“Framing legislation to the address the needs of low-income and low-educational groups has been a difficult task,” said Wu, insisting that many legislators are unaware that there are problems within the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
“We are not an ethnic group in which everyone went to Harvard,” Wu continued.
Contrary to the predominant perception that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are most likely to attend private four-year institutions, far more Asian American or Pacific Islander students attend public two-year and four-year colleges. In fact, most Asian American or Pacific Islander students attend public institutions. In some states like California and Nevada, over half of all Asian American or Pacific Islander college students are attending public community colleges. Enrollment among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders at community colleges is increasing nearly twice as fast as their enrollment at four-year institutions.
Along with the widely held belief that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are only attending highly selective universities, is the idea that as high school students they almost always outperform other racial groups on standardized tests.
Asian Americans as a group substantially outscore other minority groups on the SAT college entrance exam, but they are also present in the bracket of low performers stunted by poor English skills.
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