Are the academic and social experiences of Chinese Malaysian students as much an outcome of the selective acculturation strategy of their parents as the linguistic assimilation policy of the government? Driven by economic necessity on one hand and pressured by cultural preservation on the other, Chinese parents first send their sons and daughters to Chinese-medium primary schools and then Malay-medium secondary schools. Facing linguistic assimilation and racial stratification, students with opportunistic attitudes accumulate language capital and obey discipline rules. Those with oppositional attitudes and defiant behaviors are labeled as "hard cores" and pressured to quit school. As "model students" (high achievers) become technical professionals and "hard cores" (low achievers) work as unskilled workers for co-ethnic entrepreneurs, social stratification is reproduced within the Chinese community. (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)