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theses

Asian Americans have been characterized as the “model minority” due to their extraordinary academic achievement—achievement that highlights immigrant parents’ strong involvement in their children’s education (Lee & Zhou, 2015). But what exactly is it like in Asian immigrant families in relation to parent-child interactions? This dissertation takes a nuanced approach to studying high-achieving Asian students’ college-preparation experiences with an aim to demystify the educational experience of East-Asian immigrant families. Ten Chinese-heritage immigrant families were recruited, including ten high school seniors and seventeen immigrant parents. Data were collected using ethnographic techniques: semi-structured interviews, participant observations and informal conversations. This study provides an innovative conceptual model for analysis of the experiences of academically successful Asian American youth. Using an “identity-in-practice” model (Holland, Lachicotte, Jr., Skinner, & Cain, 1998) and considering the production of these identities across multiple timescales (Wortham, 2006) (i.e., K-12 schooling years) and various social spaces (i.e., home, school and community), I documented the linked effects and consequences of the ways in which immigrant parents interacted with children through students’ K-12 education. The findings demonstrate the interdependent linkages between the following elements of this particular cultural system. They are: (a) the American curricular tracking, (b) immigrant parents’ perceptions of the American education system (particularly in math) that shaped their educational involvement, and (c) students’ racialized learning identification and practices at school. This dissertation furthers our critiques and analyses of the myth that Asian Americans’ high academic achievement is attributable to aspects of “Asian culture” (e.g., “Tiger moms” and their obedient children). Instead, my findings suggest that Asian American students’ academic excellence is the outcome of local productions of academic competition across time and contexts. These productions reflect a complex interaction between locally-generated peer pressure among parents in the community, as well as locally-produced students’ peer pressure at school. By analyzing the taken-for-granted social practices (e.g., Asians students attend multiple after-school tutoring/enrichment programs) and hidden rules of certain cultural behaviors (e.g., Asians work hard) through the theoretical lens of “identity-in-practice”, this dissertation achieves a deeper understanding of the sociocultural patterns of educational achievement of the children of East-Asian immigrant parents.

ETD_8937

Ed.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Yi-Jung Wu

doi:10.7282/T3PV6PSS

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.