Revisiting the model minority myth : the multiple pathways after high school among Asian American students

Abstract

Asian American students have long been stereotyped as a model minority who excel academically and thus gain admission prestigious four-year colleges. However, not all Asian American students pursue four-year colleges. Asian American students’ college pathways can be more diverse than the dominant narrative for Asian success. In this sense, this study focused on the factors that influence Asian American students’ college choices, including how they navigate their college pathways after high school. To that end, this study explored the context of families, schools, and communities to gain detailed knowledge and a nuanced understanding of how these factors shape the college pathways of Asian American students, including two-year community college and four-year college. I employed a qualitative research approach and conducted 24 semi-structured in-depth interviews to accomplish this purpose (19 four-year college students and 5 community college students). The research revealed a mixed picture of the resources available to Asian American students as they navigate their college pathways. On the one hand, my findings indicated that Asian American four-year college students had supportive resources in accessing college, including parents’ higher socioeconomic status, competitive high school environment, and college-educated communities. On the other hand, Asian American community college students had fewer options in navigating and accessing college due to parents’ lower socioeconomic status, career-bound programs in high school, and lack of community support. Particularly, my findings highlight that parents’ economic status not only played a more significant role than their education in shaping college pathways but also influenced parents’ expectations and authority over their child’s college pathways. In this sense, Asian American students from both higher and lower socioeconomic backgrounds decided to attend affordable colleges in consideration of their parents’ financial circumstances. My dissertation sheds light on how Asian American students, often labeled as a successful model minority, resist cultural and structural constraints in accessing college.Educational Leadership and Polic