Quantitative, qualitative, and theoretical conversations: Research on Asian American school experiences
Author(s):
Nozaki, Yoshiko; Inokuchi, Hiromitsu
Format:
Journal article
Citation:
Asia Pacific Journal Of Education, Volume 27, Issue 2 (2007-07). pp. 221-232.
Language:
English
Abstract:
Review the books, Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotype: Listening to Asian American youth by S. J. Lee (1996); Up against Whiteness: Race, school, and immigrant youth by S. J. Lee (1996); Asian Americans in Class: Charting the achievement gap among Korean American youth by J. Lew (see record 2006-08834-000); and Compelled to Excel: Immigration, education, and opportunity among Chinese Americans by V. S. Louie (2004). The first book examined how Asian American high school students identified themselves, and how those identities affected their school experiences. The author reviewed very few quantitative works of her contemporaries; rather, she almost exclusively focused on what quantitative works tend to overlook: the intragroup differences among Asian Americans. The second book was an ethnographic study of Hmong students at a public high school located in a liberal city in the US mid-west. The author focused on the way school practices shaped these Hmong students' identities, and particularly how racism informed and constrained their identity options. The third book presents a study wherein the author interviewed 72 Korean American youths of high-school age in New York over a 3-year period. The author stressed that structural factors especially parents' social class affect the students' educational success; however, she also found that schools played a gatekeeper role, as the immigrant parents often lacked vital information about US schools and programs. The fourth book analyzed the interviews with 68 Chinese American college students, considered how both ethnic culture and class interacted in their family and school experiences and how the interaction informed their understanding of educational aspirations passed on by their immigrant parents. The author found that while the Columbia students' paths were straightforward, many of the Hunter students with economic difficulties experienced an interruption of study, dropped out, or transferred to another school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)