Week 3
A03
In the study, Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices, OiYan Poon and Ajani Byrd examines if "Tiger Moms" play a real role in Asian American students' education today. A "Tiger Mom" is an overbearing Asian mom who is very strict with her children about education, and pushes them to become a doctor or a lawyer. The racial stereotype of Asian Americans is that they are overachieving students due to their "Tiger Moms." In the study, it was found that "Asian American students value their parents' opinions, but other individuals and factors also play important roles in their college choice processes" (Poon, 30.) One common theme that Poon and Byrd found in their research, is that many of first generation Asian American students valued the opinions of their high school counselors, and while they took their parents' decisions into account, it was not as strongly as their counselors. This is because many first generation parents are unaware of American education, and are unaware of which colleges are better for their children. It was found in the study that "although Asian Americans are stereotyped as self-sufficiently over-achieving students, many are the first in their families to attend college," in fact, "more than 42 percent of Asian American college students are first-generation college students" (Poon, 29-30.) Even though the stereotype of Asian American students is that their parents are closely parenting over their shoulders and watching every move, this isn't always the case. Many Asian American students have to figure out how to go to college and be successful on their own.
The comic below shows an example of the stereotype of "Tiger Moms." Even though the Tiger Mom in this comic isn't explicitly Asian, it uses common East Asian grammatical patterns, like speaking in the third person. being an overbearing, controlling parent, and bragging how her children are better than others, and were able to perform high-level activities at young ages.
Question: Why is it known that first-generation Asian American students still succeed above and beyond, even if they do not have "Tiger Moms"?
Knight, K. (2011, March 6). Tiger Mom [Cartoon]. Retrieved April 16, 2017, from http://www.knightlifecomic.com/comic/tiger-mom/
Poon, O and A Byrd. "Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices." Journal of College Admission, 2013.
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