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You also should consider that self-selection of immigrants depends on the country they are from. Most immigrants from Asia (China, Japan, Vietnam, India) have d
by smm2000 12y ago
You also should consider that self-selection of immigrants depends on the country they are from. Most immigrants from Asia (China, Japan, Vietnam, India) have drive, determination and often skills to succeed in US in first or second generation. Most of them were upper/middle-class in their country and are better educated than majority of their countrymen. Structural barriers for that category exist but easily overcome with superior work ethics and education.
On the other hand immigrants from Mexico and Central America are mostly from rural places, poor, barely literate in Spanish and with lower average IQ than general population of their country. Adverse selection in action - it does not make sense for well educated person from Mexico to move to US illegally so only poor and uneducated cross the border. Illegal immigrants from those countries are not really equipped to succeed in American in either first or second generation and this leads to higher crime, gangs, and other negatives. I do not think education system is capable of fixing it.
- jpatokal 12y agoDo you have any numbers to back up your theory? I'll buy that it's true in certain demographics (say, immigrant Silicon Valley hackers vs immigrant seasonal farm workers), but there are/were an awful lot of Asian immigrants who come/came from poor backgrounds with not much more than the shirts on their backs.
- smm2000 12y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_the_United_States_by_household_income http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_the_Un... and http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/rb/RB_905DRRB.pdf http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/rb/RB_905DRRB.pdf Asian American (mostly first or second generation immigrants) have average household income 14k higher than White Americans (mostly native). It's a pretty good indicator of education and class level of immigrants. Also Asians are famous for their work ethics and respect for eduction. Even if first generation is poor and work blue collar job, the second generation is much more likely to get college degree (~5x more likely than second generation Mexican).
- hrktb 12y agosmm responded with numbers. But intuitively, you can compare the efforts needed to immigrate: crossing the border in the desert, or crossing the ocean. Even in the case of an immigrant with a low level of education from a poor background, there needs to be a group willing to make him/her cross the ocean. So from the start (s)he will be have been selected as worth the cost of the plane ticket, and will be integrated in a community/somewhere as soon as (s)he lands in the country to make up for the initial cost.