Asian American Model Minorities

Cultural diversity is one of the features of the United States of America. It consists of many different racial and ethnic groups with different cultures. One of these minority groups is Asian Americans. Compared to other minority groups, Asian Americans are labeled as non-minority minority or as model minorities. This is due to their educational achievement and economic statuses, which was reported to be significantly higher than any other minority groups in the US, and not significantly lower than the white American population. However, several studies are suggesting that this model minority label on Asian Americans is just another stereotype and a myth.

“Asians have been in the United States since the early part of the nineteenth century”

This notion started in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement and was applied only to Chinese and Japanese Americans. Throughout the years, Asian Americans were continuously viewed as the model minorities. This is mainly due to their exceptionally higher educational and economic performance than other minority groups in the United States.

Academic Performance of Asian Americans in the US

Sakamoto, Goyette & Kim (2009) discussed that Asian Americans are more likely to have completed high school and eventually get bachelor’s degree and graduate degrees. Aside from that, they tend to score higher on Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and American College Testing (ACT), specifically in mathematics. Under No Child Left Behind Act, in school report cards, it is seen that Asian American’s performance is better than any other minority groups (Zhao & Qiu, 2009). In addition, several studies have mentioned that some elite universities including Harvard, Yale and Princeton were overrepresented with Asian Americans. It was also noted that many American universities promote special programs for minority members to boost their enrollment number, and it was mentioned that these special programs do not apply to Asian Americans students, as they are not considered to be at a

Even in recent studies, it was still apparent that they have higher educational performance (Sakamoto, Goyette & Kim, 2009). According to Lopez, Ruiz & Patten (2017), 51 percent of Asians between ages 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to only 30 percent of all Americans in this age. In 2015, the highest educational attainment belongs to Indians, where 72 percent of them have bachelor’s degree or more. Moreover, Asian Americans are known to be proficient in speaking English. Seventy percent of Asians from ages 5 and older speak English. The highest percentage of English proficiency are Japanese at 84 percent, followed by Filipinos at 82 percent, and Indians at 80 percent. According to Pew Research Center in 2013, the academic achievement of Asian Americans can be considered exceptional as they are known as “the highest-income, best-educated” racial group in the United States (as cited by Marger, 2015). In terms of major and interest, Asian Americans are more likely to choose careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. They tend to major in careers with a higher educational requirement (Sakamoto, Goyette & Kim,