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Asian American Identity Development Model
The struggles of being Asian American
The struggles of being Asian American
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Newly immigrated Asian-American students are often misunderstood by their classroom behavior. They may hesitate or give short responses to questions, use a soft voice, decline to openly volunteer information, and avoid eye contact. Their facial expressions may be mistaken for displeasure rather than concentration, such as frowning when hard at work. They may become embarrassed when praised.
All of these examples are often misinterpreted by teachers due to ignorance. These children are merely abiding by the social rules of their Asian culture, which may be unfamiliar to many Americans. It is important to understand Asian cultural norms so that children are not thought to be impolite when they are actually trying to show respect as they would in their home country.
Family loyalty is a strong Asian value. Family members are encouraged to do their best because failure would bring shame and embarrassment not only to them personally but to their whole family. Guilt and shame are the main techniques used to control behavior within the family. Americans emphasize personal goals, but the Asian culture encourages family harmony and success as a group. This can cause difficulties for Asian-American children who must fit in both at school and abide by the social rules at home as well.
A strong work ethic and high expectations in education are values of many Asian-American parents. Their children are not only expected to get good grades but to be at the top of their class or get straight As. Many Asian-American children experience test anxiety due to their fears about pleasing their parents or shaming the family.
These children have been taught to be modest, quiet, ...
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...ly. Children should be spoken to individually if they need help or there is a problem. Special services such as speech therapists and language specialists can be very helpful.
Keep in mind that this is a very general overview. There are many different cultures within Asia and they are all different. Asian students are very culturally diverse, and an effort should be made to learn about their individual characteristics and cultural background.
Nakanishi, Don T., and Tina Yamano Nishida, eds. The Asian American Educational Experience. New York: Routlege, 1995.
Baruth, Leroy G., and M. Lee Manning, eds. Multicultural Education of Children and Adolescents. Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon, 1992.
Park, Clara C., and Marilyn Mei-Ying Chi, eds. Asian-American Education. Westport: Bergin and Garvey, 1999.
Chinese parenting is competent at times but there are other times where it is more suitable to follow other forms of parenting such as the Western style.These findings have important consequences for the broader domain of parent-child relationships. Whether it is Chinese parenting or Western parenting the relationship between family members is crucial. According to Amy Chua, Chinese parenting is more effective in helping the child attain a better future through the parents’ interests, while Western parenting style reflects mainly the interests of the child.
The school system typically emphasizes participation in speaking in class, which may be more intimidating for Asians due to their background and importance of silence. Participants of Sue’s study “felt forced to conform to Western norms and values (‘talking more’) when such behaviour violated their cultural upbringing” (77). In other words, Asian participants felt uncomfortable trying to fit the White standard of talking and participating in class. Furthermore, the college and university admission decisions may be influenced by unconscious biases. These biases are usually prominent in individuals faced with an uncertain decision.
Yoo, Brandon. "Unraveling the Model Minority Myth of Asian American Students." Education.com. 25 Oct. 2010. n.p. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. .
The United States of America is the place of opportunity and fortune. “Many immigrants hoped to achieve this in the United States and similar to other immigrants many people from the Asian Pacific region hoped to make their fortune. They planned to either return to their homelands or build a home in their new country (Spring, 2013).” For this reason, life became very complicated for these people. They faced many challenges in this new country, such as: classifying them in terms of race and ethnicity, denying them the right to become naturalized citizens, and rejecting them the right of equal educational opportunities within the school systems. “This combination of racism and economic exploitation resulted in the educational policies to deny Asians schooling or provide them with segregated schooling (Spring, 2013).”This was not the country of opportunity and fortune as many believed. It was the country of struggle and hardship. Similarly, like many other immigrants, Asian Americans had the determination to overcome these obstacles that they faced to prove that the United States was indeed their home too.
The article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” by Amy Chua demonstrates the two different mind sets of parenting: Chinese parenting and Western approach to parenting. In my view, Chinese parenting is very strict about school work and extracurricular activities such as pianos and violins. For example, if we compare the two different sets of parenting; Chua says, for instance that Western parents believe that they are strict by forcing their kids practice their instruments for 30 minutes a day at most to an hour. This is nothing compared to the Chinese parents that would say the first hour of practice is easy it’s the second or third hour that gets tough (Chua 2011). This shows how forcefully strict the Chinese parents are compared to Western parents. The Chinese parents would say anything that really has to be said to their kid’s straight forward, but the Westerns would go about telling their kids, so it won’t hurt their feelings or their self-esteem. A few of these examples come to show that Chinese parents have intelligent kids, but are they intelligent enough for society? In other words are these Chinese children capable to work in group projects compared to an American kid that lives the usually life as a kid; like going to sleepovers and participating in different school activities. This is what David Brooks actually discusses about in his article “Amy Chua Is a Wimp”, says that Amy Chua’s way of parenting which is Chinese parenting isn’t effective enough. Well sure their kids are very intelligent and get high grades, but can they participate in well-functioning groups? One thing that Chinese parenting lacks in is a skill set that is not taught formally, but is imparted through strenuous experiences. This is exactly what Chua...
In this paper I will be sharing information I had gathered involving two students that were interviewed regarding education and their racial status of being an Asian-American. I will examine these subjects’ experiences as an Asian-American through the education they had experienced throughout their entire lives. I will also be relating and analyzing their experiences through the various concepts we had learned and discussed in class so far. Both of these individuals have experiences regarding their education that have similarities and differences.
Eng, David L. Hom, Alice Y.. Q & A: queer in Asian America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. Print.
For 20 years, Asian Americans have been portrayed by the press and the media as a successful minority. Asian Americans are believed to benefit from astounding achievements in education, rising occupational statuses, increasing income, and are problem-fee in mental health and crime. The idea of Asian Americans as a model minority has become the central theme in media portrayal of Asian Americans since the middle 1960s. The term model minority is given to a minority group that exhibits middle class characteristics, and attains some measure of success on its own without special programs or welfare. Asian Americans are seen as a model minority because even though they have faced prejudice and discrimination by other racial groups, they have succeeded socially, economically, and educationally without resorting to political or violent disagreements with the majority race. The “success” of the minority is offered as proof that the American dream of equal opportunity is capable to those who conform and who are willing to work hard. Therefore, the term ...
are taught by their parents that determination and persistency are the keys to academic achievements. In addition, many Asian parents are extremely involved and invested in their children’s education. For many first-generation immigrant and refugee parents, they believe the way to realize the American dream is through higher education and professional status. They encourage t...
Ugbu, J., U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. EDUC 160 Urban Education (Spring 2014, pp. 213-228)
The Asian American community in the contemporary period face a lot of race relation issues which all interconnect within each other. Asian Americans face the basis of “Model Minority” that purportedly whitens Asians leading to the belief that there are no issues such as racism and poverty within the Asian American community. With that, they face the issue that there is no racial discrimination against Asian Americans due to the racial barrier being contextualized within a “black or white” framework. Another problem they face is mainstream America’s lack of awareness to the diversity of the Asian population, which causes a lot of misperceptions and misdirected racial hatred towards certain ethnicities within the Asian race. This causes the Pan-Asian community to not be supportive, unwilling to support each other, in order to avoid racism by avoiding being associated with that ethnicity just because they look alike. This causes the Asian American community and the ethnic groups within to be invisible to the American community as they lack organization and unification to have their voices heard.
Wong, Paul, Chienping Faith Lai, Richard Nagasawa, and Tieming Lin. 1998. “Asian Americans as a Model Minority: Self-Perceptions and Perceptions by Other Racial Groups.” Sociological Perspectives,41 (1): 95–118.
In “Why Chinese mothers are Superior”, Amy Chua acknowledges that both Chinese and Western parents want what is best for their children; but insists that Chinese parents believe that stressing academic success is best for children whereas Western mothers believe preserving a child’s self- esteem is best. Chua starts her article off by stating that Chinese parents can get away with more than Westerners because of the difference in discipline tactics, examples including calling their children garbage and making their children study and practice for hours a day. Chua first explains how she believes that western mothers excessively try to preserve their children’s self-esteem. She explains how calling her child garbage taught her child discipline,
Tong, V.M., Huang, C.W. & Mclyntyre, T. (2006). Promoting a positive cross-cultural identity: Reaching immigrant students. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 14(4), 203-208.
Manning, L. & Baruth. L. (2009). Multicultural education of children and adolescents (5th Ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.