Portland State Magazine Fall 2016

JUNGHEE LEE knew she had tapped into something revealing when the parents she was interviewing started getting intensely personal. Speakers would begin by saying, “Well, this happened to a friend of mine,” then let go with emotion-filled stories about what it’s like to be a Korean immigrant parent, trying to raise and educate children in a new country without understanding the language, the mores, the popular culture. And, for the first time, someone was listening. “I was surprised to hear the depths of their struggle,” Lee says. “Because whenever I met with school representatives, the common message I heard was Koreans don’t have any problems. Korean kids are very good. They’re model students.” But the story I heard in the focus groups was very different.” An associate professor in Portland State’s high-ranking School of Social Work, Lee led a team of researchers to study the challenges faced by Korean-American immigrant parents and how to help overcome them. The results, published in the Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies , could have far-reaching impact, not just for Koreans but also for other Asian immigrants facing similar obstacles. For Korean immigrant parents, supporting their children in American schools can be a confusing and difficult task. WR I T T E N B Y HARRY E S T EVE CULTURE CHALLENGE Hill Street Studios/Getty Images