Silent Gratitude: Education among Second-Generation Vietnamese in Norway

Abstract

Some minority groups manage well in the Western education system; others do not. In this paper we investigate the role of parental education and family relations in explaining the relatively-high school performance among youth of Vietnamese origin in Norway. Differences in parental education and family relations can also help us to understand the internal differences in school performance of these young people. We use quantitative register data, qualitative data from in-depth interviews and survey data. Our results indicate that parental education does not explain their offspring's relatively high educational performance, nor does parental education per se seem to impact as much compared to pupils of majority background. The qualitative data suggest that family relations can provide a more promising approach to understanding these Vietnamese youths' educational success and differences. This is partly supported by the survey data, althoug the correlations are weaker than expected.