No comparison group was included; there was no comparison with students of similar SES, with similar length of residence, from the same or other countries. In addition, we have no idea how much education the children had before arriving in the US, and what the quality of their education was. Quality of education in the first language is a strong predictor of success (Krashen, 1996).

The Boat People: Were they really low SES?

Caplan and colleagues provide somewhat conflicting information. It is very clear that the Boat People suffered from considerable poverty when they arrived in the US, but it is not clear what SES they had in Vietnam. In one place, we are told that "the vast majority of the parents... came from low SES backgrounds, the poorer and less educated segments of their society (Caplan, Whitmore and Choy, 1989, p. 212), but elsewhere we are told that they "... are much more urban, more highly educated, and skilled in jobs more related to urban environments that the majority in the society they left behind" (p. 27). Walker-Moffet (1995) in fact, concludes that the Boat People study "really tells us is that students from well-educated backgrounds succeed academically regardless of their status as refugees" (p. 12).

There is some concrete data: Whitmore, Trautman and Caplan (1989) inform us that 26% of the parents in their sample had completed high school. This is considerably higher that the 9% reported for the Hmong living in California in 1990 (University of Wisconsin, 2000) but considerably less than the US average of 78% for 1990 (Digest of Educational Statistics, 1966, table 8).

Caplan et al, 1992, however, tell us that about half of the parents read to their children, either in Vietnamese or English, suggestive of at least moderate levels of literacy. Caplan et. al. (1989) mention that a multiple regression analysis was done, and it showed no impact of previous parental SES on school performance of the children, but no details are provided.

A closer look at the Boat People, thus, shows that their school performance, while respectable, was not miraculous. A closer look at their backgrounds reveals the possibility that they did not belong to the lowest SES group, and that at least some of the parents were literate and educated. This case does not provide strong support for the Hard Work hypothesis. It is, at best, a suggestive case that lacks a great deal of crucial data.

The Hmong: Grades yes, tests no.

In contrast to the Boat People, the Hmong clearly are low SES with respect to both income and parental education. Recall that the hard-working Hmong children, according to table 2, exceed all groups in the amount of homework done and are among the high-poverty groups. Does all the hard work pay off?

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