In comparison, only 25 percent of Vietnamese, 17 percent of Pacific Islanders and 13 percent of other Indochinese -- Cambodians, Laotians and Hmong -- had a college degree
Chim
Study finds that Pacific Islanders and some Southeast Asian groups
don't take the necessary classes or have the money
By Lisa M. Krieger
MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Launched: 08/05/2007 03:03:11 AM PDT
Asian-American students are often viewed as brainy, affluent and
overachieving. But a new government report concludes that several
Asian groups are not well-prepared -- either academically or
financially -- to succeed in college.
Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian students typically do well in
school, fulfilling the "model minority" stereotype, according to the
report by the Government Accountability Office, the research and
investigative arm of Congress. Many of their families have saved money
for college and do not depend on their children's help at home.
But others -- Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians of Vietnamese,
Laotian, Cambodian, Thai and Burmese descent -- do not enroll in the
rigorous math and reading classes needed to climb the ladder of
collegiate success, the report found.
Moreover, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander youths who make it to
college are more likely to need outside financial support and are
often living at home and working to help their families, according to
the report.
For instance, 68 percent of Chinese college students reported that
they could afford college without working, compared with only 36
percent of Vietnamese. Almost half of all Vietnamese college students
said they helped their families with tutoring, translating,
transportation and household chores.
While 42 percent of Korean families had saved $20,000 or more for
college, only 8 percent of Southeast Asian families had.
"The report confirms the need to avoid making national generalizations
about Asian-American achievements in education and conflating all
Asian-American subgroups as if all Asian-Americans are homogeneous,"
said L. Ling-chi Wang, chairman of UC Berkeley's ethnic studies
department. "We need to look at each subgroup separately," he said.
Deborah Reed of the San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of
California agreed with the findings, saying that, when taken as a
whole, "Asians and Pacific Islanders tend to have relatively high
levels of education and income and relatively low poverty rates."
But, she said, "when we look at Southeast Asians from Vietnam,
Cambodia and Laos -- the refugee-sending countries -- we find lower
family income, lower education and higher poverty than for other Asian
groups in California."
To be sure, Asian-American and Pacific Islanders are, on average,
better educated than the average American. Almost half have a four-
year college degree, compared with one-third of whites, 17 percent of
African-Americans and 12 percent of Latinos.
And the academic strength of even the most disadvantaged groups grows
over time, Reed said. "When we look at the second generation, we see
increasing progress."
The study, conducted from July 2006 through July 2007, used data from
the U.S. Census Bureau and two large national education databases.
Researchers also visited eight colleges with high numbers of Asian
students, including Cupertino's DeAnza College, and conducted
discussion groups on these campuses.
Many of the differences were attributed to the number of years that an
ethnic group had been in the United States -- or whether immigrants
had arrived to escape war and persecution or to seek high-tech jobs.
The report, released July 27 before the Education Committee of the
U.S. House of Representatives, found wide differences in:
Adult education. A high percentage of adult Asian Indians (68 percent)
and Chinese (53 percent) had at least a college degree. In comparison,
only 25 percent of Vietnamese, 17 percent of Pacific Islanders and 13
percent of other Indochinese -- Cambodians, Laotians and Hmong -- had
a college degree.
English fluency. More than 90 percent of Filipinos, Indians and
Japanese identified themselves as fluent in English. In comparison,
only 70 percent of Koreans, 62 percent of Vietnamese and 60 percent of
the other Indochinese groups identified themselves as fluent.
Funding. About 80 percent of Vietnamese undergraduates reported that
their parents paid none of their tuition. Similarly, large percentages
of Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander groups lived at home or
attended schools within driving distance of home.
In contrast, many Chinese, Indian and Korean undergraduates reported
that they worked to gain job experience or earn spending money.
Simply put, poverty creates barriers to education, whether one is
Asian-American, Latino or African-American, said Paul Fong, a
political science professor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose.
"There's an achievement gap among Filipino-Americans, Cambodian-
Americans and Vietnamese-Americans -- the haves and have-nots," said
Fong, noting that it can be difficult to dream about higher education
when one is worried about earning money to pay the bills.
MediaNews staff writer Kim Vo contributed to this report.
Contact Lisa M. Krieger at lkri...@mercurynews.com or 650-688-7565.