Cultural Factors in Asian-American students’ stress

1165 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: parental pressure on students

Cultural Factors in Asian-American students’ stress

“Why only 99 points? What happened to the other one point?” In Confucian based societies, high academic achievements are expected commonly. As the epitome of someone who has two cultural backgrounds, I am the ambassador between Asian culture and American culture. Most of the time, both cultures are in accordance with each other, but sometimes their principles conflict with one another. According to the US Department of Education, Asian/ Pacific Islander students consistently achieved the highest GPA among all ethnicity from 1990 to 2005. However, there are scenes behind that glorious façade; due to cultural factors such as parental expectations and values, Asian-American students report higher level of stress.

Family is a substantial source of stress for Asian-American students. An outline by Shane Jimerson points out that Asian family structure is more extensive than American’s nuclear family structure. Asian families bond together and emotionally and materially help maintain the students’ grades. They assist the student with benevolent intentions, however, it sometimes backfires. For instance, since they contribute more, they expect higher results in return. Grades become not only a reflection to oneself, but of the whole family. The fear of disappointment establishes stress upon Asian-American students.

In contrast, Asian-American students are slightly different from the students in Eastern countries. In particular, United States’ students are more independent from their family (Dornbusch). Independency is emphasized in the Western ideals that were rooted by our founding brothers. This can be demonstrated in daily life, such as high school students working part-time job t...

... middle of paper ...

... Institute of Education Sciences U.S. Department of Education, 2005. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .

Seal, Kathy. "Do Asian-American Parents Push Their Kids?" Asian-American Parents: Pushy or Perfect? Miller-mccune, 18 Jan. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .

Stevenson, Harold W. "Why Asian Students Still Outdistance Americans." Educational Leadership Feb. 1993: 63. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 Feb. 2012.

Vora, Pooja. "How to Manage Student Stress Triggers; While Children May Undergo Tension and Anxiety Due to the Burden of over Expectations, Parents Can Help Them in Overcoming These Concerns so That They Focus on Studies without Getting Stressed out." DNA (Daily News & Analysis) 15 Nov. 2011. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 Feb. 2012.

Show More
Related

  • Socrates on The Dangers of Writing

    1935 Words  | 4 Pages

    Education." Midwest Quarterly 44, no. 2 (Winter2003 2003): 211. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed April 11, 2014).

    Read More

  • Texas Department of Family and Protective Services

    1259 Words  | 3 Pages

    Guthrie , J. W., Heyneman, S. P., & Braxton , J. M. (2002).Encyclopedia of education . (2nd ed., pp. 283-289). Farmington Hill, Michigan: Cengage Gale.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: Growing Up As An Asian American

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a minority, coming from an international country to a foreign nation has been the most crucial decision that my family has concluded to live the possibility of the "American Dream". However, growing up as an Asian-American student wasn’t simple; I was faced with the challenge of malicious racial slurs, spiteful judgment, and unjustified condemnation that attacked my family's decision to come to America.

    Read More

  • Model Minority

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    Yoo, Brandon. "Unraveling the Model Minority Myth of Asian American Students." Education.com. 25 Oct. 2010. n.p. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. .

    Read More

  • Internalized Oppression And The Culture Of Silence Analysis

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    Asian Americans, often referred to as the “model minority” are also affected negatively. In Keith Osajima’s article “Internalized Oppression and the Culture of Silence”, he focuses on how Asian Americans deal with their form of oppression. He noticed that many of them “were reluctant to take the risk of thinking critically about the inequities in society” (Osajima). He states that the typical quiet, well-behaved Asian American deals with what Erica Sherover Marcuse calls “internalized oppression”. Osajima asserts that internalized oppression “[leads] the oppressed people to believe that the solution to their problem is to become like or to be accepted by those in the dominant group” (Osajima). Therefore, Asian Americans have dealt with their oppression by: being good students, going to college, and getting well-paying jobs, like their white counterparts. This is where the phrase “model minority” comes in for Asian Americans. Because so many Asian Americans excel in school, the pressure to perform well is immense. Southeast Asians in particular “are not able to conform to this unrealistic expectation and in fact, have the highest high school dropout rates in the country” (C.N. Le). Osajima sums his argument up perfectly with his final sentence when he states that “the educational process can do more than reproduce a compliant work force, but can be a vehicle for liberation.” (Osajima). His strategies for allowing his classroom to serve as a site for liberation included cutting down on lecture time, encouraging students to take risks with their thinking, and assuring his students that their contributions would be respected and not be looked down upon. With encouragement and the use of these techniques, Asian Americans can begin to think critically about their role in society

    Read More

  • Superiority of Chinese Mothers

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amy Chua (2011) names off three reasons that support her argument in why Chinese children are more successful. First, she mentions that Westerners worry too much on how their child will accept failure, whereas Chinese parents assume only strength in their child and nothing less. For example, if a Western child comes home with a B on a test, some parents will praise the child on their success and some may be upset, while a Chinese parent would convince their child they are “worthless” and “a disgrace.” The Western parents hope to spare their children’s feelings and to be careful not to make their child feel insecure or inadequate, while Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe their children can get them (Chua, 2011). Secondly, Chinese parents believe their chil...

    Read More

  • Hispanic Dropouts

    2140 Words  | 5 Pages

    Education week, 22(41) p.12. Retrieved September 28, 2003 from EBSCO database (Masterfile) on the World Wide Web: http://www.ebsco.com.

    Read More

  • The Model Minority Myth Of Asian Americans

    2319 Words  | 5 Pages

    In 1970, the term “model minority” was popularized by journalists, social commentators and some academics to refer to Asian Americans. The stereotype suggests that Asian Americans are more academically, economically and socially successful than any other racial minority groups, and it was achieved by overcoming disadvantages through hard work, thrift, strong family ties, and emphasizing children’s education. Contrary to this popular belief by Americans, the exaggerated praising of Asian Americans as the model minority is false. This positive image of Asian Americans as a model minority has a sinister core of believe about Asian Americans and other racial minorities in America: a view of Asian American as foreign. Since most studies on Asian children centered on their success stories and the realization of the invisible crisis that many Asian American children face is fairly recent, few studies have addressed the diverse and complex experiences of Asian American children, especially those who do not fit the model minority stereotype. This paper revisits the model minority myth and examines the impact of model minority myth on underachieving student who are failing schools. I will first present a contextualized understanding of the “model minority myth,” what is it and what does it mean to be model minority. Secondly, I will demonstrate that the myth has been inaccurate and invalid representation for many Asian American students. Then, I discuss the impact of the model minority stereotype on underachieving Asian American student schooling. I argue that the stereotype has pose a threat to the students’ advancement on school and society. In order to illustrate the impact of the model minority stereotypes on individual experiences, I r...

    Read More

  • apush

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a second generation Asian American, I have not experienced much discrimination, since I have grown up surrounded by the American language and culture. However, after reading Strangers from a Different Shore, I realized that Asian Americans today are experiencing a new type of prejudice: “The Myth of the ‘Model Minority’” (474).` This stems from Asians’ success in school and in their jobs. The stereotypical idea of “Asian parents” also contributes to this misconception. The media helped spread the idea of this “super minority.” The New Republic praised the “Triumph of Asian-Americans” as “America’s greatest success story,” and CBS’s 60 Minutes presented a glowing report on Asian’s achievements in academics (475). This misconception leads many teachers and employers to assume that all Asians are intelligent beings and little powerhouses of work.

    Read More

  • Is there Discrimination against Asian Americans in the Workplace?

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    However, demographic data can be tricky. “In 2004, less than 10 percent of Hmong, Laotian, or Cambodian adults in the US had college degrees”, while the number in all Chinese and Pakistani is a half (Golash-Boza). In addition, while Asian Americans consist of 6.2 percent of American higher education faculty, only 2.4 percent of them are in important positions, stated by the Committee of 100 in Higher Education Report Card (qtd. in Ruttiman).

    Read More

  • hamlet

    810 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pearson Education, 2009. http://www.pairsoneducation.com/pairson-education/>. 1318-1421. print. Mamapedia staff members and staff.

    Read More

  • Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother Summary

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amy found in one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers that almost 70% of the Western mothers said either “stressing academic success is not good for children” or that “parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun.” Roughly 0% of Chinese parents felt the same. Chinese parents believe their children can handle being pushed to the extreme and it will build them up and not damage their self-esteem.

    Read More

  • Stress in College: What Causes it and How to Combat it

    2522 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Pressure from Parents. Psychology Today. Reviewed on January 24, 2007. http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200405/the-pressure-parents.

    Read More

  • Model Minority Myth Essay

    475 Words  | 1 Pages

    It is very interesting on how the America’s mindset on the Asian American community has changed from yellow peril to model minority in the span of 100 years. I remember my family talking about how Asians are taking over the educational market and the jobs in the USA and accepted it as a fact and backed up the fact due to the cultural values and tiger parenting as one of the major reason. However, after surveying 600 middle and high school children, and the research by Pickerill showed that tiger parenting causes children to lose self-esteem and complicates school adjustment compared to supportive parenting. While taking the course, I was surprised to know how the government played an important role in shaping the model minority myth. In the

    Read More

  • Incorporating Family Involvement with Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Chinese Americans in Elementary Schools

    2264 Words  | 5 Pages

    The rapid growth in culture, linguistic, and ethnic diversity require family involvement in the modern education system. According to Turner-Vorbeck (2013), initiating a multicultural education system allows the inclusion of each family’s needs in the school setting, which contributes to a heightened sensitivity to cultural issues among teachers. The multicultural education system provides guidelines that teachers should follow to satisfy the diverse student population (Morrel & Duncan-Andrade, 2008). Generalization is a major challenge facing students with diverse cultures, as teachers fail to treat each of them as an individual and instead characterize them under the same cultural class. Chinese families entrust their lives with their children’s education because they believe that success in people’s...

    Read More

More about Cultural Factors in Asian-American students’ stress

Open Document