<p>Asian Pride! :)</p>
<p>haha, yea Jews and Asians are so similar in so many ways. (stereotypically)</p>
<p>Okay, no offense, but Asians and Jews do not own the idea of doing well in school and doing well in a good college. I think we all need to step back and not make such generalizations about race, religions, sex, or whatever. It only hurts people.</p>
<p>Asians and Jews definitely do not own the idea of doing well in school and life. It's just that asian and jewish parents tend put a lot of focus on achievement and have high expectations when it comes to education. Moreso than your average mom and dad. Yea I'm generalizing, but it really is true in a lot of cases.</p>
<p>to clarify for some of the posters - I'm thinking CC in the original post stands for collegeconfidential(.com) not community college</p>
<p>my thinking is that the majority of asian immigrants (at least from south asia, can't say with total confidence about the rest) are not the poorest of the poor. They're middle to upper middle class people moving to America to use the opportunities. COmpetition is fierce for successful job opportunities in countries of HIGH population (China, India), so young, motivated individuals come to America to avoid that and in many cases to lead a more luxurious life. Not to mention, a job in Asia will get you 1/4 of the salary for the same job in the US. Anyway, the point is that immigrants from Asia ARE the people who are motivated, care about getting the good life, are hardworking, and have been excellent students themselves. Obviously they'll pass that down to their kids.</p>
<p>The culture point is right to a certain extent - Asian parents emphasize education more in general than others because they know that in order to get anything decent back home, you have to be the best of the best. it has to do with the "motherland" if you will, but not necessarily the culture itself...</p>
<p>just my thoughts...</p>
<p>on a very general level, why asian students such as indians/chinese/korean etc are so much more stressed and bent on gettin into a gd uni is because of the environment they grew up in.. they see so many problems in thier countries and a gd education for many of them is the only way to survive in fututre. many fo the govt's si ply cant afford to provide basic amenities and comforts to all od it's ppl.. some of these student come from not-so-gd financially families. College education is the only way to help them. And countries like india have millions of grads every yr, yet a subsyantial no. of them are still employed, only the best of the best are chosen.. for many of them, thier parents cant afford to provide a decent live forever, they gotta make it on their own... hence they tend to be more into college..</p>
<p>hehe, sorry for all the grammatical errors etc, been almost 4 mnths since i was in sch and did any kinda writing.. :p</p>
<p>We come from Ireland...there education is one of the most respected professions....and those parents value education...and when they come here, they do as well...</p>
<p>I dislike the common thought that Asians are the only group that wants the most for their children...there are many other groups that want their kids to succeed. So while a lot Asian parents do emphasize education, they aren't the only ones. And they aren't the only ones that left a country to have a better life. Africa, Russia, Bulgaria, Mexico....lets us not forget the rest of the world.</p>
<p>yup definitely non-asians too... i was juz sayin from an asian's pt of view why we are generally like tt :)</p>
<p>I've noticed that many Dutch-Jew-midget-albino-black-double amputee students are really underrepresented in most schools.</p>
<p>citygirlsmom, whether you want to face reality or not, the stereotype of asian parents wanting their children to do well in school and focus on education rather than social life is for the most part true. no one said this isnt true of other groups, just not as generalized. for asians you can basically generalize it and it is true for the majority of asians while for other groups, this is definitely not true for the majority. </p>
<p>i live in a state where mexicans will soon outnumber whites and education definitely isnt top priority. usually getting a job at 16 is the first priority. im not saying they dont value education, it just isnt to the same degree as asians. </p>
<p>also, asian immigrants are MUCH different than russia/bulgaria/mexico. many of those immigrants want a better quality of life or are fleeing from some type of persecution. most asians that immigrate to the United States arent like that. many immigrate to search for educational opportunities rather than search for freedome/better quality of life.</p>
<p>hey, my mom is asian and she only went as far as bunker hill community college. so the stereotype doesnt cloak all asians, but it has definitely become a priority in my family. and in most of the other asian famlies i know.</p>
<p>Many cultures value education. The competition for jobs and college positions is tremendously fierce in highly populous nations. It's almost hard to imagine. Did anyone here watch that 60 minutes episode on IIT? (It was probably over a year ago)
Emphasis on education and its correlation to the better life is taken to a certain extreme with Asian parents simply because of that past. </p>
<p>And, this is essentially the first wave of immigration that is getting high-paying jobs. Asians who come here are the ones who get those good positions right off the bat or get into (most likely with scholarship) an American university. The poorer uneducated population don't have the ability to get here. That filter is taken away with most other populations.</p>
<p>just one more thing to add...</p>
<p>people dont understand the definition of competition until they become a part of the asian community lol</p>
<p>you're asian, shrek?</p>
<p>The thing about stereotypes is that they're true in most cases. My mom says if I go to UCSD I'm a failure because "All the people I talk to have children who've gone to UC Berkeley or better."</p>
<p>Just today she told me how disappointed in me she was and asked, "Why do you want to go into Computer Engineering? You want to play computer games all day? Why didn't you go into biology?"</p>
<p>Then she proceeds to tell me stories of people who have engineering degrees that can't find jobs.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, one time she broke down crying because I "failed" the SATs. When is a 1350 failing?</p>
<p>Of course there's always the comparisons. Asian parents love statistical information about other people.</p>
<p>Oh _______ got a ______ on the SAT and is going to (insert name of Ivy)</p>
<p>But I think I have a special case that makes this extra significant. My parents are failed products of college education. My mom was an English major and she speaks English worse than my fob friends who've only been here for two years. I saw her college report transcript lined with C's and D's. As for my dad, he got a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science... he's unemployeed. He has been for the last... 10 years? And it's not because the industry doesn't have room for him. It's because he's too unmotivated to apply to jobs.</p>
<p>Not to say that other races don't encourage their children to do well in school, but Asian parents are extremely obsessed with education. Imagine gathering a group of nerds. All they'd talk about is their computers, compare stats on their computers, say what they wish their computers would be like... Now replace computers with kids. Seriously, you get a group of Asian parents together and they'll start discussing other people's kids and how they've gone to _______ and ________ and ________. They have absolutely nothing else to talk about it seems.</p>
<p>has anyone ever seen japanese schooling programs? they're university prospects are decided at 7th or 8th grade. THey stress college 4 years earlier than us, which is partly why there are so many asians in colleges.</p>
<p>ever been part of a middle eastern family its basically the same thing but we have to have more honor yeah I feel it</p>
<p>i'm white so not really, but my school is mostly asian so i kinda know how they are all pressured with college and stuff. not as many middle easterners, but a friend of mine's dad is just like that.</p>
<p>coolman: computer engineering? That is SO typical desi (kidding). :P..[I'm just guessing you're desi from your use of the word fob...am I right?]</p>
<p>The Asian obsession with stats is beyond obnoxious. Though, I do see where it comes from. I know in India at least, admissions processes are based solely on admissions tests. </p>
<p>randomtask: good point about the idea of planning far in advance - lol my parents bought me an SAT prep book when I was in... THIRD grade.</p>
<p>Dang....Coolman, u got it bad.</p>
<p>I'm Asian and my parents were like that for most of my life. Then, 2 years ago, I told them to **** off and that was the end of it. Ultimately, it's how motivated YOU are and what you're interested in that decides what kind of future and life you want to have. The whole idea of the extreme competition within Asian communities is sickening and patronizing. Assuming that one kind of education is necessarily "better" than another kind of education is absurd (ex. "UC-Berkeley is better than UCSB"); especially if you get into better schools simply because you work harder (or have more money or have a excessive obsession with money) and not necessarily because you are naturally talented and want to learn. This is proven by the fact that many geniuses attend state schools rather than ivies and the fact that some of the most successful people today have never finished college or have even started college. Addressing the patronization: Asian parents (using the stereotype) are degrading their children, because they assume that their children will not be successful without the best education possible. The parents assume that the child have absolutely no chance to build a good life without a ivy league education or a <insert name="" of="" prestigious="" college=""> education, which is totally absurd because this mindset instills a belief in the child that they are worthless and have no skills or potential (other than studying). This is ultimately counterproductive, because even if the child graduates from an ivy league institution, the mindset that education is the end (rather than a means to an end) will preclude the child from acquiring certain skills (ex. social skills) that are critical to satisfying the desired end. Furthermore, the limits that Asian parents put on their children to get a certain kind of job also creates a sense of negative mindset and dependency and actually competes with the earlier idea (of going to the best college) in that it is possible, for example, to go to a state school and an average professional school and become, a doctor or a lawyer. However, the fact that Asian parents not only unreasonably push their children to go to the best schools, but also to become a certain profession, implies two conflicting beliefs. On one hand, the parent is advocating a means to an end (or really, an end, because there are usually threats of poverty and starvation) by pressuring his/her child to go to a certain school; this action could really be an end or it could merely be an effort to gain status in the Asian community (this fact is substantiated by the rampant boasting that occurs within such a community). Again, the motive is unclear and the end is never revealed and coupled with the obsessive pressuring (which obscures any type of individual goals or plans), this deadly combination leaves the child confused, which is ultimately counterproductive and inefficient. On the other hand, Asian parents also pressure their children to get a certain kind of job; usually the rationale behind a certain job is either its status (ex.the field of medicine is noble while the field of business is despicable and corrupt), its employment outlook (ex. engineers have a hard time finding jobs vs. there are always jobs open for doctors), and its wage (this is lightly stressed compared to the other two reasons, BUT this is the MAIN REASON------I swear; I could list about 10 jobs that are really noble and available and make a decent amount of money but are still considered egregious because they make under $100,000 a year). Again, this action parallels the college pressuring in that it disregards the child's desires and individuality and thus stymies development and efficiency; not only that, both instances are simply out of greed (normal pressuring is fine, because it encourages hard work, but the Asian pressuring is counterproductive simply because it places TOO much emphasis on making money and status).</insert></p>
<p>And I've noticed numerous posts on this topic that says that this Asian pressuring is the worst. However, I would like to disagree; for example, most Asians don't live in the ghetto (generalization). Most of the people living in the ghetto are African American or Hispanic. Their pressure to get out of the hood is MUCH greater than any selfish motive that Asians have. That's why so many African-Americans train so hard for sports; not because they don't want to study (like Asians) and attend Ivy League schools, but because the schools they go to suck and don't offer them the academic opportunities that suburban schools do. Moreover, much of the pressure in the ghetto is individual-driven, instead of parent driven. This type of motivation allows for greater understanding of oneself, which leads to more realistic goals, which leads to more efficiency. Moreover, the reason behind the motivation is not merely to become rich, but also, to escape bullets and crime.</p>
<p>Lastly, I would like to say that I'm not entirely ungrateful for what my parents did. In fact, I thank them somewhat because they instilled a sense of hard work into me. However, I SINCERELY regret mindlessly listening to them and believing their threats and obnoxious predictions as true. But not listening to myself earlier, I allowed my goals and identity to atrophy, which I have just begun to reestablish.</p>
<p>Holla to all the Azns out there who are still subjected to the bondage of APP (Asian Parent Pressure)</p>