Is academic achievement commonly associated with Asian students really based on immigration?
Asian Americans have a high percentage of immigrants (about 66% in 2010) and first generation kids of immigrants compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the US. Since immigration across oceans often tends to have a strong selection effect in terms of both self-selection (it takes a high level of motivation to move to a distant country) and selection by destination country (often in favor of skilled workers or graduate students), that likely creates a tendency of the immigrants to be high academic achievers and have high achieving kids (whether you see it as nature, nurture, or both) relative to the non-immigrant population.
So are people in general attaching the image of high academic achievement to a visible characteristic (Asian race or ethnicity) while ignoring the possibly more relevant associated characteristic (generation since immigration)? Would comparisons across racial and ethnic groups stratified by generation since immigration and educational attainment of the immigrant ancestors reveal something different from what is commonly assumed?
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