Asian American Concerted Cultivation: Sub-Cultural Aspects of Educational Attainment among Asian Americans

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday IV)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Student achievement in China and Brazil

Proposal

Asian American students outperform their peers in other racial/ethnic groups in various educational measures, such as standardized tests, grade point averages, completion rates in high school and college, and enrollment rates at prestigious universities (Kao & Thompson, 2003; Musu-Gillete et al., 2016; Pong et al., 2005; Xie & Goyette, 2003). Research has established two main explanations for Asian American educational advantage. One explanation emphasizes the role of structural factors, such as higher parental education and socioeconomic status, in explaining the Asian academic and occupational success (Sakamoto & Woo 2007; Sun 1998). The second explanation stresses the role of culture, especially Asian Americans’ cultural orientation toward schooling and the culturally situated parenting practices (Chen & Stevenson, 1995; Corwyn & Bradley, 2008; Peng & Wright, 1994). However, Asian Americans’ educational outcomes are not fully explained by either structural factors or cultural factors. This study attempts to bridge the two perspectives and provide a more holistic understanding of Asian Americans and thereby advance sociological knowledge about structural and cultural sources of educational attainment.

The study examines subcultural factors of Asian American groups which share a strong Confucian cultural heritage and a history of centralized education system (i.e., China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam). Drawing from literature on education and child rearing practices of Asians and Asian Americans from across disciplines (e.g., sociology, social and cultural psychology, and education), we argue that Asian American parents’ own educational and life experience in their country of origin affect how they raise their children, which in turn shape higher educational attainment/achievement of their children.

The study also demonstrates how the subcultural aspects of educational attainment of second-generation Asian Americans can be understood within existing theories of status attainment: the Wisconsin model of status attainment and Annette Lareau’s work on sub-culture of parenting. We build on the Wisconsin model of status attainment, which stresses the role of educational expectation and significant others, to explain Asian American educational success. We delineate how the collectivist cultural heritage, educational values shared among Asian Americans, and the family processes that foster interdependence come into play within this framework.

We also refer to Annette Lareau’s (2002) work to build our argument that Asian Americans’ parenting style is an important element in explaining their children’s educational attainment. Lareau emphasizes that class difference in parenting approaches has to do with the parents’ own world-view and cultural orientation, influenced by their educational and occupational experience (see also Kohn and Schooler 1983). The same logic is applied to explain how Asian American parents’ own experience growing up within societies with strong collectivist value, pro-education beliefs, and intense schooling affect their child-rearing practices.

We suggest future study areas and further discuss the implications of the Asian American parenting approach beyond cognitive or educational outcomes, like later labor market outcomes or emotional well-being.

Authors

• Yoonjeon Kim, University of California, Berkeley

• Arthur Sakamoto, Texas A&M University

• Sharron Xuanren Wang, Texas A&M University