The field placement for my concentration year is at the Little Tokyo Service Center working with mono-lingual Korean seniors. 1st generation monolingual Asian American senior citizens often experience marginalization because of limited resources in addition to language barriers. As a result, monolingual Asian American seniors are constantly experiencing multiple barriers in society, because of the disenfranchisement of people of color. Delgado and Stefancic (2001) describe the stratification of the Eurocentric ideology and values that are embedded in the United States. Because of the values in American society, people are expected to acculturate towards western ideals. Consequently, many 1st generation monolingual Asian American seniors experience a lack of culturally competent social services in many communities in the United States (Ngo and Lee, 2007). Moreover, 1st generation monolingual Asian American seniors are reluctant in seeking for various social service programs in their community, because the services tends to be culturally incompetent. As a result, many Asian American citizens that are monolingual are likely to have difficulty applying for various social services to prevent poverty and destitution, and find appropriate services that cater towards their needs. The perception of Asian Americans is framed by the model minority myth, which are stereotypes perpetuated in the media to caricature Asian Americans as intelligent, successful, hard-working and without mental illnesses (Taylor and Stern 1997). Because of the belief of the model minority myth, this ideology causes many people in society to believe that Asian American seniors are well off, but in reality many monolingual Asian American seniors experience poverty a... ... middle of paper ... ...) Social Constructionism helps to identify many issues that are defined by roles and identities constructed in our society. As a result, I have been able to understand many underlying issues by using a narrative approach in deconstructing many social issues monolingual Asian American seniors are experiencing. For example, I have been able to analyze conflicts with diagnosis that are from the result of the discrepancies from language barriers, because many practitioners believe monolingual Asian American seniors have issues in regards to anger. However, the co-participant’s anger may be from the result of language barriers and improper assessments. Hence, using the frameworks of CRT/I and Social Constructionism have allowed me to understand that practitioners may assess monolingual Asian American seniors incompetently when not including their narratives and stories.
Dr. Stanley Sue is an Asian American clinical psychologist whose research focus is on Asian American minorities. Dr. Sue was born in Portland, Oregon and was the third of six children to his Chinese immigrant parents. As a child “his first career ambition was to repair televisions, but soon he got bored with shop classes. Then, he developed great fascination with psychotherapy and the idea of helping emotionally disturbed individuals (Rockwell 2001).” Dr. Sue recalled, “I told my parents that I wanted to become a clinical psychologist, not fully knowing what a clinical psychologists did (Rockwell 2001).” He also remembered what his father said and thought after making this declaration: “My father, who was born in China, said, ‘What is that?’ He couldn’t believe that people would pay me to listen to their problems – indeed, he wondered if I could make a decent living (Rockwell 2001).”
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 ...
Both essays highlight how the authors felt as outsiders growing up. Both were exposed to various stereotypes and write on how the stereotypes are time again permeated across societies. Asian Americans are viewed as the ‘Model Minority’. Asian Americans have high rates of admission into institutions of higher education, low rates of drop outs and also higher grades across all groups. Asian Americans also have higher average annual incomes than other groups. Asian Americans also figure lower in crime rates. Their also hold very low poverty rates. All these figures have led to Asian Americans being touted as the Model Minority.
In an April data report, experts from Pew Research Center, a nonprofit organization that conducts data based on social issues, public opinion and demographic changes, reported that “Asian-Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group…they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success.” It is biased claims like this are the reasons why Asians are encouraged to be further discriminated agains...
The United States’ population is currently rising exponentially and with growth comes demographic shifts. Some of the demographics shifts include the population growth of Hispanics, increase in senior citizens especially minority elderly, increase in number of residents who do not speak English, increase in foreign-born residents, population trends of people from different sexual orientation, and trends of people with disabilities (Perez & Luquis, 2009). As a public health practitioner, the only way to effectively eliminate health disparities among Americans, one must explore and embrace the demographic shifts of the United States population because differences exist among ethnic groups (Perez, 2009). We must be cognizant of the adverse health conditions for each population and the types of socioeconomic factors that affect them. Culture helps shape an individual’s health related beliefs, values, and behaviors. It is more than ethnicity and race; culture involves economic, political, religious, psychological, and biological aspects (Kleinman & Benson, 2006). All of these conditions take on an emotional tone and moral meaning for participants (Kleinman & Benson, 2006). As a health professional, it is one’s duty to have adequate knowledge and awareness of various cultures to effectively promote health behavior change. Cultural and linguistic competencies through cultural humility are two important aspects of working in the field of public health. Cultural competency is having a sense of understanding and respect for different cultural groups, while linguistic competency is the complete awareness of the language barriers that impact the health of individuals. These concepts are used to then work effectively work with various pop...
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.
A number of scholarly works have been implicated in the elderly Asian American mental health. Normal ageing could be assumed differently from people with dementia from the Asian origin creating stigmatization, aggravating severe chronic mental illness (Liu, et al., 2008). Asian immigrants with difficulty in English have made them prone to difficulties in communication creating disparities in the health status specially the mental health (Mui, et al., 2007). Recent elderly Asian immigrants have been experiencing acculturation stress, involuntary resettlement, and barriers in stereotypical intergenerational solidarity (Ng & Northcott, 2010). Education and self-efficacy had positive correlations with health promotion and mental well-being in Asian immigrants (Sohng, Sohng, & Yeom, 2002).
According to the Pew Research Center data, recent trends shows that Asian Americans are the “the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States” ("The Rise o...
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...
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.
As an Asian American, I have several points to discuss in terms of stereotypes. Through a variety of media, Asian Americans are portrayed by socially constructed stereotypes that are either positive or negative to our community. By explaining the definition of a stereotype and listing three specific ones identified, these points reflect our cultural values. These stereotypes include the concept of model minority, the insinuation that Asians are highly skilled at mathematics, and assumptions of our food ways. In each stereotype, I integrate my own experiences to provide a deeper depth of meaning that will allow one to evaluate whether these stereotypes do mirror our society’s customs.
According to Kramer (2002), Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the United States; growing from fewer than 1 million in 1960 to 7.2 million in 1990. But despite this ongoing rapid progression, Asian Americans have the lowest rate of utilization of any professional mental health related services than the general United States population (Tung 2011). To increase the utilization of mental health services among the Asian American community, the most hindering barriers that exist preventing Asian Americans in general from seeking out these services must be identified and explored. In spite of the fact that Asian Americans are viewed as the “model minority”, with high academic achievements and few mental/behavioral problems, studies
...o “limit Asian Americans’ career opportunities.” In mainstream media, Asian Americans are often overrepresented in number-crunching professions that require minimal language proficiency (e.g., engineering and sciences), but underrepresented in social science and humanities fields that entail superb language and interpersonal communication skills.
Before I analyze how my social location has influenced my experiences, I need to talk about my family’s demographic characteristics in comparison to our community and the larger U.S. society: In my hometown, Asians make up the third largest racial group (23%). Whites make up 51.3% and H...
For those Asian Americans who make known their discontent with the injustice and discrimination that they feel, in the white culture, this translates to attacking American superiority and initiating insecurities. For Mura, a writer who dared to question why an Asian American was not allowed to audition for an Asian American role, his punishment was “the ostracism and demonization that ensued. In essence, he was shunned” (Hongo 4) by the white people who could not believe that he would attack their superior American ways. According to writers such as Frank Chin and the rest of the “Aiiieeeee!” group, the Americans have dictated Asian culture and created a perception as “nice and quiet” (Chin 1972, 18), “mama’s boys and crybabies” without “a man in all [the] males.” (Chin 1972, 24). This has become the belief of the proceeding generations of Asian Americans and therefore manifested these stereotypes.