Does Selective Migration Matter? EcpGaining Ethnic Disparities in Educational Attainment among Immigrants ’ Childken’

Understanding why some national-origin groups excel in school while others do not is an enduring sociological puzzle. This paper examines whether the degree of immigrants ’ educational selectivity- that is, how immigrants differ educationally from non-migrants in the home country- influences educational outcomes amon roups of immigrants’ children. This study uses published internationa f! ata and U.S. Census and Current Population Survey data on 32 immigrant groups to show that as immigrants ’ educational selectivity increases, the college attain-ment of the second generation also increases. Moreover, the more posi-tive selection of Asian immigrants helps explain their second genera-tions ’ higher college attendance rates as compared to Europeans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Latinos. Thus, the findings suggest that inequalities in relative pre-migration educational attainments among immigrants are often reproduced among the next generation in the United States. Immigrants, especially from Asia and Latin America, have entered the United States in record numbers since 1965. This seemingly endless immi-gration flow will shape American society in crucial ways, and its impact hinges on the adaptation of immigrants, and, most critically, their children. Two issues dominate today’s immigration debates: 1) the progress of immi-grants themselves, including whether they are of “declining quality,”2 and 2) the mobility of immigrants ’ children. Both issues are complex, as immigrants and their children display a remarkable range of characteristics and out-comes. Research on the second generation- children of immigrants raised i