The Importance Of Stereotypes

1223 Words3 Pages

Not only do stereotypes hurt Asians who don’t live up to the expectations, but stereotypes also can be damaging to those who live up to these expectations. In the case of the ones who do live up to the expectations, they do not receive as much credit for their achievements as they should have, because they are thought to possess those qualities just by being a member of the stereotyped group. For instance, Yuan who has worked extra hard in math class to make up for his bad math skills, putting twice the efforts and time into the class work, may not receive a lot of credits from his peers for getting an A on a test because they think that all Asians are good at math, therefore Yuan, who is an Asian, ought to get that score. People tend to overlook …show more content…

In “The Ways We Lie”, Ericsson states that stereotypes make people narrow-minded, refusing any attempts to understand new ideas (372). Since stereotypes set well-established images, it means the one who stereotypes others assumes that he has complete understanding of the others even without actual contacts or attempts to get to know the other party. The lack of curiosity leads to the lack of understanding, hence incorrect perceptions of people’s characters. The lack of understanding can form cultural …show more content…

By showing that Asians are unable to speak English without an accent and grammar mistakes, television highlights the difference between Asians and white Americans, making non-Asians more likely to treat Asians differently. Due to the prejudice that Asians are foreigners who lack communication and leadership skills because they are only good at academics, Asian-American workers have to face discriminations which are referred to as the “bamboo ceiling” (Hyun 3). In her book titled “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians”, she described this as a practice in which organizations and corporations keep an Asian or American of Asian descent from holding executive positions on the basis of factors like lack of leadership skills and lack of communication skills which can’t be proven by their job performance and qualifications. According to Hyun, this discrimination causes job dissatisfaction, making Asian-Americans more likely than whites, blacks, and Latinos to reduce their ambitions, work fewer hours, and consider resigning. Due to this harsh reality, some Asian-Americans may hesitate to choose a major in administrative careers that they like Yuan who chooses computer science instead of business management

Open Document