Academic achievement of second generation Filipino and Korean Americans: A look at immigrant families and communities

This dissertation examines how ethnicity interacts with a complex array of cultural and structural factors to promote a positive academic experience and desirable outcomes among children of immigrant groups. The focal point of this study is to observe the roles of family and community and their effects on academic performance.;For the purpose of this study, I will focus on the experiences of two ethnic groups, Filipino and Korean immigrants, who are similar in demographic profile and family socio-economic status (SES) but very different in average children's educational outcomes. U.S.-born Filipino Americans do not seem to fare as well as their immigrant parents and other U.S.-born East Asian Americans in educational accomplishments. This is puzzling when taking into account the high educational attainment levels and professional occupational status of their immigrant parents and all other measures associated with high levels of acculturation. In contrast, Korean children fare much better than their immigrant parents and their Asian American peers in education, even when they come from families with lower levels of acculturation and a loss of social status due to immigration.;By closely examining the families and the ethnic communities in which second generation Filipino and Korean students have been raised, this study unpacks ethnicity by focusing on culture and structure in academic achievement. This study suggests that cultural attributes may have an equally or perhaps more important role than family's socioeconomic status in the academic achievement of second generation youth. However, culture is not maintained in a vacuum but needs the support of ethnic social structures. This study finds that certain important ethnic social structures that support education are vibrant in the Korean community but mostly unavailable in the Filipino community. Korean youth benefit from an ethnic social capital that is conducive to academic learning and higher education while Filipino youth follow the average "American" norm in education. Therefore, this study suggests that complete "Americanization" is perhaps not the best avenue for academic success, but preservation of certain aspects of immigrant cultures and exposure to and participation in the ethnic organizations might prove to be beneficial to youth's academic performance.