Scan barcode
A review by circularcubes
The Asian American Achievement Paradox by Jennifer Lee, Min Zhou
5.0
I learned a good deal more about Asian-American and mainstream American perceptions of success than I really expected to from this book. I though I had a fairly good handle on my upbringing, my community, and why my peers and I had the expectations we did growing up in the Asian-dominated San Gabriel Valley, but this book actually gave me entirely new perspectives that I hadn't considered - namely, why was it that I, a Chinese-American from a lower-class, single parent background, was able to achieve as much as my peers from middle-class backgrounds? (Because the support systems of upper-class and middle-class immigrants were brought to the US and replicated but turned into ethnic support systems, thereby allowing first-generation Americans of all economic backgrounds to partake in extracurricular activities, after-school tutoring, and the like that evens the playing field for first-generation students). Why do Asian immigrant parents brag so much about the achievements of their children? (It's a way to make up for their own loss of status when their educational backgrounds, language skills, and prior experience were demoted in value thanks to their status as immigrants in the US). I hadn't given nearly as much thought to the "second generation convergence" as I ought to have, and for that alone this book is worth 5 out of 5 stars from me.
It's so refreshing for me to immerse myself in a book like this, because I've become aware since leaving the bubble of the 626 that "Asians just work harder" and "Asians value education" is not really the reason that Asian-Americans have risen to model minority status in the US. And this book breaks it down in a thorough and easily digestible manner! I almost wish the book devoted another section or two to Asian diaspora communities outside of North America. I've visited Prato and the Chinese-Italian community there, and there were almost no recognizable parallels between that community and the Asian-American community I grew up with in Los Angeles County. I knew that the class difference was the main culprit, but this book fleshes out how class difference can create an entirely different culture of expectations for Asian-Americans.
The chapter on how hard Asian-Americans who remain in a bubble of "coethnics" (aka other Asian-Americans) can be on themselves rings true to me. I've seen it happen myself to my high-achieving peers who still believe that they aren't good enough because there's some other first-generation student who's achieved more Leaving my hometown for much whiter (and browner) communities in Massachusetts has given me outside perspectives that the high expectations that the myth of Asian-American exceptionalism breeds are not that standard of "success," and that they are in fact very high standards that far surpass what has been expected by other families of non-immigrant, non-Asian backgrounds.
It's so refreshing for me to immerse myself in a book like this, because I've become aware since leaving the bubble of the 626 that "Asians just work harder" and "Asians value education" is not really the reason that Asian-Americans have risen to model minority status in the US. And this book breaks it down in a thorough and easily digestible manner! I almost wish the book devoted another section or two to Asian diaspora communities outside of North America. I've visited Prato and the Chinese-Italian community there, and there were almost no recognizable parallels between that community and the Asian-American community I grew up with in Los Angeles County. I knew that the class difference was the main culprit, but this book fleshes out how class difference can create an entirely different culture of expectations for Asian-Americans.
The chapter on how hard Asian-Americans who remain in a bubble of "coethnics" (aka other Asian-Americans) can be on themselves rings true to me. I've seen it happen myself to my high-achieving peers who still believe that they aren't good enough because there's some other first-generation student who's achieved more Leaving my hometown for much whiter (and browner) communities in Massachusetts has given me outside perspectives that the high expectations that the myth of Asian-American exceptionalism breeds are not that standard of "success," and that they are in fact very high standards that far surpass what has been expected by other families of non-immigrant, non-Asian backgrounds.