? What definitions were used to define someone as wealthy or not? This article just glosses over so many factors to be taken seriously. Yahoo needs to fact check before publishing ridiculous articles as this one.
This article is a farce.
NIGERIAN AMERICANS are da most educated groups in America !! Yahoo news.. …pleeeeaaazzee get u facts right !!
I’m a college-educated Cambodian corporate professional. We will catch up to the other Asians.
It’s the Asian communities and the emphasis placed on education and work ethic. Asian communities don’t go out and demand that they be respected, it is known that respect must be earned, not demanded. And there ya go.
Because our government brings them over here and gives them everything they want. Look at the welfare office, the SBA office they open up the vault for them and GIVE them things that we as citizens cant get
The last paragraph shows the author is either without basic stats/math training or bias.
“Suicide is the second leading cause of death among age 15 and 24″—what’s the percentage fall into this category and vs. other ethnic groups’?
” The highest suicide rate occur among all ethnic groups, Asian women between the age 15 and 25 and those over 65″—-what’s their suicide rate between their age 25 and 65?
More importantly, what’s Asian Americans life expectancy vs. other ethnic groups’?
They are smart and well educated ! Good for them !!
Well, Chinese are invading america like never before, they buy real estate, they buy cars, they buy everything, but one thing missing is class and style, chinese dont have either one.
This is common among groups which have recently emerged from poverty (having said that many Europeans still feel the same way about Americans).
I have to look I to this because the last census actually showed Africans in particular Nigerians were the most educated group per capita. Maybe it changed…
I have an asian friends filipino descent told me one time in their country people who lived up in the mountains go down the hill, cross deep rivers, risk their lives in treacherous jungle and the shocking part..they walk without shoes or slippers..barefoot! they can’t afford to have one just to get an education in the city and they do this everyday. That’s how important education from them. Guess we all that lucky on how easy we get the education here in the U.S.
What does suicide rate among Asian Americans have to do with their level of education?
It can be an indicator that parental pressure to study and work hard is not necessarily always simply positive.
Interesting that except in the case of Hispanics, for all other ethnic groups foreign-born out-perform native-born… something is wrong in this country…
This depends on how you define groups. According to the census, Nigerians are the most educated immigrant group (little known secret). If you mean America’s artificial delineanation of “race” then yes, Asians are the most educated.
It is true but with a caveat. Chinese are the ones who place the most importance on education. In any given classroom, it seems the Chinese are among the top students and its part of their culture. I think they know that for most kids, a good education will help them get a good job and this area is known for its good schools. I even heard it on tv; there was a couple who were looking to adopt and the agency suggested a Chinese kid because they “do well in American society” and their mothers don’t do drugs. They learn English well and most get a good education and they are on their way….most of the time. I rarely hear a Chinese man or woman with a thick accent. I also think they are driven to succeed and maybe they are more materialistic than other cultures. Either way their system works.
I’m with you but you’ve never heard an Asian person with a thick accent?
So, China, when are you going to diversify that 99.9% Asian population of yours? You have more people than Europe and the United States combined, but no one ever sees African, Caucasian, or middle eastern Chinese citizens. Same thing with you Japan.
No diversity in your Asian countries mean the rest of us should takes steps to ensure your percentage in our nations should equal our percentage in your nations.
Fair is fair, right?
In some weird abstract way, I suppose (why don’t you start the trend and move there yourself then?)
This is about parenting and parenting only. When you look at the distribution chart it is pretty clear how different parental demographics perform.
Good for the Asian parents who are proving that a parent is an example, a mentor, a confidante, and a disciplinarian rather than a buddy. They hold themselves and their children accountable to perform which has set the prior generations, the current generation, and subsequent generations up for success.
The major difference would be two parent family. A mother and a father both working for the benefit of their children. When you have a female who has multiple children with a variety of males and these males are not contributing. When there is no family support you will fail at a higher rate. The child knows no other path and will continue to fail for the next generation.
This number will be much higher among Nigerians living in the USA but who cares about the minority of the minorities. Modern racism is alive and well through public policies such as immigration reforms favoring Asian and European countries more than Latin or African countries.
The discerning reader needs to distinguish between disproportionately higher achieving East Asian immigrants (to the 2nd or 3rd generation) and South Asian immigrants, and lesser overall achieving Southeast Asians. As the article notes, Asian American immigrants typically arrive with more social capital as they predominate from the higher achieving segment of the Asian societies from which they emigrate. They also tend to buy into the American dream far more quickly as they appreciate having greater educational choice, usually unavailable in their home countries. But there are other overlooked factors including neo-Confucian values which culturally attach great importance to education and valorizes effort over talent, the willingness of most Asian parents to sacrifice financially to a larger extent for their children’s education, the role of mothers in monitoring their children’s academic progress (which has been recently criticized as one of “Tiger Moms”) and something else: a persistent and widespread trait of delayed gratification relative to most other non-Asian teens as well as a prioritizing of academics over athletics and a social life.
Education is power. Most Asians have the uncanny ability to ignore racist and other disparaging remarks made against them and stay focused on a goal with a continuous drive to succeed, knowing that success, especially in education, will someday allow them to gain the upper hand.
Yes, they do. I spent years in San Francisco, and heard MANY comments from whites about the “Yellow Peril”. I was always amazed at how Asians did not allow this to derail them. They just stayed focused and continued to succeed. I think there is a valuable lesson to be learned here.
If all Minorities assimilated this well and took hard work, dedication to self improvement, and the adoption of the value of making your self valuable to employers to heart, the pay and unemployment gaps would close dramatically.
Why just “minorities”??? Why not everyone???
I’m a Black Man. The Asians I know from the Philippines, Japan, India, Korea, China all have one thing in common; strong family values and the importance of an education is started at a very young age. Financial status does not seem to make these children take things for granted.
They don’t publicly, constantly, whine and complain about everything. Just got get what they want.
Compared to…
My grandmother taught us that education is the foundation and never ends. So she encouraged all the kids to study and work smart. She told all her kids to make sure they spend money educating all their kids. Grandma Leong repeated saying during family gathering, ” Education can never be taken away but leaving money alone is not good enough, so educate the kids.”.
My spouse is Chinese-Vietnamese and her sisters and brothers came to this country legally. They arrived to the US with nothing. They lost their father within 6 months. There mother raised all the kids working three jobs. They studied and worked smart. Not surprisingly, they all are graduates of good colleges. With the hard work and within 30 years,They are all successful and millionaires.
Opportunities is available, one needs to study and work smart.
Good for them. Congratulations!
This has nothing to do with our immigration policy – Asian cultures value education over just about everything. And their culture has 1 massive difference from American culture …. the children listen to their parents …. even when the children are full grown adults (30+)
[Married to a Vietnamese woman – By the end of high school she had taken calc 1 – 3 … matrix theory … diffy q … physics … chemistry. She never took a single history / language arts / music / art / sociology class ]
Asian maybe excel in Math, Physic, and Chemistry. They are major mostly in Engineering and Medicine, however, they lacks of Arts, History, and Music. And that is a loss, because of those classes are foundation of creative and imagination and those are basically make America is America. I would not take that away from any kid. I was used to be told that Arts and Music are luxury. We can not afford to eat with that. When I understand more about how America become a great country, I would not change any of American culture. Instead, I made sure that my kids get education to do what they love to do.
Completely ignoring the humanities is not necessarily a good thing you know…
They are one of the immigrant generations who succeed into the mainstreams, but why? Because Vietnamese in the 40s and the 50s were educated by the French Jesuits. Their children were educated by the US taxpayers money. Once immigrated to the US, educations were always a priority with them regardless of levels of income. A lot were already learned men when they set foot into the US.
This doesn’t explain why for example Chinese immigrants who are *many* times more numerous than Vietnamese have the same (or greater) level of accomplishments…
Poverty and lack of opportunities alone do not explain why some groups keep on doing poorly. On the other hand, while culture does not explain everything, it really does matter. Asians do well overseas regardless of their class background. You see this based on test scores and other achievements in ALL ZIP CODES, not just the rich ones. Even in solid middle class areas, Asians score higher than whites, not to mention other groups. If whites were doing this well across the board the claim would no doubt be that it is due to their racial superiority!! Go figure.
Asian Americans will be the next “successful” group to be discriminated against like whites are now. America doesn’t reward hard work….it rewards the bottom feeders who contribute nothing but suck benefits. Maybe the Asians will be smart enough to leave this backward country before that happens.
Asian-Americans already are discriminated against in college admissions, by the very whites whom you claim are getting a raw deal.
Asian maybe excel in Math, Physic, and Chemistry. They are major mostly in Engineering and Medicine, however, they lacks of Arts, History, and Music. And that is a loss, because of those classes are foundation of creative and imagination and those are basically make America is America. I would not take that away from any kid. I was used to be told that Arts and Music are luxury. We can not afford to eat with that. When I understand more about how America become a great country, I would not change any of American culture. Instead, I made sure that my kids get education to do what they love to do.
Let’s be clear, being educated does not necessarily equate to smart or successful. A college degree, and I’m restricting this to an undergrad degree, merely suggest that one had the discipline to finish something that one started. There are plenty of educated Asians who don’t have the sheer logic or practicality to succeed. They’re extremely hardworking, and for the most part dependable, but they are also meek and lack leadership skills. This is a generalization, and we all know there’s more than a few that obliterate this comment. I embrace someone who is hardworking, logical and street smart, over someone educated but lack the initiative to put it to good use.
This news is true insofar as the levels of education depicted. The moot point is still the fact that many of these so well educated Asians are openly discriminated against. In new Jersey for example, the Asian people who are well qualified in Allied Medical fields find it hard to get accepted to such jobs. This is simply because even the people interviewing such well educated Asian people are not as educated even to interview them. Imagine a person with perhaps an online bachelor’s degree being the interviewer of an applicant with a standard College Master’s degree ! ! Outfits like (1) Comprehensive Behavioral Health Care, (2) Community Options, (3) SERV Behavioral Health System,(4) Bergen’s Promise, Inc, etc all indicate to the aspect of catering to the needs of the deserving and under served but they really think of this as a business. There is never really any humanistic, holistic approach involved whatsoever. This can be seen clearly by the way they treat the applicants to such positions. To further ones education(for example as CADC etc) one has to pay thru the freaking nose.
It all starts with parenting. Most Asian parents have high academic expectations for their children. Even if their child has mediocre intelligence, Asian parents get the most out of them. That said, not all Asian parents are like this so we do see some decline in the new Asian generation in the USA.
It all comes down to family.. Asian put great emphasis on family and family values.. There’s no divorce in most Asian countries.. Success starts in family.. If u have one parent with no role model or parents who are on drugs, doesn’t discipline their kids , or I should say spoil their kids or parents who are so preoccupied with their own business or careers that they forgot their kids emotional needs then your breeding kids who will also follow the same path and the list goes on and on.. Education starts at home and no schools can replace the role of parents in educating their kids .. Schools just teach knowledge but parents teach wisdom .. EQ is as important for success as IQ and EQ starts at home..
Very simple: Asians do not rely on absurdity – prayer – to bring them prosperity and on church to teach them facts. Asians rely, for the past 5 milleniums, on provable assertions – formal education – obtained from university and college.
Results speak louder than words: Asian-Americans are the highest-earning racial group in US:-) Money don’t fall from sky LOL