From: bshieh@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Ben Shieh)
Subject: Asian American Studies Paper
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 06:23:42 GMT


     A few days ago I posted something asking for input for my Asian American
Studies Paper.  Thanks to all of who responded.
     For those who missed it, I'm doing a paper for an Asian American Studies 
class.  The class is "Asian American Family and Culture".  The report I'm doing
for the class is focusing on how Chinese and Taiwanese American families 
influence what careers and majors their children choose.  My focus has
been on second generation Engineering/Science/Math majors.  That is the 
children of immigrants who choose Engineering/Science/Math as their
majors.  I was going to look at all majors, but after talking to my Professor,
decided to narrow my focus.  Still I'd like to hear from people of all majors.
I don't expect this paper to win the Pulitzer or anything.  
I'll just do my best to truthfully convey the experiences of those I 
interview and those who respond to this post.
      Anyway, I'll appreciate any responses to the questions below.

Where are your parents from originally?
Where did they go for undergraduate education and what did they study?
Where did they do their graduate work?
When they first came to the U.S. was it their intention to stay or to
    get the education and return?
Why did they decide to stay in the U.S.?

Where and when were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Do you have any brothers and/sisters?
What language do you speak at home?

What's your major/career?
Why did you choose your particular major/career?
Was there any pressure from your parents regarding your major?
What major would/do your parents want you to study? Why?
What kind of pressure?  Subtle? Direct? 
In terms of pressure what techniques did they use?

Is there a difference between the way your parents treat older vs. younger
    siblings with respect to career/college major choices?
Is there a difference between the way they treat/pressure sons vs.
    daughters?

Did English skills or lack thereof produce any tendancies at an early age
    towards math/science subjects in school?
      Some interviewees spoke little English when they first started school 
      despite being raised in the U.S. Some spoke no other language than 
      English even when very young.
Did English skills of parents affect quality of schoolwork?
     Example.  I've had interviewees say that they could get help from parents
        when doing math or science homework. But that their parents couldn't
        help them with English homework or papers. So they did better in math/
        science courses.  I've also had interviewees say their parents' 
        English skills made no difference.

How do you think your parents would have reacted if you had chosen a 
     major/career not to their liking?

Any family influences besides parents? How well an older sibling did?
      Any extended kin?
     
Is there any pressure from the "grapevine"?  i.e. Do your parents talk with
   friends about your achievement?  And do your parents frequently talk
   about how a friend's son or daughter is doing?
     This wasn't originally a question I asked. However some interviewees
     mentioned anecdotes of how parents would talk with friends about
     how their kids were doing and what they were studying.



I'm not looking for any particular responses.  Please take the questions
with as open an interpretation as you wish.  I'm not trying to make
responses "fit" any preconceived ideas of what the responses will or should
be.  Not all these questions may be relevant to everybody's experiences.
Please add any thing you think may be relevant.

Thanks in advance to any and all responses.

Ben Shieh
bshieh@cory.berkeley.edu

Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american