NextSharkNextShark.com

Asian Americans in California Split on Whether College Makes Them Successful

Asian Americans in California Split on Whether College Makes Them Successful

November 7, 2017
SHARE
Asian Americans in California are nearly equally divided when asked whether college is necessary to achieve success, according to a new survey from the
The survey, conducted between Oct. 8 – 17, polled 1,703 adults in the state and found glaring differences across racial/ethnic groups.
Among Asian Americans, 54% said college is necessary to be successful, while 45% thought otherwise.
Meanwhile, 67% of Latinos and 51% of African Americans agreed that college is necessary while only 35% of Whites shared the sentiment.
The fact that only 54% of Asian Americans responded positively surprised 17-year-old Darryl Cereno, a high school senior at San Jose’s Overfelt High School. He told the Bay Area News Group (via The Mercury News):
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter

A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.

Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.

Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.

“Usually Asian Americans, especially here in California, are first- or second-generation and there’s this sort of cultural bias where you want to go to college to have a better life, so I’d expect that number to be way higher.”
Cereno, an Asian American himself, will apply to college this year. While scared at the prospect of debt, there’s a reason for him to pursue: Asian American families have seen spikes in their wealth in the past two decades, a trend attributed to the group’s high rate of college education.
Frank H. Wu, a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law and chair of the Committee of 100, a nonprofit organization of Chinese-Americans, said:
“Higher education has been the key to Asian immigrants achieving the American dream. It’s been both incredibly important in the Asian cultures from which they or their parents or grandparents came, and in America, one of the ways to come to the country legally was to go to school or get a job.”
In terms of income groups, the belief that college is necessary was predominantly observed in households earning $40,000 or less a year (59%), while 40% of those earning $40,000 to $80,000 and 42% earning above $80,000 shared the same opinion.
Experts believe that the skyrocketing costs of a college degree and student debt affect the increasing cynicism. The idea that students of color do not generally have access to resources that their white counterparts possess could also explain the numbers. As Audrey Dow, senior vice president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, put it, not everyone can drop out of college and become the next tech titan.
For Wu, the survey nonetheless shows that the value of attending college is being questioned:
“We’re at a turning point, a crossroads,where people are saying I want education, but I don’t want to pay this price for education.”
What do you think? Is college really necessary to be successful in life?
MOST READ
    HAPPENING NOW
      Carl Samson

      Carl Samson is a Senior Editor for NextShark

      SHARE THIS ARTICLE:

      RELATED STORIES FROM NEXTSHARK

      Support
      NextShark's
      Journalism

      Many people might not know this, but NextShark is a small media startup that runs on no outside funding or loans, and with no paywalls or subscription fees, we rely on help from our community and readers like you.

      Everything you see today is built by Asians, for Asians to help amplify our voices globally and support each other. However, we still face many difficulties in our industry because of our commitment to accessible and informational Asian news coverage.

      We hope you consider making a contribution to NextShark so we can continue to provide you quality journalism that informs, educates, and inspires the Asian community. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way. Thank you for supporting NextShark and our community.

      © 2023 NextShark, Inc. All rights reserved.