Asian Americans As A Model Minority: An Analysis

Among the stereotypes of Asian Americans, the myth of the Model Minority and Panethnic Identity are among the easiest to attribute to Asian Americans. What exactly are these stereotypes? How did they come about? Whose responsible for perpetuating these terms? And what harm are they are they doing to Asian Americans anyway?

The stereotype that Asian Americans just naturally have a step up above the rest that paves the path for the jealousy other ethnicities is really the result of ridiculous amounts of dedication and this group of people should be praised for their work ethic.

brings to our attention the die hard myth that Asians have made it in America, which

Asian Americans are a diverse group of people who are among the fastest growing minority groups in the United States. Despite their minority status, they often surpass Whites in America and do so while holding on to their cultural values regarding family, education, and success.

The label Asian-American represents over 40 different subgroups, with each having their own customs, values, and languages. Very rarely does one stop and think of the diversity that the label Asian-American represents. It can sometimes be easy to fall into the practice of believing that all Asian-Americans are the same, unless of course you deal with a variety of different ethnicities

Despite the fact that Asian Americans have been in Hollywood for decades, there are very few positive representations of them in film. More often than not, they’ve been depicted as stereotypical caricatures, and more specifically, as foreigners who can’t speak grammatically correct English. Moreover, the negative representations of Asian Americans in film has perpetuated certain misconceptions about their culture. Chan is Missing (1982) calls for more genuine representations of Asian American identities through its cast of complex characters and defiance of Asian stereotypes. The film also urges its viewers to critically think about their own notions of identity through the use of several recurring themes and filmmaking techniques.

The Asian American population is a major facet of American life; beginning their lives as immigrants they have worked their way to become integral members of society. In 2010 there were 14.7 million Asian Americans living in the United States and in 2011 that number increased to 18.2 million.1 Culturally, Asian American people have traditions and beliefs that contradict those of the Western world.2 “Culture molds people’s values, attitudes, and beliefs; influences their perceptions of self and others; and determines the way they experience their environment.”10 As a result there are certain barriers that exist when communicating with Asian Americans due to their cultural background. Additionally, Asians living in America suffer from the Model Minority Myth, which typecasts these people as being financially and educationally well off in comparison to other ethnic groups.2 Due to this Asian Americans aren’t considered more at risk for many health risks compared to other ethnicities; cultural and physical barriers act as a hindrance to Asian Americans receiving healthcare services, primarily mental health related services.

Although Asian Americans comprise only about 5% of the U.S. population, this group is the fastest growing segment of American society. Despite such rapid expansion, Asian Americans are widely underrepresented throughout media, whether in television, cinema, or literature. Moreover, there are different stereotypes associated with Asian Americans. One of the most pervasive stereotypes details how Asian Americans are a “model minority”. In essence, this myth describes how anyone who is Asian American will become a successful individual able to achieve the “American dream”.

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

Last but not least, there’re health care disparities in both Myanmar and U.S. In U.S., Asian Americans are sometimes bigoted as healthy minority. Sadly, this stereotype results in health providers’ inappropriate intervention (Ta Park, 2015). Asian Americans receive less adequate and less intensive care than whites (Womenshealth, 2012). For example, according to Womenshealth (2012), Commonwealthfund (2015), and Los Angeles Times (2014), and Ladwig, American Journal of Public Health, (2015), although Asian Americans encounter myriad health threats just as any other ethnic minority, physicians are less likely to offer timely intervention for illness and counseling about smoking cessations, chronic disease prevention and management, healthy

The pain and the suffering, the oppression, and the exclusion all describe the history of Asia America. When they arrived to the United States, they become labeled as Asians. These Asians come from Japan, China, Korea, Laos, Thailand, and many other diverse countries in the Eastern hemisphere. These people wanted to escape from their impoverished lives as the West continued to infiltrate their motherland. They saw America as the promise land filled with opportunity to succeed in life. Yet due to the discrimination placed from society and continual unfair

Asians have migrated to and have lived in the Americas since the days of our founding fathers. The first to come from the Eastern Hemisphere were a small group of Filipinos in the early 18th century that settled in present day Louisiana. The first major influx of Asian Americans was Chinese Americans who came in the 1800’s to find financial opportunity during the California gold rush. They settled in the Golden State and eventually spread out all over the United States, creating the now-famous Chinatowns that millions of Americans visit every year. There is a continual migration of well educated South Asians and East Asians for job and education opportunities and their success has formed the basis for the “myth of the model minority” (MMM). This is the idea that all people who are Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are successful both socioeconomically and educationally. This does have a logical basis rooted in statistics—AAPI students are reported to have higher grade point averages, math scores, and overall standardized tests scores on tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing Exam (ACT). Other studies often use a racialized rhetoric comparing Asian Americans to white Americans in terms of education and socioeconomic status while contrasting them to the so-called “lazy” and “incapable” Hispanic and African Americans.

Racism against Asian wasn’t new in the US. Laws were created to prevent Asian immigration and citizenship. During World War II the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred by the Japanese which brought the US into the war. After this attack people became paranoid because they assumed that Japanese people would side with Japan in the war and act as spies. This caused even the military to panic which lead to President Roosevelt’s order to create designated areas for “any or all persons may be excluded.” This gave the secretary of defense the power to send anyone who posed as a threat, especially Japanese, to those areas. As American we created prejudices (intended for the Japanese) about Asians to protect ourselves, but hurt others who may not act like that, we forced them (even if they were citizens) out of their homes and business to poor quality camps, and treated them a second class citizens just because of the fear of becoming attacked by them.

The Asian American community history is filled with countless events of social and racial injustices against the community that the common public does not recognize.

By the time of a century ago, Asian America has been considered lazy and stupid. So “model minority” were described Asian Americans as a hard-working, Well-educated, successfully minority race. But otherwise it’s not the truly idea to believe in positive model minority because sometimes it’s also negative. It’s happened to most of Asian Americans and they realized that, at the start point it’s been 100 percent positive, but when you go along, then it will turn to be negative and sometime it’s hurting you.