Girls of Asian descent in France .. What is the secret of their amazing academic excellence?

Children of Asian origin in France, especially girls, are extremely successful compared to the French and others, and they have the best levels in primary and lower secondary and more guidance towards selective specialties, the highest baccalaureate levels and the lowest repetition rates in primary, according to a report published in the French newspaper Le Figaro.

These results were included in a study conducted by sociologist Yael Brainbaum at the National Institute of Arts and Crafts for thirty thousand students between 2007 and 2016, and published in December 2019 in the Education and Training Journal of the Ministry of National Education, which studies "educational pathways for immigrant children up to the baccalaureate."

Asian women excel
The study compared the results of children whose parents were born in France with those whose parents were born abroad, and found that 76.14% of these students who attended sixth grade in 2007 obtained a baccalaureate in 2016, an average that blocks observed differences according to social origin, immigration, and pupil gender.

The study showed that the second generations of immigrants succeed in the baccalaureate more often than in the original French, except for the descendants of the Portuguese who are close to the proportion of the French and the descendants of Asians who exceed them .

She concluded that the only exception is people of Asian descent, both girls and boys, as they have high pass rates for the baccalaureate exams by about 92% and 88%, and they exceed the results for those of French ancestry.

African and Maghreb women
Taking the student's gender into consideration and its origin before migration provides a more interesting picture, so that girls outperform boys whatever the origin, and the difference is especially important for African and Maghreb women whose results are close to French women, unlike boys whose results are relatively less, according to the newspaper.

There are two types of baccalaureate: if girls from several groups get the same level as their French counterparts, then their results in the general baccalaureate are less than French, as the daughters of Portuguese or Maghreb immigrants decrease 15 degrees, and those coming from sub-Saharan Africa or from Turkey 22 Degree.

On the other hand, people of Asian descent outperform those born in France, where they received 63% in the general baccalaureate (+ 12 points). The Asian boys achieved amazing results with a 14 point advantage (52% in the general baccalaureate).

The study showed that the descendants of Asian immigrants are overrepresented among science graduates with about 36% of girls and 42% of boys, which is the most well-known sector, compared to only a quarter of French origin. Unlike them, the descendants of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the children of Turkish immigrants, are the least represented by 7% to 9%.

Repetitive learning
How do we explain these important differences by origin and gender? The newspaper says that a survey of the opinions of the families of these children (numbering thirty thousand in 2011) about the direction intended for their children, showed that Asian families prefer the general baccalaureate exam, especially the science for girls and boys, and on the opposite of them prefer those with Portuguese and African origins and to a lesser extent North Africa a professional baccalaureate degree.

And in Pisa, an international study that analyzes the academic skills of 15-year-olds, Asian countries like China and South Korea have obtained excellent results.

In the International Journal of Education, two educational model experts (Jean-Marie de Ketile and Bernard Hognier) observed in 2015 similarities in methods of learning between Asian countries, where learning is based on repetition based on "observations and imitation" even though students are able to persevere strongly and exert High effort and self-discipline.

Academic success
The international journal pointed to what the researchers noted of the existence of "strong pressure exerted by the parents on the student, in a way that differs from the Western indulgence, as it appears that the goal now is to satisfy the children first" before he cautioned that the teachers are particularly respected.

The paper concluded with what a middle school director in Paris said that the focus on academic success starts from a young age for Asians, as they systematically search for the best high school and the most popular orientation, and ask their children for a form of distinction.