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COMPELLED TO EXCEL: IMMIGRATION, EDUCATION, AND OPPORTUNITY AMONG CHINESE AMERICANS by Vivian S. Louie. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004. 227 pp. $21.95.
In Compelled to Excel, Vivian Louie questions whether "the story of Asian Americans and education really call to mind an American society where race and class are no longer relevant, as is frequently claimed" (p. xv). She explores the immigration and education patterns of 1.5- and second-generation Chinese American students at Columbia University and Hunter College of the City University of New York. In a thorough analysis of Chinese immigrant parents and their children, Louie examines the effects of socioeconomic status, gender, and geography on educational aspirations. As a second-generation Chinese American scholar, Louie asks us "to consider how culture, which we know to be fluid, is transformed by migration, race relations, and the opportunity structure in the United States, and how this interaction informs children's understanding of aspirations passed by their immigrant parents" (p. xxx).
In the introduction, Louie establishes the context with a discussion of the immigration changes and the positioning of Asian Americans as the model minority in the 1960s. During this time, to mitigate the racial tensions of the civil rights era and the cries for social justice made by other minorities, in particular Blacks and Latinos, Asian Americans were described as a successful minority group that seem to excel in the United States. The author refutes two theoretical frameworks for why Asian Americans were successful. First, Louie critiques the cultural arguments made by researchers who cite the inherent Asian cultural values and their focus on education; she notes the lack of attention to variations among both the students and the institutions they attend. Second, she challenges the argument that suggests economic opportunity structures contribute to educational aspirations; she examines unanswered questions such as why there are...