The State - News from April 17, 1988

A study to determine whether Southeast Asian refugee students are likely to become economically self-sufficient has found that, although many of the students have high grade-point averages, they do not do well in state tests for reading, language expression, comprehension and vocabulary. The $38,000 study, which was paid for by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, focused on Indochinese students among 24,660 juniors and seniors in San Diego-area schools over an 18-month period. Co-researchers Kenji Ima and Ruben G. Rumbaut, sociology professors at San Diego State University, warn that Southeast Asian students are wary of English courses, because the students find them difficult and fear they will lower their grade-point averages.