In “Why So Many Children of Immigrants Rise to the Top” by Peter Coy, Professors Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan observe two reasons why immigrants’ children tend to outdo their peers: “First, the children [have] an easy time outdoing parents whose careers were inhibited by poor language skills… Second, immigrants [tend] to settle in parts of the country experiencing strong job growth.”
My parents immigrated to the U.S. from China in 1995. As the child of immigrants, I’ve grown up with the idea of success from hard work pounded into my head; from five years old, I’ve had a lot of pressure put on me to achieve greatness in academics and all else. I’ve tried my best to make my parents proud, reaching their high standards.
It was off-putting to read this article when I can relate to it. But it’s almost as if the professionals cited are disregarding everything my parents have done for me. It’s like, suddenly, my parents abandoning their previous lives, building themselves up from rock bottom, working hard every day for me and my siblings, doesn’t matter. My parents built me a strong foundation to achieve success and have educated me how. It’s not having better language skills than immigrants or “professional credentials”, or settling somewhere with “strong job growth”. It’s the mindset every immigrant must carry: Work hard every day to achieve true success.
Immigrants come from tough situations. They’ve sometimes dealt with poverty. They know the merit in working hard to escape.