Word: successful
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...this would appear to be another success story for the American dream, an example of the continuing immigrant urge to succeed and of the nation's ability to thrive on the dynamism of its new citizens. But there is also a troubling side to the story. Asian Americans consider the "model minority" image a misleading stereotype that masks individuality and conceals real problems. Many immigrant families, especially the Indochinese refugees who arrived in the years following the fall of Saigon in 1975, remain mired in poverty. Their war-scarred children, struggling with a new language and culture, often drop...
Even with these problems, many Asian-American students are making the U.S. education system work better for them than it has for any other immigrant group since the arrival of East European Jews began in the 1880s. Like the Asians, the Jews viewed education as the ticket to success. Both groups "feel an obligation to excel intellectually," says New York University Mathematician Sylvain Cappell, who as a Jewish immigrant feels a kinship with his Asian-American students. The two groups share a powerful belief in the value of hard work and a zealous regard for the role of the family...
Most researchers are unconvinced by the natural-superiority argument. But many do believe there is something in Asian culture that breeds success, perhaps Confucian ideals that stress family values and emphasize education. Sociologist William Liu, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, argues that immigrants from Asian countries with the strongest Confucian influence - Japan, Korea, China and Viet Nam - perform best. "The Confucian ethic," he says, "drives people to work, excel and repay the debt they owe their parents." By comparison, San Diego's Rumbaut points out, Laotians and Cambodians, who do somewhat less well, have a gentler, Buddhist approach...
...strikers were doubtless encouraged by the success of the militant students, who, after months of periodic rioting, finally won major political concessions from the government. South Korea's 10 million workers, on the other hand, have gained comparatively little from their country's vaunted 20- year-old economic miracle. While industrialists have reaped huge profits, little of the wealth has trickled down to those manning the factories. South Koreans last year put in the longest workweek in the industrialized world -- 54.4 hours. Yet they earned an average of only $1.55 an hour in manufacturing jobs, compared with $7 for their...
...Jobs -- dirty, low-paying, but regular -- were available in thriving urban industries to anyone with a mind to work and a back strong enough for heavy lifting. Although pernicious, segregation at least compelled a sense of community, with black professionals and businessmen living among those who were far less successful. "These figures served the black community well as visible, concrete symbols of success and moral value, as living examples of the result of hard work, perseverance, decency and propriety," writes Elijah Anderson, a black professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania...