Some of those parents work doing manicures and pedicures. They will spend the money on math programs but do without so their kids accel and don't have to do the same. It is all about priorities with immigrants.
I'd need to see statistics on this claim. What percentage is "some?"
What difference does it make what the percentage is?
Most of the people around here who send their kids to the Russian Math School and suchlike are tech workers or other professionals. I know this because they're classmates of my kids at private schools and I talk to them. I also see their work badges (a Kumon abuts our local grocery store, and I take one of my kids to the Mathnasium). They also drive expensive cars. Half or more are immigrants.
We have a mix of both here (high income, middle income and low income) all sending their kids to after-school enrichment. I don't know the exact percentages, but I do know parents from each SES sending their kids to these types of programs and the motivation is pretty much the same no matter what the SES - they are either sending their children because they see an opportunity for learning above and beyond what the children are receiving in school and because they perceive that opportunity to be worthy of the investment in time/money. None of the parents I know would qualify as "tiger" parents who are pushing their children beyond their children's ability, they are simply parents who value education and see it as a means to an end. For some of the parents, that end is "catching up" their children who have fallen behind in regular school and aren't receiving the extra help they need because their children don't qualify for it. For others the goal is adding on extra enrichment that just isn't present in a curriculum aimed squarely at the bottom-half-of-average (in our area). I'd say that quite a few of the parents who send their kids to these enrichment programs are immigrants who purposely worked hard and studied hard to get here to the US. They see education here as the key to success and they are giving their children everything they can to help them find the key, to give them a better life. I don't see that as triggering or pampering in any way, shape, or form - that's simply parenting in the way that fits a family the best.
I also know, having friends who are immigrants, that it's not always easy to come to the US and find work at the professional level you were working in previously in your country of origin, unless you were brought over to the US *by* a company who needed you or unless you came to the US on a student visa and graduated from college here. There's a good chance that some of the immigrants who are in low-paying jobs and sacrificing salaries for education for their children are people who would have been working as engineers, professors, medical professionals, architects etc back in their home countries - but they all saw something to strive for in coming here, and they all have hopes that their children will have good options going into college and careers. Bottom line is, most of us parents all want the same thing for our children - health, happiness, a bit of a challenge intellectually, and an opportunity for an adulthood that is filled with stability, possibilities and love
polarbear
