Thomas's Reviews > The Asian American Achievement Paradox

An excellent book that unpacks common perceptions and stereotypes about Asian Americans’ educational success in the United States. Drs. Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou use rich survey data and in-depth qualitative interviews with 1.5 and 2nd generation Chinese and Vietnamese adults to explore what sociological and psychological structures influence their academic achievement. I loved this book because it dispels the unnuanced assumption that Asian Americans are successful just because our culture values hard work. Drs. Lee and Zhou show how immigrant parents’ “success frame” influences their children’s achievement, in combination with Asian community resources such as college prep courses and tutoring, conversations with coethnic peers, and teachers and guidance counselors who stereotype Asian students as model minorities in the United States. The authors highlight the various negative consequences of the stereotype of Asian Americans as successful and hardworking, ranging from poor mental health in those who do not meet the success frame as well as Asian Americans being blocked from more senior leadership positions (i.e., the “bamboo ceiling.”)

I further appreciated how the authors humanize immigrant Chinese and Vietnamese parents. Instead of falling into stereotypes about Asian parents being “tiger parents,” this book emphasizes how a lot of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant parents push their kids to achieve as an attempt to prevent their children from experiencing anti-Asian racism. They even write about how Asian parents who brag about their kids – often to their kids’ detriments – do so to compensate for the loss of status they experienced when they immigrated from their country of origin. Really, it’s just nice to read a complex yet accessibly written book that centers Asian Americans’ experiences given how we’re so often reduced to one-dimensional caricatures within the United States.

There’s so much more I want to read and research and think about after having read this book too. I’m curious to know more about the mental health of 1.5 and 2nd generation Chinese and Vietnamese folks who pursue these “prestigious” careers and if they’re happy. I’m wondering about how much of this upward assimilation is really just buying into white supremacy and if we should really focus on disrupting exploitative economic practices and systems instead of gaining mobility within them. I’m also going to take a lot of time to reflect on how my own upbringing with the success frame has influenced my drive for excellence in my career as well as how in the past I’ve been attracted to men who went to prestigious universities even though these men simultaneously did not have their emotional and internal lives together at all. I don’t blame the authors for keeping their book more focused on their specific research questions because including too much more would have reduced the precision of their analysis. Would highly recommend to those who want to learn more about Asian Americans’ achievement, especially Asians who grew up with a pressure to succeed and who want to unpack that experience more.