asian americans and classical music

I always sort of wondered this myself... Why do so many Asian families encourage/coerce/force their children to play classical instruments? I was not immune to this phenomenon, doing a short stint of piano lessons in my younger years. They didn't stick. In this interview, author Mari Yoshihara talks about her new book, Musicians from a Different Shore: Asians and Asian Americans in Classical Music, and why so many Asian Americans devote themselves to western classical music: Interview with Mari Yoshihara. I guess "because their parents make them" is not a good enough answer. Thus, the book.