Most Asian Americans have arrived to the U.S. after 1965. And yet they’re advancing in American society faster than any other racial group. What’s the recipe for their success?
As a side note, let me point out that stereotypical Asian success is far from universal. People from various Asian countries are mistakenly often lumped together. Immigrants from Bangladesh or Laos or Cambodia are not as successful (financially and in other metrics) as immigrants from Korea, Taiwan or India. There are, of course, vast exceptions to this rule.
But for those Asians who are making headway in America, their success can be mostly attributed to these four things: respect for education, family stability, reliability and honesty, and good old hard work. Let’s explore each traits.
Respect for Education
Asian Americans had the highest educational attainment of any race. Chances are, the valedictorian of the high school or college you went to is Asian. 74% of Indian, 56% of Korean and 55% of Chinese Americans have a bachelor’s degree, compared that with 34% of all Americans.
And Asians typically avoid majoring in lightweight subjects like History or Communications, subjects that offer little prospect in the job market. Rather, they study challenging subjects with excellent job prospects, such as medicine and Engineering.
Even while openly discriminated against by the Ivy Leagues, Asians are still disproportionately represented in the Ivy Leagues like Harvard and Yale. They even have a higher representation in these top schools than black Americans, who face much lower admission requirements!
These achievements reflect the respect for education that can be seen in many Asian cultures.
Family Stability
Asian divorce rate is 12.4 percent, the lowest among all the races in the U.S. Compare that with 30.8% for black Americans and 15.1% for white Americans.
And that’s to the advantage of Asian children since kids who come from two parent households tend to do well in school as well as in life.
Reliability and Honesty
Samuel L. Jackson observed in Jackie Brown “Asians are by and large real dependable. They don’t want no trouble.” And many individuals and institutions seem to agree with him on that.
A credit score is one way of measuring how reliable you are with money. And it’s one way of measuring how reliable one is in fulfilling his or her obligations.
Asians Have the highest credit score compared to blacks, whites and Hispanics with an average score of 745. Blacks in contrast have an average a credit score of 677 and whites 734.
It’s interesting how Asians are dominating in American society, which is often accused of favoring whites.
Countries that successful Asians migrate from, such as South Korea and Japan, have been ranked above-average rate in honesty even though they may not have the top spots. If you’re curious which countries are the most honest, it’s Scandinavian and other western European countries.
Hard Work
Asian Americans are largely first and second generation immigrants, more so than other racial groups. In 2016, 48.1% of all immigrants were born in Asia.
And these immigrants seem to understand, unlike many natives here, that it’s possible to make it in the U.S. if you’re willing to put in the effort.
They take advantage of the educational, economic and other opportunities more than other groups do, including whites.
They take advantage of property rights. Between 1980 and 2019, Asian households had the largest homeownership rate increase than any racial or ethnic group, from 52 percent in 1980 to 60 percent in 2019.
As for the educational achievements mentioned above, you’d be surprised to learn what Asians attribute their success to. Asians are more likely to believe that academic achievement results from greater effort, rather than greater skill or ability. So it’s not a matter of being genetically gifted, but simply the result of excellent work ethic.
Economist Thomas Sowell also found this pattern:
In short, a culture of hard work, family values, respect for education and honesty has enabled Asians to succeed in the U.S. And these four attributes can do the same thing for you.
