Parental expectations in education : A qualitative study of the expectations of Nigerian voluntary immigrants to the United States for their children's school achievement

• Main Author: Adeniji-Neill, Dolapo
• Language: en-US
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20526

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008. === The purpose of this study is to investigate parental expectations of Nigerian voluntary immigrants to the United States for their children's education. Immigrant or voluntary minorities are people who have migrated essentially of their own volition to the United States or any other nation because they seek more economic mobility, or a better life in general, and/or political freedom (Ogbu, 1995). This study examines the relationship among three factors: (a) parental expectations, (b) sociocultural and historical experience, and (c) academic achievement or attainment (Jacob and Harvey, 2005; Ogbu, 1995; Olneck, 1995, 2000; Pearce, 2006). Minimal qualitative research has been conducted about African voluntary immigrants and none has focused on Nigerian immigrants who to date are the largest African group in the United States. This leads to a gap in our understanding of parental expectations of these new immigrants. A number of factors were identified which bear on the performance of the immigrants' children born and educated in the United States. These factors led to their successes as students. Thus the fusion of the two cultures, and the human behavioral patterns that emerge from the study, become the basis for conclusions that are formulated under a Nigerian voluntary immigrants' folk theory of parental expectations. === Includes bibliographical references (leaves xxx-xxx). === Also available by subscription via World Wide Web === 208 leaves, bound 29 cm