Why are Asian-Americans so successful in America?

Lot's of people are talking about Nick Kristof's recent article:

THIS is an awkward question, but here goes: Why are Asian-Americans so successful in America?

It’s no secret that Asian-Americans are disproportionately stars in American schools, and even in American society as a whole. Census data show that Americans of Asian heritage earn more than other groups, including whites. Asian-Americans also have higher educational attainment than any other group.

I wrote a series of columns last year, “When Whites Just Don’t Get It,” about racial inequity, and one of the most common responses from angry whites was along these lines: This stuff about white privilege is nonsense, and if blacks lag, the reason lies in the black community itself. Just look at Asian-Americans. Those Koreans and Chinese make it in America because they work hard. All people can succeed here if they just stop whining and start working.

Let’s confront the argument head-on. Does the success of Asian-Americans suggest that the age of discrimination is behind us?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/opinion/sunday/the-asian-advantage.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

 

When did we enslave them?

Other than that, totally the same.

 

We didn't enslave them, but we did "evacuate" them, lock them up and try to deport all of them, even the American citizens, based on little else than racially motivated hysteria.

 

First of all are Asian-Americans more successful? Off the top of my head I would doubt that the incomes of Laotian-Americans are particularly high on average. And do Filipinos have high average incomes? I don't know.

The economic success of an immigrant group is related to the educational attainments of the immigrant population. I think the average educational level of a Chinese immigrant is a lot higher than of a Laotian. I bet a much higher percentage of Chinese and Korean immigrants came in as graduate students or on special work visas.

 

Well, they outperform whites too, so something about what they do is working.

I think some say the "Tiger Mom" experience is too tough on kids, and not worth it. But, if you reject a path to success, that's a choice. It may be the right choice for you, or your kids, but then you probably shouldn't blame the unfairness of the system for your place in life.

 

Maybe he should have said "Chinese-Americans"(though I think Korean-Americans would have similar numbers):

And let’s just get one notion out of the way: The difference does not seem to be driven by differences in intelligence.

Richard Nisbett, a professor of psychology who has written an excellent book about intelligence, cites a study that followed a pool of Chinese-American children and a pool of white children into adulthood. The two groups started out with the same scores on I.Q. tests, but in the end 55 percent of the Asian-Americans entered high-status occupations, compared with one-third of the whites. To succeed as a manager, whites needed an I.Q. of 100, while Chinese-Americans needed an I.Q. of only 93.

So the Asian advantage, Nisbett argues, isn’t intellectual firepower as such, but how it is harnessed.

 

Kid who sat next to me in high school history class . . . yeah, he did pretty well. Probably never got criticized by his friends for trying to be successful, either.

Kai-Fu Lee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

He moved to Oak Ridge Tennessee in 1973 to attend high school. Was his dad a scientist?

 

His parents didn't immigrate with him. He stayed with a brother in Oak Ridge, who was working as a scientist. His dad was a legislator and a historian.

Easy assumption to make, though. Since so many kids' dads when I grew up there were scientists.

 

I'm not exactly a "Tiger Dad" (and also not Asian), but we set damned high expectations in our house, and so far it seems to be working, though it's very early. It's a tough balance to strike because you also hear about kids cracking under the intense academic pressure. I see how we stack up educationally as a nation, though. And I see studies confirming the lack of skills held by American workers. I guess I choose to err on the tiger side.

It's funny because my wife's a teacher, and she's the one telling me sometimes to lay off the gas. But with all due respect to her, like most here, I've competed academically in fields a little tougher than elementary education. You have to be ready, and most public schools in America, geared toward the vast middle, don't get you there.

 

Slanty eyes allow them to read more without straining.

 

Chris Long will tell you they aren't successful drivers.