Election Thread

[BigGrim]

I'm curious. How do you explain the fact that Asians as a group are so successful? I mean, they came to the US just like so many other immigrants, poor with no language skills. Yet they've got to be the most prosperous and successful group in this country. They don't seem to need any "special" programs either. In fact, they're so successful that while they are definately a minority, I think that as far as special programs are concerned, they get as much benefits from them as whites do - less than zero. Yet, many of these people have been poor for generations in their old country, and often enough the first generation stays poor in this country also. I, of course know why this is the case. Your explanation?

-A

Ooo! Ooo! Me! Me! I'll chime in!

The success of Asian immigrants, I believe, is based on a multigenerational quality inherent to most Asian countries for more than a couple millenia. Confucianism, a philosophy that emphasizes education and meritocracy, has influenced many nations for a long, long, long, loooooooong time. China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam have all been influenced by this philosophy system. Buddhism and Hinduism also have ideologies that promote the pursuit of knowledge on the path of enlightenment as the spiritual goal for their followers, so that further promotes the Asian "culture of learning".

As Griselda mentioned multigenerational poverty with certain children are not expected to succeed as well as others, but that bias can go both ways. Asians are expected to excel in academics. Even if society didn't emphasize this through media, many asian parents expect their children to perform well at school. The children are taught from an early age by their parents to strive to succeed. Furthermore, Asian parents tend to go out of their way to give their child as many advantages as possible to seek new knowledge and excel. Anyone familiar with Japanese culture knows that not only do those children go to regular school, but they often go to other classes afterwards to compete in that society (Which does lead to some negative social connotations). Likewise, in Asian communities, you often see private schools offering enhanced education courses like those that aid in the SAT's.

In recent generations, Asian immigrants aren't always the poorest of the poor either. Take into account the rise of communism in Vietnam that caused many educated Vietnamese families to flee from their nation and immigrate to the United States. The Philippines was a colony of the United States for almost forty years counting the period of World War II. I personally know that in the Philippines, numerous doctors are going back to school to become nurses because they can immigrate much easier to the U.S. with those types of degrees. Successful immigrants bring in family members who support one another and make it easier for these new immigrants, so there are many first generation immigrants that do quite well.

I had a history teacher who retired recently who commented on the Americanization of Asian children. He noted that the further the children got from the first generation of immigrants and the more Americanized they were, the less diligent they were in their studies. There's something to be said about hunger from immigrating into the land of opportunity. I've heard the same said of Latino communities where first generation immigrants work hard as hell to provide their children opportunities and it's the latter generations that squander them.

As for the Black communities? People who immigrate from Africa are some of the hardest working and educated people I've met out there and often very successful. They haven't been indoctrinated by years of American expectations that also manage to benefit the Asians.

This has been another Asian immigrant offering a detailed explanation of his opinion. Thanks for reading!