Confucian Work Ethic

By Ellie McGrath

Asian-born students head for the head of the class

When the Westinghouse Science Talent Search named its top achievers this month, the announcement was yet another instance of a growing national trend. Grand Winner Paul Ning, 16, is not a native-born American. The son of a Taiwanese diplomat, Ning came to the U.S. at the age of three. By eleven, he was constructing a simple wind tunnel to study the relationship between velocity and pressure. Now a senior at the elite Bronx High School of Science in New York City, Ning feels, "You have to be aggressive in your studies to really understand what you're doing." Adds his mother: "He always tries to prove to us and to himself that he is the best."

Paul Ning is part of a phenomenon obvious to any American who has not been glued to his Sony for the past decade: Asian Americans are only about 1.5% of the U.S. population, but what they lack in numbers they make up for in achievement. Out of 40 Westinghouse finalists, nine were born in Asia and three others were of Asian descent. Some 10% of Harvard's freshman class is Asian American. While no more than 15% of California high school graduates are eligible for admission to the University of California system, about 40% of Asian Americans qualify.

Experts are uncertain about the reasons for high Asian performance. William Dean, who directs special programs in Fort Collins, Colo., where there are 150 Asian-born students, observes that whatever the students' verbal skills, "there is a universal language available in mathematics." The Asians speak it fluently. The national norm for math on the Scholastic Aptitude Test is 467 out of a possible 800. In 1981, Asian Americans averaged 513. In California a remarkable 68% of Japanese-born students scored over 600, as did 66% of students born in Korea.

Some attribute the academic success of Asians to a genetic superiority. In his controversial study last year, British Psychologist Richard Lynn claimed that the Japanese score eleven points higher on the Wechsler IQ test than the American average. Their superior performance on tests of block designs, mazes and picture arrangement, however, may be related to the early study of the complex ideograms that compose their alphabet.

Most educators believe that Asian scholastic achievement has more to do with nurture than nature. They argue that Asian immigrants are accustomed to a more rigorous schedule; the Japanese, for instance, attend school 225 days instead of a typical U.S. schedule of 180. Many Asian-American children have well-educated parents. James Blackwell, a sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, believes that high Asian income levels may account for above-average math performance, since parents are able to send their children to better schools and give them such home aids as learning toys and computers. Most Asians regard education as the best avenue to recognition and success. Bronx Science Principal Milton Kopelman is reminded of "the youngsters who came out of the homes of East European immigrants several decades ago. There is pressure to work, and there is also great respect for education." Sociologist William Liu, who directs the Asian-American mental health center at the University of Illinois' Chicago campus, stresses the importance of cultural conditioning. "In the Confucian ethic, which permeates the cultures of China, Japan, Viet Nam and Korea, scholastic achievement is the only way of repaying the infinite debt to parents, of showing filial piety."

This binary respect for education and elders spurs on Asian students. At Chicago's Lane Technical High School, for example, there are few disciplinary problems with the 15% of the student body that is of Asian parentage. Says Principal Norman Silber: "Our Asian kids have terrific motivation. They feel it is a disgrace to themselves and their families if they don't succeed." The results bear him out: between 40% and 50% of pupils in Lane Tech's advanced-placement math classes are of Asian background, and two of the school's four National Merit Scholarship winners so far are Asian. Says Silber: "The parents are on the school's side."

That parental push has its grim aspects. Observes Liu: "Mental disturbance and even suicide attempts are not uncommon side effects of the intense pressure Asian students feel in the U.S. Not studying hard brings deep guilt." And the single-minded dedication that Asian Americans invest in studying often puts them at odds with their peers.

But for many Asians, stress is the price of survival. Nearly half the 160 Vietnamese students at Brighton High School in Boston left their families in Viet Nam or in refugee camps. These immigrants must learn English at school in bilingual programs. In a Brighton chemistry class, Teacher Dang Pham lectures about the dac, the long and the khi before discussing the concepts of solid, liquid and gas in English. When test time comes, most students choose to take the test in English. Says Pham: "They have to learn to adjust to a new system in a new society so they can help themselves and their families." Out of 83 students on the honor roll at Brighton High, 56 are Vietnamese. All 32 Vietnamese members of last June's graduating class went on to college. Thanh Tran, 19, who left his parents and eight siblings in Viet Nam three years ago, earned a scholarship to Boston College, where he is studying math and computer science. "I came here just for learning," he says. "Every single day I try so hard because I want to help my parents some day. I don't care so much about friends."

--By Ellie McGrath.

Reported by Patricia Delaney/Chicago and Adam Zagorin/ New York

With reporting by Patricia Delaney and Adam Zagorin This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.