Asian American and Asian communities in U.S - Essay Example

One of the very important reasons is that of something called as “Asian parents Syndrome” (Online Education Articles, n.p). It has been an observation that Asian parents generally have higher expectations of their children. It is because of these expectations that many college students feel the need to achieve greater success. Asian parents cannot simply compromise that their children are not the best among everyone, and therefore, this drives the children to work harder (Online Education Articles, n.p). Asian culture and its expectations therefore enable the Asian students to work harder.

Another factor, which plays a very important role, is that of maternal expectations of children. The study conducted by Stevenson group was based on Japanese and American students and mothers. When children did not perform well in school, almost 42 percent of American mothers were satisfied with their child’s performance. Contrary to that, only five percent of Japanese mothers rated the performance to be satisfactory. American mothers were also willing to accept a child’s low performance.

Therefore, the study concluded that such American attitudes provided an excuse for the children for not working very hard. Such attitudes continue throughout life, therefore, American students might not perform better in colleges. Asian students are very adaptable to levels of hard work (Wray, pp. 57). Historically, Asian students have been driven to work harder. Educational achievements had become very important, especially in the case of Japanese and Chinese students. A study done by Suzuki in 1977 (Nakanishi & Nishida, pp.140) showed that Asian Americans came to pursue education because they were considered a ‘minority’ group.

This led them to strive harder. During the 1940s, Asians were discriminated by the trade unions. They were refused membership. After the Second World War, there was a need for white-collar employees because of technological advancements. Thus, education became the prime goal for Asian individuals in order to achieve success. In addition, Connor in 1975 gave the explanation that Asian students had been denied in social and extra curricular activities before the First World War. This had emphasized educational values.

Therefore, studies have proved that historically, Asian students have had the motive to pursue education with full zeal (Nakanishi & Nishida, pp.140). A study conducted on Japanese students and teachers showed that teachers expected a greater level from their students. They are taught that education is difficult, not always exciting, and it also requires a great amount of hard work. Responsibility and perseverance is also taught. Hence, Japanese students have been socialized to achieve success through education.

Therefore, this attitude remains with them throughout life, and therefore when they go to study in colleges in US, they will tend to perform better. Therefore, values of culture also play a significant role (Wray, pp. 54). Generally, Asian immigrants also have spent more amount of time in school. On average, Asian students in their countries spent an average of 240 days in school per year, while the American students spent around 178 days in school every year. Therefore, this increases the performance of the Asian students (Santrock, pp. 626). Some other cultural reasons, which might also form part of religious values, attempt to explain why Asians generally do better in colleges.

There are certain cultural values, which are common