Asian Students and Multiethnic Desegregation
Asian students are the most successful racial group in American schools in spite of the fact that the great majority of the nation's Asian populations are immigrants or children of immigrants who have come since 1965, when the new Immigration Act ended generations of racial restrictions. No one who examines enrollment trends at elite colleges, sees photos of the winners of the Westinghouse Science contest or valedictorians of metropolitan high schools could fail to be impressed by the remarkable achievements of many Asian students. Although Asian American groups often correctly point out exceptions to the "model minority" stereotype which tends to ignore some Asian and Pacific Island groups that have had great difficulty in adapting to U.S. schools, the overall pattern is one of very high educational attainment. Many commentators in and outside the Asian communities attribute the educational success to cultural values emphasizing educational achievement as the child's primary responsibility. This assumption has even led some to admonish other less successful immigrant groups and of American minority groups to adopt these cultural norms and values. Two issues, however, are often missing from this discussion. The first is that, apart from refugees, immigration law favors highly educated Asian immigrants. This means that we are often comparing the better educated, successful Asian immigrants to low income and poorly educated minorities or immigrants from other areas. Another key issue that is seldom examined is the question of whether Asians are in an educational settings that are similar or different from other minorities. This study examines one key aspect of that question by comparing the level of racial segregation Asians face compared to other minority groups.
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