Compelled to excel : immigration, education, and opportunity among Chinese Americans / Vivian S. Louie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Louie, Vivian S.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chinese Americans--Social conditions.

Chinese Americans.

Chinese Americans--Economic conditions.

Children of immigrants--Education--United States.

Children of immigrants.

Children of immigrants--Education.

Chinese Americans--Education.

United States.

United States--Race relations.

Race relations.

Physical Description:

xxxv, 227 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2004.

Summary:

In the contemporary American imagination, Asian Americans are considered the quintessential immigrant success story, a powerful example of how the culture of immigrant families--rather than their race or class--matters in education and upward mobility. Drawing on extensive interviews with second-generation Chinese Americans attending Hunter College, a public commuter institution, and Columbia University, an elite Ivy League school, Vivian Louie challenges the idea that race and class do not matter. Though most Chinese immigrant families see higher education as a necessary safeguard against potential racial discrimination, Louie finds that class differences do indeed shape the students' different paths to college. How do second-generation Chinese Americans view their college plans? And how do they see their incorporation into American life? In addressing these questions, Louie finds that the views and experiences of Chinese Americans have much to do with the opportunities, challenges, and contradictions that all immigrants and their children confront in the United States.

Contents:

Part 1 Family Journeys to America

1. Mainstream, Suburban America 1

2. Urban, Ethnic-Enclave America 16

Part 2 How Children Make Sense of Education: A Family Matter

3. Ethnic Culture, Immigration, and Race in America 37

4. Cultures-in-Transition: Gender and Migration 64

5. "Ending Up" at Hunter 83

6. A Place at Columbia 104

Part 3 The Second-Generation Experience

7. Parental Sacrifice and the Obligations of Children 123

8. Second-Generation Identities 146

Conclusion: Looking toward the Future: A Raceless World or a World Divided by Race? 164.

Notes:

Based on the author's thesis (Ph.D.--Yale University).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-224) and index.

ISBN:

080474985X

0804749841

OCLC:

55149330