Why is it that children of immigrants often outdo their ethnic majority peers in educational aspirations yet struggle to keep pace with their achievements? This article advances the explanation that many immigrant communities, while positively selected on education, still have moderate absolute levels of schooling. Therefore, parents’ education may imbue children with high expectations but not always the means to fulfill them. Swedish data on children of immigrants from over 100 countries of origin support this view: Net of parents’ absolute years of schooling, a high rank in the sending country benefits children’s aspirations, attitudes, and educational choices but not their test scores or school grades. The upshot is an ‘‘aspiration squeeze’’ where to emulate their parents’ relative place in the education distribution, children are left struggling against the momentous tide of educational expansion.

中文翻译：

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抱负：儿童与积极选择的移民的斗争

为什么移民的子女在教育愿望上经常超过多数族群，却又努力跟上他们的成就？本文提出的解释是，许多移民社区虽然在教育方面受到积极选择，但仍具有中等绝对教育水平。因此，父母的教育可能会使期望很高的孩子受益，但并不总是使他们满意的方法。瑞典关于来自100多个原籍国的移民子女的数据支持这种观点：扣除父母的绝对受教育年限，在派遣国中排名靠前的位置，对子女的愿望，态度和教育选择有利，但对他们的考试成绩或学校成绩没有帮助。结果是“抱负”，模仿父母在教育分布中的相对位置，