Model Minority

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Recommended: Asian American experience in America

In the beginning when Asians came to America, they had started out with nothing, no foundation, and no help. All they could do was work hard to create a better life with their own hands, someday, in hope that they will succeed. Back in the 1800’s, during the gold rush days, Americans were displeased with the amount of Asian immigrants who came and took their jobs. Since then, Asians were able to survive and to achieve a great amount of success in the US. In order to catch up along with the rest of the world, the government created an example for their own people, known as the model minority. The model minority is a stereotype suggests that Asian Americans are “more academically, economically, and socially successful than any other racial minority groups.” (Yoo) In today’s world, Asian Americans are known to be “culturally — even genetically — endowed with the characteristics that enable them to succeed in American society.” (Wu) Model minority refers to a racial minority that serves a good example to be followed and compared for all other race; therefore, Asian Americans are characterized to it as one. If an Asian American is successful and smart, then it must be true about the whole Asian race. It creates false assumptions that every Asian is the same, which can discriminate and stereotype all Asian Americans who doesn’t belong in the category. This creates an unfair and unjust disadvantage and treatment towards Asian Americans who are targeted as one, in other words, it’s a problem that their needs and aids are ignored by society.

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...

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....org/2012/06/19/the-rise-of-asian-americans/>.
Seoh, Hannah. "The Model Minority." The Model Minority.13 Feb. 2002. n.p. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. .
"Stereotypes, Identity, & Belonging Lab." Stereotypes, Identity, & Belonging Lab (SIBL). n.d. n.p. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. .
Wu, Ellen D. "Asian Americans and the 'model Minority' Myth." Los Angeles Times. 23 Jan. 2014. Los Angeles Times. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. .
Yoo, Brandon. "Unraveling the Model Minority Myth of Asian American Students." Education.com. 25 Oct. 2010. n.p. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. .

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