DOING WELL IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Are Asian Kids Really Better Students?

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Generally, yes. But why? Scientific American, Feb., '92, reports an extensive study of Asian kids and their families, recently immigrated to the U.S. These are the "Boat People" reported in the press a few years ago, who fled hardship, repression, and danger in "relocation" camps in Indochina. Many arrived in the U.S. knowing virtually no English, and with few more possessions than the clothes on their backs. Despite their difficulties, these kids adapted quickly to their new schools, and soon began to excel. 
200 families with 536 children were studied. They had been in the U.S. for an average of 3 1/2 years. All the kids attended schools in low-income urban areas (L.A., Seattle, Houston, Chicago, and Boston), and were evenly distributed through grades K©12. 27 percent of the children had an overall grade point average of "A", 52% in the "B" range, and only 21% "C" or lower. Nearly half earned "A"'s in math; another third got "B"'s. In language skills, of course, they did less well, with "C" averages. Compared to national scores, the Indochinese immigrant kids excelled. Half scored in the top 25%; 27 percent scored better than 90% of students nationwide.In language skills, the Asian kids did slightly poorer than the national average.
One additional statistic appears to provide a clue to this phenomenon. Increased family size is usually associated with poor school performance. A 15% decline in scores is associated with the addition of each child to the family. For the Asian students, larger family size was correlated with improved school performance. A visit to the homes of these kids provided some answers.

Most striking is the effort devoted to homework. The Indochinese kids spend on average twice the time given to the task by non-Asian children. Homework was found to dominate household activities on school nights. Parents see to the chores after dinner, and remain on hand to watch and motivate, although, since they lack English skills and education, often do not participate directly. All the siblings sit down to homework together, the older children helping to teach the younger. The older kids seem to learn as much from teaching during these sessions as from being taught. The younger children are taught not only subject matter, but how to learn. The children experience both learning and teaching as pleasurable, rather than a chore. The familial setting appears to make the children feel at home in school, and thus to perform well there. These parents impart to their children the value of the family as the central cultural institution. The kids learn to value individual effort to achieve goals and influence outcomes, rather than to rely on native ability, fate, or luck, although this value is seen in a context of interdependent and co-operative effort within the family. The older siblings express pride in the scholarly achievements of the younger, whom they tutor each evening. There is an emphasis on education as the key to social acceptance and economic success.

Additional factors were associated with further improvement in the children's school performance: relative equality between the sexes, both for parents and children; and regular reading aloud by the parents, whether in English or in their native language.

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