Asian Americans Students Need to be Accepted in a School Setting
An important problem that needs to be addressed is that Asian American students are not being treated equally with respect and accepting their values and differences among students of different races. Asian American students are always thought to be nerdy and very studious and the stereotype of Asian American students always excelling in academics contributes to that image. This stereotype, however, negatively affects Asian American students as it puts academic pressure on the students along with separating them from the rest of the students. This barrier between the students needs to be taken down so everyone can be treated as equals and one race is not higher up on the academic pedestal compared to others.
All students must be accepted for who they are and their unique backgrounds. The Asian American students’ stereotype hinders that and puts all Asian students under the same umbrella and the same single story. This prevents everyone’s unique story from being heard and shared. It is important to change this perspective, embrace diversity, and accept everyone as an equal.
Everyone has different experiences encountering this nonacceptance among students. For some, it may be harsher while others may not have faced this at all. Caleb Stipkovits is one of the unfortunate students who had to face this non-accepting behavior. Caleb from an early age was afraid of being left out among his peers in elementary school which led him to never mention/ identify that he was Asian. He states that he did this because “I never felt supported or accepted as an Asian student at school.” In high school, he got more involved with his Asian identity, however, he regrets not being able to express his culture earlier. In addition, even though he is more involved with his Asian identity, it has come with “the cost of experiencing several uncomfortable and harmful moments… I’ve been called a ‘North Korean spy,’ and I’ve heard racial slurs in school on several occasions.”
Another point Caleb made was when he tried to share anything culturally related in school, he was faced with disgust or disapproval. However, when other non-Asian students demonstrated the same thing about Asian culture, they would be accepted and applauded for embracing other cultures. “I’ve seen people wear traditional Asian clothes they thrifted, wear shirts with Asian languages on them that they don’t understand and talk about how they love Panda Express’s (VERY authentic) orange chicken.” This is something that I and other students like Caleb do not understand. Why is it that when Asian American students share about their culture, it is frowned upon, and when others do the same thing, it is widely accepted?
I have also faced this unwelcoming experience before. While they may not have been as extreme as Caleb’s experience, no student should have to face such treatment. To expand on my experience, it was not in a school setting, and it was not by students either which is surprising because you might expect this behavior from teenagers. Me and my cousins were spending time together at an amusement family fun center. We were playing laser tag and there was a white man in his mid-20s or 30s who got frustrated at us for no reason. He was on the opposing team, and he kept getting deactivated in the game and started getting his anger out on us by using foul language which was explicitly against the rules. He also talked to the employee working there and started blaming us for not following the rules. The employee was also white and in his early 20s sided with him and told us we were not allowed to play laser tag again. I am from an area that is predominantly white, and I guess me being an Asian American, and having a darker skin tone made it so they thought this behavior directed towards us was acceptable. Eventually, our parents talked to the management there and got this issue resolved. However, no matter what the scenario is, no one should face this unwelcoming experience and if we start addressing this during middle school and high school, it should not be a problem later in life.
As a result of these experiences, Caleb and other Asian American students agree that one solution to help connect students is to incorporate Asian history into their school curriculum. “The best and easiest way to increase support for Asian American students is through representation in the curriculum. Every single student who took the Southerner’s survey said that not enough Asian history is taught in school. Every single one. Briefly (if at all) learning about the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese Internment during WWII is not enough to tell the story of Asian America. Curriculum should also expand from only talking about Asian suffrage and explore more positive points in Asian American history.” To break down the author’s suggested solution, these students are saying that representation and background about Asian culture will create a welcoming community for Asian American students. If I am being honest, I do not think I remember learning much about Asian history during middle school and high school. It was always focused on American history and WWII. While I agree this was important to learn, it is equally important to share about other cultures even if it is just a little. If it is difficult to incorporate Asian history into our typical history classes, an alternative approach would be to introduce the topic of Asian history in these classes and then offer an elective history class that focuses on Asian history and students who are interested in this can choose to take this class.
Along with this solution, we need to educate students more about Asia’s geography. “We also need to understand that Asia is not just China, Korea, and Japan.” I give my full support to this because there are so many other countries that are not included when it comes to thinking about Asia. A lot of times Indians are grouped as different from Asians, however, that is not correct. Indians are a subcategory of Asians like people from any other country like Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. The term Asians includes people from China, Korea, Japan, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and more.
In contrast, I argue that even though this solution is a good stepping stone in the correct direction, it is not enough to create acceptance and equal representation among all students of different ethnicities. I think that exposure to Asian history, geography, and culture is a good place to start connecting students and is the start of a welcoming community, however, it is not going to completely solve the problem of non-acceptance because that depends on the person. If people are open to change and want to embrace diversity, they will start treating Asian American students with the same respect as given to all the other students. We can only guide people towards making the right choices, but we cannot force those upon them. That, in the end, is only for them to do.
