PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lee, Jennifer
AU  - Goyette, Kimberly
AU  - Lu, Jackson G.
AU  - Song, Xi
AU  - Xie, Yu
TI  - The “Model Minority” from Education to the Workplace
AID  - 10.7758/RSF.2026.12.3.01
DP  - 2026 Jun 01
TA  - RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
PG  - 1--25
VI  - 12
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/12/3/1.short
4100  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/12/3/1.full
AB  - In June 2023, the US Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action in university admissions—a decision largely due to allegations that elite universities had engaged in racial discrimination against Asian American applicants. Central to both sides of the affirmative action debate was the recognition that stereotypes of Asian Americans as “model minorities” in the classroom played a role in college admissions. While much attention has focused on Asian Americans in education, far less research considers whether their later careers mirror their early success. Do Asian Americans’ educational achievements translate to success in the labor market? To answer this, we examine how Asian Americans navigate the transition from school to the workplace. Beginning with a review of the research on Asian Americans’ strategic adaptation in educational contexts, we then shift the discussion to how Asian Americans’ adaptive strategies extend into the labor market. Rather than being guided by personal interests and aptitudes, many Asian Americans pursue paths they believe will offer greater social mobility in the face of societal and organizational bias. In spite of their strategic adaptation, the advantage that Asian Americans experience in education often disappears and, in some cases, reverses when the model minority goes to work.