Week 2 Jianwei Zhu A02

In the article “Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety”, Poon, O and A Byrd discussed a phenomenon that how various factors plays a different role in choosing their college path for American Asians. Most of the Asian American students would take their parents into consideration before making their choices. Their studies found there is significant difference in resources and informations in Asian American college choices. Asian American students are experiencing different stages in choosing their college paths. Different ethnics, genders and generational differences found significant differences in Asian American college choice. With different social identities, Asian American students are more likely to experience various factors in college context and choices in different stages. There are significant less amount of first generation college students, comparing to non-first generations. Educated parents are more likely aware of their influence for their children’s college paths and provided guidelines and needs to explode different path. Comparing to the first generation college students, where they might not be able to get the informations and resources to help them decide what they want to do in their careers. For the first generations, school counseling and their teachers are more likely to guide them to find their college path. As a first generation myself, my parents didn’t really have much influence in my college path because they are just too busy worrying about paying the bills and providing me the financial need to just going to college. However, this phenomenon can also cause students to feel obligated to pick a path that more likely to sustain themselves and their families. Therefore, parents stills plays an important factors in these situations. Parental involvement is inevitable in shaping college decision when it comes to informations and resources. This is the reason why is important to consider the diverse needs for Asian American students when approaching college choices. With different genders, for females, parents are more likely to have an influence in their college paths comparing to males. This could be the nature of women are more agreeable to what other people say comparing to men. The diversity of ethnic, genders and generational differences requires different supports and attentions to navigate paths that fit different individuals. My question after reading this article is that “What would be a better way to design a systematic way to help Asian American students to gain the informations and resource they need for choosing college path?”.

References:

• 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.
• Maloney, Damien. How to Get Into an Ivy League College—Guaranteed. Bloomberg Businessweek, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-03/college-consultant-thinktank-guarantees-admission-for-hefty-price.