Academic Stereotypes of Asian-American Students Essay examples

Throughout history stereotyping has been used to generalize a race class. Although when a race is being stereotyped it can be done in a positive way, in many cases it has also been done in order to keep a minority group inferior. In the article, “Thin Ice” by Claude M. Steele, Steele shows how African Americans who are stereotyped or have the mental image of being stereotyped negatively can affect their success in their academic success. In the other hand, in Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou’s “The Asian American Achievement Paradox” demonstrates when a stereotype is positive it can feed one’s ego and deliver better outcomes in a people’s academic achievements. Even though a large population of people can be stereotyped in a certain way through false concepts, it can affect the mindset of a single individual.

Asians are one of fastest growing minority groups in America today. During this century, various factors at home and abroad have caused people from Asia to immigrate to the United States for better or for worse. Due to these factors, Americans and American teachers, in particular, need to educate themselves and become aware of the Asian American students’ needs in terms of success and happiness. Before beginning my research, I felt I had an easy subject: studying Asian Americans in relation to their education in public schools. How simple! Everyone knows they are smart, hard working, driven to succeed in spite of their nerdish, geeky, non-athletic, broken-English stereotype. Of course they are

The schools I went to before third grade had a strong Asian population. Asians were the majority; there were rarely any non-Asians in those schools. During that time, I was allowed to stay innocent and uncaring of what others thought of me. It was a pity those golden days couldn’t last longer. The school I transferred to for the remainder of my elementary education had an extremely low Asian rate. In fact, you could have listed all the Asians in the school with only one hand. With little to none Eastern Asians, my parents pushed me to work harder. Unbeknownst to them, they were trying to mold me into the stereotypical smart Asian. The changes were subtle at first since they

In “The Trouble with Talent”, Kathy Seal, who frequently writes about children and education in magazines, wrote about the way of education in the U.S. which only focused on the value of inborn aptitude could breed children to become artful people and waste many of American children’s potential. At the beginning of this article, Seal told about an experiment of Jim Stigler, who was a UCLA psychologist, which tested the persistence of Japanese and American children by solving the math problem. While the American kids solved the problem for a short time and quickly gave up, the Japanese kids still kept on their work. Stigler stated that Asian education focused to

In the story “The Trouble with Talent: Are We Born Smart or Do We Get Smart?” by Kathy Seal explains the difference between Asian children and American children’s work ethic. Kathy explains the school systems in china work differently due to the fact that America has the idea that children are born with a set I.Q. while Asians believe that your intelligence is determined by hard work. The author of this story’s purpose is to persuade the reader by proving her thesis that intelligence is gained through hard work. She does this by using a multitude of valid evidence, having a strong thesis, and connecting with the reader though reader oriented language. The pattern of this essay is clearly a compare and contrast because the author looks at the difference between how Asian and American children are taught. She makes a strong point using the compare and contrast method by providing the reader with valid information on the American and Asian sides to point out that being smart happens though hard work and determination. Seal organizes this compare and contrast by making a point to point analysis of Asian and American culture.

The Asian group has strong standards regarding academic success. The United States Census Bureau reported that the percentage of Asian Americans to possess a bachelor’s degree or higher increased by 54% which shows a significant increase within the past 20 years (United States Census Bureau, 2016). Throughout much of Asia, children are taught at an early age to believe that education is the only path to success. While they are a distinct minority, their indicators of success in terms of education and future income occur because of the unique style of parenting which is based on the belief of the philosopher Confucius. Within their culture, they are taught to work on self-perfection which will help them achieve self-improvement in qualities such as diligence, determination, and concentration (Seal, 2010). Parents, family members, and their community assume the responsibility for teaching and disciplining children. Furthermore, they instill the belief that a child’s achievement or lack thereof is a direct reflection on the efforts of the entire family and community (Chen & Uttal, 1988). These types of demands coupled with academic

In “Thinking About Diversity”, Frank H. Wu details about his experiences as an Asian American. Wu says that, “some non-Asian students do, indeed, assume that I am gifted with mathematical, scientific, or computer-programming talents solely on account of my race” (Wu, 147), this concept shows the overview picture of Asians, but this does not apply to every Asians. The mathematic, science or computer programming is a universal subject that most industrialized places like Asia teach to students. Most Asian immigrants are familiar with those subjects because they already learn it back home and are able to do well on them, not because of a race. A race cannot provide a special intelligent to people, it’s just a different classify groups of people.

stereotyped for so long as being inferior. In addition, I feel that the reason why

Have you ever heard the statement that all Asian Americans are good at math and science and they excel educationally? This paper defines the model minority myth, provides historical context in perspective of the Chinese Americans and explains how these Chinese American’s experiences do not fit the model minority myth. The model minority stereotype has various negative assumptions towards Asian Americans and one of them is that it assumes all Asian Americans are a homogenous ethnic group. There are several ways how Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans do not fit the model minority myth. Specifically, the historical context of these Chinese Americans contradicts the model minority stereotype.

But it isn't Asian "culture" or any other attribute of ethnicity that is responsible for this success. Instead, it's a unique form of privilege that is grounded in the socioeconomic origins of some -- not all -- Asian immigrant groups. Understanding this privilege offers insights into how we can help children from all backgrounds succeed.

Statistics that support this model minority theory can be found in many areas, the first being education. Fifty percent of Asian Americans 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree compared to twenty-nine percent of the white population. Many studies have used standardized tests and school records, such as SAT, GPA, and other measures to compare the academic performance of Asian American students with non-Asian American students. Several studies have indicated that the outstanding academic performance of Asian students might be attributed to their cultural and family values. Another area of model minority success is found in the professional workforce. Asian Americans as a group work in the same place of employment as whites. This alone suggests that they have succeeded. A high percent of Asians are found at the top of professional and managerial positions. This success in the workforce has also lead Asians to hold one of the highest income figures per family by race. On the other hand, the model minority label is also seen as a myth. This label suggests that Asian Americans conform to the norms of society, do well in school and careers, are hardworking and self-sufficient. It follows that Asian Americans are a model for all groups, especially other minority groups. However, a closer look uncovers

How the model minority stereotype can negatively impact the overall educational experience for the Asian American students is not adequately explored at this time (Museus, 2008). Though some studies have looked at performance outcomes, such as GPA comparisons between Asian subgroups and other racial

1.Model Minority Myth: Asian Americans have generally been typified as the model minority which refers to a perception of them being “naturally gifted, hardworking and socially passive” (Asian Americans in Higher Education 13) Their ability to perform well academically and to remain passive in the larger social scheme makes them less threatening than other minorities, especially African Americans but the model minority myth may have worked against them, especially in the field of educational attainment. It is believed that due to the model minority myth, Asian Americans are victims of “political exploitation” (Chun 1980, p.7) and in education they are denied certain services which are readily available to other minorities such as preference in higher education systems. 2: Race: The concept of race is more often than not used as a social construct and it has been historically used as a means of making laws for the minorities and for the purpose of denying them certain rights which are easily given to the majority. Social construction of race has also been used as a means of denying citizenship and marriage rights to people and in the case of Asian Americans, Critical Asian Theory is

To some people this is not be viewed as a stereotype due to the fact it is not instantly perceived as “negative”; for those readers who delve in deeper, this stereotype outlines the educational daily hidden pressure of people from Chinese descent whom do not fit this “positive” stereotype. Every day, especially in American society, classmates look to their Asian counterparts to provide the answers to questions they do not know in every subject they take. Nonetheless, this ridiculous assumption hurts the Asian students that do not feel comfortable with their intellectual abilities. Placing Asian students as the “model student” excludes the students who actually have problems and need help that other classmates are reluctant to give the students simply because their classmates do not view helping their struggling Asian classmates as an actual necessity. By “poking” fun and bringing into light both Asian stereotypes, Yang enforces view that stereotypes are in use today.

Asian stereotypes are a product of prevailing myths propagated by various media, from books, plays, movies, television, to even historical propaganda. Generally speaking, the stereotyping of Asian women often swing to extreme types: the docile, subservient sexual object, or the dragon lady. Asian Americans only make up a small percentage of the United States population and live mostly on the west and east coasts of mainland United States and Hawaii. Consequently, the rest of the American population will most likely get their exposures to Asian Americans through television and movies. Popular media exposure to Asian Americans lacks one-on-one acquaintance with Asian Americans. It hinders the process