Parents' Aspirations and Investment: The Role of Social Class in the Educational Experiences of 1.5- and Second-Generation Chinese Americans

In this article, Vivian Louie examines how social class influences Chinese immigrant parents' expectations, strategies, and investment in their children's education. Her findings suggest that, across social class, Chinese immigrant parents have high expectations for their children, reflecting both immigrant optimism and immigrant pessimism about their children's outcomes. However, Louie finds significant differences in the resources and educational strategies pursued by working-class parents and their middle-class counterparts. Louie concludes that the role of the immigrant family is more multifaceted than suggested by previous theories on Asian American educational performance. (pp. 438–474)