亞裔美國人家庭為教育付出了多少？

My parents bought a foreclosed farmhouse during the 2008 recession. For a decade afterward, we made hour long weekly trips from Kentucky, where we lived, to the farm, which is in Indiana. My parents spent long days there renovating thetermite-ridden 1970s farmhouse while I played in the fields or read in the car.I was in middle school when they bought it, too young to question their motivation for spending weekends toiling over a house in the middle of nowhere.

我的父母在2008年經濟衰退期間買了一座喪失贖回權的農舍。之后的10年里，我們每周都要從我們住的肯塔基州出發，花一個小時的時間去這座位于印第安納州的農場。父母花了很長時間翻修這座建于上世紀70年代、鬧白蟻的農舍，而我則在田野里玩耍，或者在車里讀書。他們買下這棟房子的時候我還在上中學，年紀還小，不懂得去質疑他們為什么要周末到荒郊野外辛苦勞動。

I remained oblivious to its purpose until last summer, when I began applying to graduate school and found that the M.B.A. programs I hoped to attend at?Harvard?and?Stanford?would cost more than $100,000 per year.

去年夏天我開始申請研究生院，發現我想上的哈佛和斯坦福的MBA課程每年費用都在10萬美元以上，直到這時我才意識到那棟房子是為了什么。

“Don’t worry about paying for it,” my father said in Chinese. “We’ve prepared a house — for you.”

“不用擔心錢，”父親用中文說。“我們為你準備了一棟房子。”

The implication— which he later confirmed — was that he and my mother would sell their homeand move to the farm so they could finance my graduate education.

這意味著——他后來證實了這一點——他和母親將賣掉他們的房子，搬到農場，這樣就能資助我的研究生教育了。

My family is Chinese-American. Our race has become synonymous with educational achievement through archetypal icons like the Tiger Mom or popular memes like the?High Expectations Asian Father. These stereotypes may be offensive, butthere is a certain validity to them. In 2019, the?National Assessment of Educational Progress?found that Asians had higher GPAs, and Inside Higher Ed reports that the average Asianstudent scores at least two points higher on the?ACT?or 100 points higher on the?SAT?than students of other races.

我家是個華裔美國人家庭。通過一些典型符號，比如虎媽或“望子成龍的亞洲父親”這樣一些流行模因，我們的種族已經成為教育成就的同義詞。這些刻板印象可能令人不快，但它們也有一定的道理。2019年，美國教育進步評估小組(National Assessment ofEducational Progress)發現，亞洲學生的平均績點更高，高等教育內部(Inside Higher Ed)的報告顯示，亞洲學生在ACT考試中的平均成績至少比其他種族的學生高2分，SAT的平均成績至少比其他種族的學生高100分。

This academic success is not necessarily reflected in critical metrics, like admission toelite colleges. The college admissions scandal has demonstrated how rich andunethical parents can fake criteria from exam scores to sports accolades. Even legitimate academic achievement can be ineffective,?as happened in 2018, when Asian-Americans had the lowest acceptance rate despite holding the highest SAT average in Harvard’s admitted students pool. A lawsuit, inwhich a decision is expected soon, accuses Harvard of setting a?quota on admissions for Asian-American applicants?and holding them to a higher standard than other races.

這種學術上的成功并不一定反映在精英大學錄取率等關鍵指標上。大學錄取丑聞表明，從考試成績到體育榮譽，不道德的富有父母可以偽造指標。即使合法的學業成績也可能無效，就像2018年發生的那樣，盡管在申請哈佛大學的學生中，亞裔美國人的SAT平均分最高，但錄取率最低。有訴訟指控哈佛為亞裔美國申請人設定了入學限額，并且為他們設定了比其他種族更高的標準，預計很快就會有裁決出來。

While?Asians are divided over the Harvardcase, our familiesunite through our concern about the outcomes of these cases. They not only indicate how the courts will treat minorities like us. The possibility of gaming the admissions system also destabilizes the elevated position these elite institutions of higher education hold in American society, and nullifies the extraordinary, legitimate investment of money, labor and emotional energyin education by many families, Asian or otherwise.

雖然亞裔對哈佛一案意見不一，但我們的家庭出于對這些案子最終結果的擔憂而團結在一起。它們不僅表明法院將如何對待像我們這樣的少數群體。利用招生制度作弊的可能性也動搖了這些精英高等教育機構在美國社會中的崇高地位，并使許多家庭（無論是亞裔還是其他族裔）在教育上投入的大量合法金錢、勞動力和情感化為泡影。

The Asian cultural emphasis on educational attainment has financial consequences. A?2017 report by Lend EDU, which surveyed more than 1,400 college graduates, found that among black, white, Hispanic and Asian families, Asiansgave their children the most financial support in paying for college.

亞洲文化對教育程度的重視意味著財務上的更大投入。LendEDU2017年的一份報告對1400多名大學畢業生進行了調查，發現在黑人、白人、西班牙裔和亞裔家庭中，亞洲人為孩子上大學提供的經濟支持最多。

The report found that 70 percent of Asian parents provide financial assistance for higher education, with a quarter paying for half or all of college, compared with about 50 percent of parents of other races.

報告發現，70%的亞裔父母（其他族裔中這一比例為50%）為子女的高等教育提供經濟上的幫助，其中四分之一的家長支付一半或全部大學學費。

My own experience in a solidly middle-class family also suggests that Asians pay forcollege not with extraordinary wealth but with extraordinary measures, like myparents’ eight-year renovation project. In many cases, Asian parents expect notonly to pay for higher education, but also to budget the cost into their finances decades in advance.

我自己在一個穩固的中產階級家庭中的成長經歷也表明，亞裔上拿得出大學學費并不是因為多有錢，而是因為動用了非比尋常的措施，比如我父母歷時八年的翻修工程。在很多情況下，亞洲父母不僅認為有必要支付子女的高等教育費用，而且還會提前幾十年將這筆費用計入財務預算。

I remember little of my life at age 4, but I have one distinct memory: a shopping mall with a well-lit plaza. My parents would take me there for a reading class every Sunday, and then sit through the course with me. At that time we still lived in Beijing, where two-day weekends had not yet been adopted, so my parents sacrificed their one free day to accompany me to class.

我對自己四歲時的生活幾乎沒有什么印象，但有一個清晰的記憶：一個購物中心，有著燈火通明的廣場。每逢星期天，父母都會帶我到那里，陪著我一起上一節閱讀課。那時我們還住在北京，中國還沒有實行雙休日，所以父母犧牲他們唯一一天休息時間陪我上課。

When I was inhigh school, my mother would wake at 6 a.m. to make my breakfast, and sometimes remain at work until 6 p.m. so she could drive me home after I finished my extra curriculars.

上高中的時候，母親常常早上6點起床做早飯，有時候工作到傍晚6點，這樣她就可以等我課外活動結束后，開車載我回家。

My father,meanwhile, remained on call for my math questions and engineering projects. Hespent weekends helping me build catapults for Science Olympiad, and driving meto and from science fairs around the state so I could present my research. WhileI spent the entirety of my primary education in free public schools, my parents had invested thousands of hours of labor in me before I was ever accepted to college.

與此同時，父親會守在一旁，隨時等著回答我關于數學和工程項目的問題。他的周末都用來幫我建造參加科學奧林匹克賽(ScienceOlympiad)的彈射裝置，開車載我往返于全州的科學學術活動，以便我有機會介紹自己的研究。雖然整個小學階段我上的都是免費的公立學校，但在被大學錄取之前，父母早已為我投入了數千小時的辛勞。

In the summer of my junior year of high school in 2013, I attended MIT’s Research Science Institute, a summer program for the best scientists my age. The program’sacceptance rate was about 3 percent, lower than that of Yale, Harvard or Stanford. In our class of less than 90, two have already died. A documentary, “Looking for Luke,”was filmed about the life and suicide of one of my classmates, to raise awareness of depression, particularly in an Asian-American context.

2013年上高三的那個夏天，我參加了麻省理工學院科學研究項目(MIT’sResearch Science Institute)面向最優秀的同齡科學人才的暑期項目。項目錄取率約在3%，低于耶魯、哈佛或斯坦福的同類項目。在我們不到90人的班上，兩人已去世。一部名為《尋找盧克》(Looking forLuke)的紀錄片講述了我一位同學的生平與自殺經歷，以提高對抑郁癥的認識，特別是在亞裔美國人當中。

In my experience, the pressure that Asian families exert on their children takes the form not of actively demanding high marks but of quiet sacrifice in support of our education. While my parents insist my health comes above all else, I would often miss a few meals for class, or lose a few nights of sleep for anassignment in college, because these losses seem small when I know all that they have given for my education.

在我的經歷中，亞裔家庭給子女施加的壓力，不是表現在主動要求高分，而是默默犧牲自己以支持我們的學業。雖然我的父母堅持我的健康高于一切，但我常常為了上課而錯過幾餐，或者在大學里為了完成作業而熬幾個通宵，因為當我知道他們為我的學業所付出的一切，這些損失似乎不算什么。

I feel incredibly fortunate that my parents saved me the worry of how to finance graduate school, but in doing so they have replaced the stress of paying offdebt with another sort of pressure. Debt feels different when I owe my parents instead of some faceless corporation. I notice how their hair has grayed, andthey have grown old in the process of supporting me. Then, I am consumed byguilt.

讓我感到無比幸運的是，父母省去了我讀研的經濟煩惱，但這么做的同時，他們也把還債的壓力替換成了另一種壓力。當我欠的是父母的錢，而不是某個面目模糊的公司，那種債務的感覺是不同的。我注意到在支持我的過程中，他們的頭發白了，人變老了。于是，我深感內疚。

Our homes arenot only the settings for our most cherished memories, but also the products of years of care, labor and investment. I have watched my parents pour their lives into their farmhouse over the course of the last decade. I am driven to work bythe knowledge that they are prepared to sell the house I grew up in to pay formy graduate school, and that if I failed to earn scholarships it would be the financial equivalent of burning down my parents’ home.

我們的家不僅承載著我們最珍視的回憶，也是多年打理、勞作和投入的結果。過去10年里，我看著父母把他們的生命傾注到他們的農舍上。我知道他們準備賣掉我長大的房子，以負擔我的研究生學業；我也知道如果沒能拿到獎學金，那在經濟上就相當于把父母的家付之一炬。因此，我只能發奮學習。

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