Educational achievement of Asian-American students: A generational perspective.

Abstract

This study investigated how family-, individual-, and school-related factors together influence the learning of Asian American students during the first two years of high school, in comparison to that of Caucasian students. The author employed a generational perspective and defined first-generation Asian American students as those who were born in Asia and late emigrated to the United States with their parents; the second generation as those who were born in the United States, but have one or both Asian-born parents; and the third generation as those who were American-born, as were both of their parents. Using the first two waves of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, the first two generations of Asian American students were found to be advantaged over their Caucasian counterparts in terms of parents' educational background and expectations, and students' own learning attitudes and behaviors. The learning of these two generations is determined largely by their high educational goals, by the extraordinary effort expended in pursuit of these goals, and by good use of school academic resources. Third-generation Asian American students are similar to Caucasians in terms of family background and learning characteristics. For these groups, academic ability is a major factor determining their educational expectations, engagement, and their choice of courses. School curricular structure also exerts a great influence on their course-taking behaviors. A constrained, academically-focused curriculum, coupled with high graduation requirements, can "push" Caucasian and third-generation Asian American students to take more academic courses. The author offered several alternative explanations for these differential learning attitudes and behaviors across the three generation of Asian American students, and for the relationships of these attributes to the learning outcomes. These include differences in Asian and American cultural beliefs about the relative contribution of ability and effort to learning; recent selective immigration of Asians based on motivation, ability, or educational levels; and differential perceptions for the three generations of Asian American students of their status and mobility opportunities in the United States.