Assignment

"Why do Asians in the United States have a higher level of academic achievement?" has been a persistent question about Asian Americans and education. The question arises from a number of statistics that provide evidence for Asian American academic achievement:

1. Nationwide, 51% of Asians aged 25 and over have a bachelor's degree as compared with 30% of the general American population of this age

2. Asian students score as high or slightly higher on tests that measure the achievement gap

3. In places like New York City, selective high schools are disproportionately Asian.

Answers to the question about academic achievement and Asians often hinge on culturalist rationale, i.e., there is something about Asian culture that produces this outcome. However, as we discussed with Model Minority representation/racializaiton, the argument about Asian culture both reduces a diverse population and by supposedly finding an inherent trait that travels with Asians across time and culture, positions Asians as outside of the social body of the United States.

Research has pointed to other explanations - rooted in structural factors such as immigration, class and community resources - to explain Asian academic achievement.

In this reflection

Answer the following:

• What are test prep centers?
• What role do the centers play?
• Why are the test centers in particular communities and not a resource for the general popualation?
• If you had a chance when you were in high school, would you have liked to take a test prep class offered through the institutions profiled? Why or why not?

Additionally track the explanations given to why Asians are successful in school and who is giving the explanation (scholars, business people, students, parents etc.) Which ones are cultural and which ones are structural? Finally, do you see echoes of the model minority article from 1966 that we read in class earlier in the semester? How?