http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5791096.html For Woodlands resident David Olowokere, one of Nigeria's sons, having a master's degree in engineering just wasn't enough for his people back home. So he got a doctorate. His wife, Shalewa Olowokere, a civil engineer, didn't stop at a bachelor's, either. She went for her master's. The same obsession with education runs in the Udeh household in Sugar Land. Foluke Udeh and her husband, Nduka, both have master's degrees. Anything less, she reckons, would have amounted to failure. "If you see an average Nigerian family, everybody has a college degree these days," said Udeh, 32, a physical therapist at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. "But a post-graduate degree, that's like pride for the family." Nigerian immigrants have the highest levels of education in this city and the nation, surpassing whites and Asians, according to Census data bolstered by an analysis of 13 annual Houston-area surveys conducted by Rice University. Although they make up a tiny portion of the U.S. population, a whopping 17 percent of all Nigerians in this country held master's degrees while 4 percent had a doctorate, according to the 2006 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. In addition, 37 percent had bachelor's degrees. In comparison To put those numbers in perspective, 8 percent of the white population in the U.S. had master's degrees, according to the Census survey. And 1 percent held doctorates. About 19 percent of white residents had bachelor's degrees. Asians come closer to the Nigerians with 12 percent holding master's degrees and 3 percent having doctorates. The Nigerian numbers are "strikingly high," said Roderick Harrison, demographer at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that specializes in researching black issues. "There is no doubt that these are highly educated professionals who are probably working in the petrochemical, medical and business sectors in Houston." Harrison analyzed the census data for the Houston Chronicle. Stephen Klineberg, a sociologist at Rice University who conducts the annual Houston Area Survey, suspects the percentage of Nigerian immigrants with post-graduate degrees is higher than Census data shows. Of all the Nigerian immigrants he reached in his random phone surveys 1994 through 2007 — 45 households total — Klineberg said 40 percent of the Nigerians said they had post-graduate degrees. "These are higher levels of educational attainment than were found in any other ... community," Klineberg said. There are more than 12,000 Nigerians in Houston, according to the latest Census data, a figure sociologists and Nigerian community leaders say is a gross undercount. They believe the number to be closer to 100,000. Staying in school The reasons Nigerians have more post-graduate degrees than any other racial or ethnic group are largely due to Nigerian society's emphasis on mandatory and free education. Once immigrating to this country, practical matters of immigration laws get in the way. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 made it easier for Africans to enter the U.S., but mostly as students or highly skilled professionals — not through family sponsorships, Klineberg said. So many Africans pursue higher levels of education as an unintended consequence of navigating the tricky minefield of immigration, said Amadu Jacky Kaba, an associate professor at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., who has done research on African immigrants in the U.S. "In a way, it's a Catch-22 — because of immigration laws you are forced to remain in school, but then the funny thing is you end up getting your doctorate at the age of 29," Kaba said. "If you stay in school, immigration will leave you alone." Although Kaba, who teaches Africana Studies, is not from Nigeria (he is Liberian), he said he, too, found himself pursuing a master's and then a doctorate to remain in this country legally. But not all Africans have to go this route. Some say their motivation is driven by their desire to overcome being a double minority: black and African. Take Oluyinka Olutoye, 41, associate professor of pediatric surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He came to this country already as a medical doctor but decided to pursue his doctorate in anatomy to help set himself apart. "Being black, you are already at a disadvantage," said Olutoye, whose wife, Toyin Olutoye, is an anesthesiologist at Baylor. "You really need to excel far above if you want to be considered for anything in this country." Family expectations All this talk of education creates high expectations for children of Nigerian immigrants. The eldest child of David Olowokere, chairman of the engineering technologies department at Texas Southern University, for example, is already working on her master's degree in public health in Atlanta; the middle child is pursuing a bachelor's in pre-medicine. His youngest, a son, attends The Woodlands High School. He already has aspirations to go into engineering, just like his parents, Olowokere beams. "The goal is for them to do as good as us — if not better," he said. Oluyinka Olutoye put it another way. "The typical saying in a Nigerian household is that the best inheritance that a parent can give you is not jewelry or cash or material things, it is a good education," he said. "It is expected
Having just finished my M.S. (pats self on back) I can attest that there were a significant number of nigerians both in my classes, and in other programs. Nice, and very driven people. Weirdly, I knew two people from Chile with phd's going back for their THIRD masters degree.
I never realized the percentages for graduate degrees were so low. It makes sense, though. Nigeria has a pretty good school system based on the British model (one of the few nice things about colonialism) so it is not too surprising. My father used to talk to Hakeem about it and he thought his Nigerian schools were better than US.
They are pretty good at scamming people out of their money; you know they are smart I think immigrants in general do better than the people born/raised here. If the immigrants screw up then it is back to life in their country which probably isn't as good as the US. They have more incentive to succeed.
Agreed. Most Americans have a feeling that they cannot fail at life. School is easy and teachers try to help you get through. You hit real life and BAM, next thing you know you are middle aged, poorly educated, working a long hour low paying job worrying about your replacement being hired for 20% less any day. OOPS Most immigrant sub groups instill the idea in their young that they have to work hard from day one. It isn't that Nigerians are smarter than your typical American, it's that they are instilled with the work ethic that Americans have forgotten.
I don't know if they're Nigerians, but a very large % of the pharmacists I encounter in the Baltimore area are from Africa.
Would it possible for African immigrants to change the African American culture in the future? Or the two culture totally seperate that they will never mix?
Also the people who immigrate here are usually the most determined and smartest of their country. They just represent the cream of the crop in their own country. Just if we took the brightest from our country and sent them somewhere I bet there would be a study say Americans were the smartest. I don't think its necessarily all countries instill a strong work ethic. Otherwise those countries wouldn't be so crappy.
Then how come they always need my help to transfer funds out of the late General Sani Abacha's account?
depends on where you live and who you hang with i would guess. here in nyc, the majority of people i hang out with have advanced degrees. i guess if i lived in appalachia my social environs might be different, no?
I've suspected this for years, based on my previous job as a foreign education consultant. To me, it's only natural for Nigerian immigrants -- who already hold at least a bachelor's degree from Nigeria -- to seek post-graduate studies here in the U.S. Why do I say that? Because a typical bachelor's degree from Nigeria has more advanced-level coursework (i.e. what would be considered graduate-level coursework here in the U.S., for example in engineering) than even most master's degree candidates in the U.S. will ever be required to take. It's ridiculous how much knowledge the average Nigerian institution crams into a five-year program in engineering, keeping in mind that they don't have the typical two-year 'filler courses' that we call 'core courses' here in the U.S. So they may not be as 'well-rounded' as the average U.S. college student, but they end up having so much more degree-related knowledge about their field than a comparable U.S. student will ever attain, even if he goes for his master's. The only exceptions here are professional health degrees (e.g. medicine, pharmacy, etc) and legal degrees in the U.S., which are world class and probably as demanding or more demanding than anywhere else in the world. The Nigerian education system is very, very good and very demanding as well. You typically get into programs based on your performance at the secondary level, so all the 'cream of the crop' end up going into the advanced sciences (e.g. engineering, medicine). The WAEC college entrance examinations really should be put on a pedestal and imitated/duplicated by every developing country in the world. Also, most Nigerian immigrants to this country already have at least a bachelor's degree before they ever get here, which helps a lot in preparing them to succeed here in the U.S. Of course, English is the language of instruction in Nigerian schools, so that can't hurt either. I think the Nigerian success story proves once and for all that education is, more than anything else, a deeply embedded cultural value. It's the primary reason why most immigrant communities in the U.S. end up doing well for themselves, which includes African immigrants whom, as the article correctly points out, have to take on the challenge of being a 'double minority'. On the flip side, it's also the primary reason as to why the two largest minority communities in the U.S. (American Blacks and Hispanics) lag behind in all economic indicators: there isn't as much emphasis on education, let alone higher education. I should also say something about the whole myth about how the U.S. gets the "cream of the crop" immigrants from other countries. This couldn't be farther from the truth. I worked in immigration before, and by and large the vast majority of immigrants to this country come from the lower or middle-class strati in other countries. The so-called 'elites' tend to, by and large, remain in their countries, where they're already privileged. Those the U.S. tend to get are the hard working, ambitious types who haven't had as much luck 'back home' and look to build a better life here in the U.S. So think more along the lines of the "give us your tired, your poor" when it comes to the overwhelming majority of immigrants to this country. The good news is they're self-driven and they tend to get rewarded for that in this country, where hard work, combined with education, is a winning recipe. Just thought I would clarify a few things...
I am thinking they're referring more so to the idea that the average immigrant is of the "I'm big back in my country" mold, i.e. a social 'elite'.
Not really. All the scams SamFisher and co. mentioned are the doings of the unscrupulous Nigerians that do not feel the need to work as hard as the other ones going about their education. I can tell you that African parents respect Asians a ton because they are similar in regards to the educational demands they put on their kids.
Not at all. There's a bit of a problem between both communities. There's hating going on by part of the African -American community that don't like the fact that Nigerians come to the U.S and take advantage of the Educational opportunities and succeed while. On the other hand, part of the Nigerian community that takes care of their educational pursuits proceed to show arrogant attitudes to the African-Americans that have failed to take advantage of the Education here in America. That portion of African-Americans looks at Nigerians as scamming, jungle Africans and all the other stereotypes, while the portion of Nigerians looks at AA as drug loving, uneducated and lazy bums. It's all absolutely silly.
