In this summary of the 1978 National Conference on Asians in America and Asian Americans, conference proceedings, as well as papers and panel discussions, are briefly outlined. Workshops on foreign policy, immigration, Asian identity, education and employment, Indo-Chinese in the United States, teaching English to immigrants, racism and…

This paper explores the relationship between cultural background and individual styles of learning (cognitive styles) among elementary school students. The hypothesis is that, in spite of dangers inherent in generalizing about all children of a specific culture, there are customary methods of education and child rearing in each cultural group…

Hawaii's history of immigration, language policy, and education are directly related to the issue of bilingual education in its schools today. Beginning with missionary contact, English became the dominant language of the islands, in terms of official policy if not in terms of numerical superiority of English speakers. Until World War II, there…

The author reports on a study of the acquisition of English as a second language by Filipino immigrant children in Hawaii, and recommends a comparative study of this kind across four or more Asian linguistic backgrounds and a comparison of the Hawaiian data with data from children of Hispanic backgrounds on the Mainland. The report concludes that…

The concept of shame may be an important factor in the low utilization of mental health services, under-employment patterns, and religious orientation of Pacific and Asian Americans (PAAs). Pacific and Asian Americans generally have high academic achievement and a low rate of crime and delinquency. Because of this, the myth of the Pacific and…

This paper investigates factors influencing the emergence of a new ethnic identity for Asian Americans, replete with academic achievement and professional success. While Asian Americans were once considered "unassimilable heathens," they have been transformed from "cruel, enemy aliens" to "industrious, quiet, law-abiding…

This study explored multicultural education at a minority university in the Pacific, the University of Guam. The study represented Phase 2 of a research project that began in 1999 with the goal of further understanding the practice of multicultural pedagogy in higher education. Phase 1 measured the attitudes and perceptions of faculty members…

Differences in the motivational beliefs of 154 Asian American and 372 non-Asian ninth graders were studied. Asian Americans' fear of the consequences of academic failure best explained their performance, but this variable least explained results for non-Asian students. Fear of academic failure was a better explanation for Asian Americans than were…

Asian and Pacific Americans (APAs) constitute a small yet important segment of the students, faculty, and staff participating in higher education in the United States. A survey was mailed to student affairs personnel at 70 institutions (classified as "Research Universities 1" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement in Teaching) in 1993 to…

The concept of cultural pluralism and how it is being applied to education, particularly in terms of its implications for Asian/Pacific Americans, is addressed in this paper. First, historical background to the emergence of cultural pluralism as a concept in education (and its institutionalization as multicultural education) is briefly reviewed.…

The paper, originally given at a 1986 Ethnic and Multicultural Symposium, attempts to provide a practical frame of reference for understanding and appreciating the similarities and differences among Asian Americans. Discussed are immigration and settlement history as well as acculturation (types of acculturation and factors influencing…

The idea that Asian Americans constitute a "model minority" needing no special help with education or employment is quite widespread, even amongst government officials. This "model minority" thesis has not been investigated empirically, in part because of the lack of a theoretical construct. An interdisciplinary model focusing…

As a proportion of the labor force or of professional workers, Asian-Americans have always been under represented as teachers in elementary and secondary schools. While the number of Asians going to college and graduating is much higher than the norm for the whole population, four variables are of particular importance in explaining the shortage…

A study examined the trial of People v. Tien (two Vietnamese brothers named defendants in an assault case). In order to understand better the relationship between supportive speech acts and credibility, the study examined how the attorney elicited vivid testimony. One of the ways in which an attorney yields control of testimony to a witness is by…

In the last 20 years, social science researchers have used a variety of methods to investigate the Asian Indian sub-culture in the United States. A national mail survey of over 200 Asian Indians uncovered a number of facts. The income, education, home ownership, and occupational profile of the sample projected an affluent image of the Asian Indian…