Nigerians Most Educated In The United States – Survey.

Nigerian Americans have long been known for their community's intense
cultural emphasis on education, and now an analysis of Census data
coupled with several local surveys shows that Nigerians don't just
value education, but surpass all other U.S. ethnic groups when it
comes to obtaining degrees.
"Being Black, you are already at a disadvantage," Oluyinka Olutoye, an
associate professor of pediatric surgery at Baylor College of
Medicine, told theHouston Chronicle. "You really need to excel far
above if you want to be considered for anything in this country."
According to 2006 census data, 37 percent of Nigerians in the U.S. had
bachelor's degrees, 17 percent held master's degrees and 4 percent had
doctorates. In contrast, the same census data showed only 19 percent
of white Americans had bachelor's degrees, 8 percent held master's
degrees and only 1 percent held doctorates, the paper reports.
The census data was bolstered by an independent analysis of 13 annual
Houston-area surveys conducted by Rice University and commissioned by
theChronicle.
"These are higher levels of educational attainment than were found in
any other…community," Stephen Klineberg, a sociologist at Rice
University who conducts the annual Houston Area Survey, told the
paper.
However, despite the strides in education made by many African
immigrants, including Nigerian-Americans, discrimination still colors
their prospects for employment. A study of 2010 employment data by the
Economic Policy Institute showed that, across nationalities and ethnic
groups, Black immigrants carried the highest unemployment rate of all
foreign-born workers.
In addition to cultural expectations about obtaining higher education,
the paper reports that many African immigrants are more likely to
pursue higher education as a means of maintaining their immigrant
status in the U.S