There is a phenomenon happening in most schools throughout the country. Asian students as young as seven years olds are labeled as gifted and enrolled in various accelerate programs to further develop their talents. Certainly, most of these students are deserving of the honorable recognition. However, many skeptics do question how many of them are viewed as exceptional students based upon the stereotype: they are genetically smarter than their non-Asian peers.
For many researchers, the notion of Asian students are hereditary more intelligent than other race groups as believes by Arthur Jensen, an educational psychologist, is not a valid explanation for why Asian students perform better than their counterparts. While it is evident that Asians do earn higher school grade point averages and participate in more advance high school classes, many argue that such merits are earned through hard work and discipline, not heredity.
There are many factors which contribute to the success of these “super-achievers.” Many of them are willing to limit social and leisure activities in order to allocate more time in studying and preparing their school work. In a recent study directed by California sociologist Sanford Dornlush, it indicates Asian students spend an average of four more hours a week in homework than other groups. Furthermore, they
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...
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In the end, it is up to Asian-Americans to discredit the positive and negative stereotypes. By assimilating with other race groups, Asian-Americans will gain more understanding from their non-Asian peers. In addition, when Asians are more forth-coming with their struggles, it will unmask the myth of perfection and allow others to see them as an individual.
Works Cited
Brand, David. “Education: The New Whiz Kids.” Time Magazine. CNN, 31 Aug. 1987. Web. 11 Jul. 2010
Chin, Melissa. “Why Being ‘Good at Math’ Can Be a Bad Thing: Perpetuating model minority stereotypes leads to resentment and anger toward Asian Americans.” AsianWeek. AsianWeek, 30 May 2008. Web. 11 Jul. 2010
Dailey, Kate. “Stereotypes impact academics, study finds” The Daily Collegian Online News. Collegian Inc., 1 Mar. 1999. Web. 11 Jul. 2010
My father, like many Asian immigrants, left India to pursue his educational goals in America in order to provide a better life for his family. He arrived in the U.S. with fourteen dollars in his coat pocket, a suitcase in his hands, and a will to succeed. For my father, in a place like America where opportunities were plentiful and where hard work actually paid off there was no excuse not to succeed. The practical translation of this belief meant that if his children worked hard in school there was nothing they too could not achieve. As such, in my father's household, not doing well in school was not an option.
they no longer have anyone holding them back from doing bad things. Some ethnicities believe that all Asians are smart. This represents the action-orientation level of prejudice that gives a positive judgement on Asians but yet is not a valid information because it could just m...
Chua believes that Chinese parents force their children to be academically successful in order to reach “higher” goals in life. She emphasizes this when she states “…Chinese parents have … higher dreams for their children…” (Chua 8). Although Amy set higher s...
My grandmother sent me a letter from home, telling the success story of her old Chinese tenants who, through hard work, had become very wealthy in the 9 short years they lived in America. My grandmother embraces the belief that "with hard work, patience and a little help from the model minority stereotype, someday Asians will gain full approval of white America". She believes that Asian Americans are inherently smarter, more diligent and thrifty than other racial minorities of our time. I, on the other hand, am skeptical towards this assumed advantage that other minorities have perceived as "elevators to the ladder of success" in American society. While Asian Americans are able to achieve acculturation by gaining material success, despite this economic advancement, they are unable to assimilate socially into mainstream America because of prejudice and discrimination.
These capabilities do not associate with our race, but they do associate with family upbringing possibly relating to the culture that family originated from. Controversial writer Amy Chua opens her rhetorical analysis essay. “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” by claiming; “A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies…” (Chua). The Chinese among a few other cultures have been known for demanding academic excellence from their children. These children typically are considered the top of their classes’ at all academic levels, even when they enter adulthood in a higher education setting. They frequently bring their academic capability to the law, medical, science, technology, and engineering fields. In addition some of those skills with others on their academic journey in the form of tutoring and study groups. This isn’t to say anyone one else from any other lineage can’t achieve the same feat or perform at the same level. But the Chinese place a cultural focus point and academics to place an emphasis on the future for their children. That cultural focus point truly benefits the rest of society in the United States. The same fashion exemplified here with people of Chinese decent, all cultures present in our melting
In addition to discriminating against Asians, what most people don’t realize is that they are discriminating against the other ethnic groups too, thus creating interracial tension. When one superficially praises the success of one group, they are indirectly bringing out the failures of the other group. For example, when comparing Blacks, Hispanics or Native Americans to Asian American success, they are disregarding the fact that Blacks, Hispanics or Native Americans can be successful too. The model minority myth also creates an exaggerated portrayal of Asian students as hard working, studious, and persevering, which can lead to Asian American students being bullied by their fellow peers.
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.
I also researched instances of counter actions taken by Asian Americans to protest against these negative images. My research also has examples of Asians that have succeeded in breaking through the racial barriers in the media. The results show that even though racial stereotyping still exists in various forms of mass media, there are signs that show noticeable improvement in allowing a more balanced image of Asian Americans. Statement of the Problem There are close to 12 million Asian Americans living in the United States (U.S. Asian, 2000). Asian Americans are considered one of the fastest growing minorities (Pimentel, 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 ...
Kao, Grace. "Asian Americans as Model Minorities? A Look at Their Academic Performance." American Journal of Education 103.02 (1995): 121-59. Web.
Hu, Arthur. "Education: Race DOES Matter, but Mastering the !@#$% Material matters the Most." Arthur Hu's K12 Education Page. 6 Apr. 2001. <http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/asianam.htm>
“Family Guy” is well known to be a cartoon of disgrace and ill-mannered portrayals of real life events. Asian Stereotype was no exception portrayals in “Family Guy”. In many of the Asian stereotypical scenes in “Family Guy”, one of the episodes shows a scene about an Asian woman driver causing wreckage on the freeway as she exits out of the freeway itself. The following is a dialogue of the scene:
We’ve all heard it said that Asian Americans are good at math; anything involving science, technology, and medicine. They study all the time, work really hard, and live a version of the American dream many of us never thought to dream of. And of course, we know these stereotypes are dangerous and often untrue, but perhaps we still find ourselves buying into them. Ronald Takaki”, the ethnic studies expert, writes about the idea that Asian Americans are more successful than any other American minority group in his article “The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority. Takaki refutes this idea by strategically, and somewhat effectively, using reason, statistics, and word choice to show that Asian Americans still face some of the same hardships and barriers
However Hirschman and Wong (1986) did a study that showed native-born Asian Americans born between 1905-1944 in California, Hawaii and elsewhere, attended college in rates equal or greater than white students did and tended to have more years of schooling as well. The percent of Asian Americans who attended higher education continued to climb, although it also depended on location. Such as Japanese Americans, born in California between 1935 to 1944, college attendance from 44% to 75% (Hirschman & Wong, 1896). Hirschman and Wong (1986) note, while other educational were less in other areas, Asian Americans still had higher educational attainment than whites. Asian Americans continued to have and still have higher rates of educational attainment than any other group (Hirschman and Wong, 1986; Aud, Fox & KewalRamani,
“Asians are smart” stereotype is about how Asian immigrants are successful and smart when they go to other countries and what efforts do they put in order to succeed. Films and articles are major resources to show that Asians are smart because it portrays the various situation where the Asian people are able to achieve their aims and make them look as a highly talented person in the society.