A is for Asian….? (no, no it’s not)
Hi there and welcome back!
From this point I’ll be focusing on different people groups and writing about their experiences of how the education system fails/doesn’t fail to serve them
For starters, I’m going to talk, as you may have guessed, about Asian-Americans.
(Disclaimer: Thankfully because of the amazing high school I went to, I never really felt like I was being prejudiced or receiving better attention because of my ethnic background from my teachers. That being said, I could definitely these vibes from some of my peers and definitely when in college)
Here are two links I would really like you to read, so you have some context about what I’m talking about.
(Don’t worry they are short, the second link looks long just because the comments section is SUPER long, the actual article is a 2–3 min read).
Ok, I bet some of you were lazy and didn’t read them.
Just kidding. (But, for real, go read them)
So here is a summary of the Model Minority Myth, for you all who didn’t read.
The Model Minority, is a ‘nickname’ given to Asian Americans coined in 1966 by sociologist William Petersen in a New York Times article about Asian-Americans rising up despite marginalization. It was basically a “we’re moving towards a color blind America!(because some minorities made it!!)” phrase, used to tell other minorities to ‘step up their game’ because if the Asians could make it, ya’ll can too!
(In other words, of all the minorities, Asians are doing it right, they’re the ‘good minorities’)
Ok. I may sound like I’m complaining that I’m stereotyped to have a higher intellect and success because of my Asian-ness. (boo hoo it must suck to be stereotyped as smart)
Before you scratch your head in disbelief, this stereotype is pretty harmful.
Here is a nifty list of reasons WHYYY the model minority myth is damaging (and is a myth indeed)
1. When you clump ASIAN-Americans together, you’re looking at 48 different countries. And last time I checked, England and Turkey have significant differences, so do ALL THESE ASIAN COUNTRIES (shocking I know right?)
To quote one of the articles
“A 2010 report focusing on Asians in California — a state with the highest U.S. Asian population outside of Hawaii — found that expectation to be false. In California, for example, 45 percent of Hmong, 40 percent of Cambodians and Laotians, and one-fifth of Fijians had less than a high school education. The report also found that 20 percent of Pacific Islanders in the state eventually drop out of high school.”
Wow, so you’re telling me, there are Asians that are struggling?
Why yes! Because, newsflash, there are countries other than the 5–6 you may/may not be thinking of.
To humor you, 7 divided by 48 is .1458, so you’re generalizing the whole demographic from 14.6%??? (and yes I used a calculator)
This stereotype, specifically ignores the different levels of privilege between Asian countries.
East Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, to name a few and of course the lovely Indian population are the ones people tend to think of when you think of “smart Asian kids” (which is only 7 countries out of 48)
The countries I listed also historically jumped quickly on the “western industrialization” train as soon as they could, to prove they were ‘worthy’ of interacting with white folk, who were interested to see what they could bring to the table.
(history lesson over, back to education)
It gives pressure to the ‘other Asians’ (who are not as privileged in resources/tech/socio-economics) who do not follow toute suite with the ‘model minority Asians’. As stated in the article, there are very high rates of suicide and mental illness that emerges among Asian Americans, partially because of the pressures to be perfect and have nothing wrong with them.
For more information from a legitimate source (Scroll to pages 18–19)
https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AAPI-report.pdf
2. The model minority myth largely ignores the actual merit of students.
“If Asian-American parents emphasize education, it has more to do with their perception that education can help them overcome existing barriers in the labor market,” she said. “They know they cannot rely on just their hard work and experience and ‘who they know’ in order to move up the ladder.”
We’re taught that if you aren’t that wonder child who magically knows all subjects, plays a flute, and ‘speak 6 languages’, you’re not going to be recognized.
I cannot count HOW MANY TIMES I have heard these things.
“Of course you’re good at math/science, you’re Asian”
“Wow your SAT scores are low for an Asian”
“You’re so active (in non academic things) for an Asian!”
“You’re so good at English! Too bad you can’t help me with math..”
“You can do artistic things?”
“Of course you excel, did your mother pressure you to do it?”
The hard work, effort, and practice of individuals becomes completely disregarded. Your excellence is expected. If you’re not up to par, there is something ‘wrong with you’
For Asian-Americans who pursue STEM fields, they are expected to be exceptional or that it is an obvious career choice because they have a natural knack for it.
For Asian-Americans who don’t, they are told they’re “bad Asians”
Either way, your work becomes invalidated because you ‘naturally should be a wonderchild’ (which is not the case)
Here is another legitimate,credible site that is better at explaining things than me.
https://www.education.com/reference/article/unraveling-minority-myth-asian-students/
3. (Because you’re probably thinking of Affirmative Action right now)
This quote from the Johns Hopkins article sums it up pretty well
“ Soon thereafter, many opponents of affirmative action began to argue that these Asian American students were “victims” of affirmative action, just like Whites. In other words, these Asian American students were being denied admission when other “less qualified” ethnic groups (implying Blacks, Latinos, and American Indians) were being admitted.
As many Asian American scholars note, at first, this argument may sound plausible. But after careful investigation and in-depth research, it became clear that the real issue is not that Asian students are “competing” with other racial/ethnic minority groups. Rather, the real cause of this controversy is the widespread use of admissions factors that always seem to favor White applicants.”
The focus of the affirmative action debate fuels the flame of racial tensions.
This article also provides an interesting counter argument, stating that there are many Asians who benefit from Affirmative Action, so they should be down for it since it helps other minorities.
However, I’m going to make the argument that because of the many flaws of affirmative action that do not help to serve the ever changing demographic of the United States, it does do harm to continue the gap of educational opportunities. It continues the cycle of unequal opportunity and privilege, which is very harming to other minorities.
There honestly is no clear-cut-skeleton-key-answer that will solve all the problems, allowing us to hold hands and sing “you’ve got a friend in me”
Teachers need to recognize their student’s worth from their actual being, not as token smart/goody Asian kids.
The only real answer I can give, is by bringing more awareness and education to the world that there are serious issues to having these stereotypes towards students of different ethnic back grounds does a LOT of harm to them.
Before I ramble on for the next century, I’ll stop here.
Stay safe, wash your hands and have a great day yall.
