The Model-Minority Stereotypes

The stereotype addressing the topic of Asians being smarter than other races has been around since the 1950’s. This stereotype started as a result of immigrants assimilating into the US. During this time Asians had a considerable higher success rate in school compared to Hispanics and Blacks. This is not the case because in places such as Chinatown where poverty runs rampant Asian immigrants have a difficult time staying above the poverty line. In the essay, “The Harmful Myths of Asian Superiority,” published by the New York Times the author, Ronald Takaki, addresses the reason why Asian people are considered “successful” and “model minorities” by using logic to persuade his audience and statistical information to

In our new book, The Asian American Achievement Paradox -- based on a survey and 140 in-depth interviews of the adult children of Chinese, Vietnamese and Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles -- fellow sociologist Min Zhou and I explain what actually fuels the achievements of some Asian American groups: U.S. immigration law, which favors highly educated, highly skilled immigrant applicants from Asian countries.

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

The first issue is the model minority stereotype because it covers up the internal differences within the Asian population. As supported by Zia’s text, “Geeks are ‘model minorities’ who never have problems, like racism or poverty to contend with and never need assistance from government agencies or anyone else” (Zia 118). This quote illustrates that under the model minority myth, a certain group of people do not have problems of their own which is why they are seen as the ideal minority. Although the term “geeks” in the above statement may signify hard-working and intellectual students, it fails to include anyone else in this group who may be struggling with racism and is need of government aid. Therefore, the model minority stereotype is an overgeneralization of the entire Asian population because it does not incorporate the differences within the Asian population.

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.

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.

“Model minority” is a term first used by sociologist William Petersen in a 1966 New York Times article that applauded Asian-Americans as an example that other minorities should follow based on their academic and economic success. 8 Although there are numerous Asians that achieve great success in the United States, the term and concept of “model minority” is a myth because as mentioned before, there are many Asian immigrants that live under poverty line, especially lowest success rate in Southeast Asians. 1 The stereotype of model minority has a detrimental effect on health of the Asian immigrant children because it encourages Asian American students to be silent and discrete about their mental problems. This is because they are afraid to be seen as failures to the society and disappoint their parents. Asian American children are known to succeed academically but parents and health providers must attend to and properly assess them for their mental health needs,

“Successful Minority” stereotype is not reflecting the realities of Asian-American appropriately. In result, teachers silence the multiple voices of Asian-Americans and other racial minority groups:

Asian Americans are always being stereotyped, thus the other members of society may have a fixed idea in their mind about the stereotypes of Asian American regardless a positive or a negative ones. Due to the generalizations, it leads to a reduction in every aspects. Asian Americans are regarded as immigrants or the outlier in the United States, they are the “model minority”, who do not get attention by the researchers, policy makers, or

Lastly, Leung’s article discusses the perception of Asians in America. According to Leung, Asians are portrayed as “hardworking, highly educated, family-oriented, and financially successful.” (Leung, 2009. 390). Although these are positive judgments, the stereotype can make it easy for others to discriminate against an Asian (Leung, 2009. 392). Asians may undergo discrimination and inequality through their peers who do not treat them as individuals. They can be mislabeled according to their income, grades, achievement, and more. Leung points out that discrimination occurs among races that are considered inferior and superior.

According to Dhingra and Rodriguez, “Asian Americans are upheld as ‘out-whiting whites’ with their high scholastic achievements, low incarceration rate, residential integration, entrepreneurship, and emphasis on family unity.” Many groups of people are brilliant model minority in the United States because they gradually reach higher income, education, and related factors such as low crime and high family stability. For example, when Chinese people (the early generation) came to the United States, they felt the difficulty of working without knowledge. Most of the parents might try to figure out a better way to fulfill their “American Dream”. Therefore, parents had a great hope on their children (the late generation). “Immigrant parents tend either to emphasize educational attainment equally for boys and girls...” From “Education” given by Dhingra, model minority somehow brings more educational opportunities to immigrants.

Canada is a country that values greatly on the idea of freedom, in which all individuals are given the rights to be their true self. However, this is often overlooked by the matter of “Stereotype”, where judgments are made based on one’s personal view of the culture. In such way, stereotype falls upon those is who are not Americans, it is rooted as the hegemonic ideology and discourses of racism, is likely to find support as it operates at the individual and structural levels in the racialization of individuals (James, ). The definite perception of Asian minorities begins with the Model Minority Stereotype; where Asian students were interpreted as intelligent, ambitious, and conscientious, as a result of their success in both educational and

The model minority theory being a relatively newer theory, was developed in the 1960’s during the civil rights movement (Atkin, 2018). The model minority theory in the context of Asian Americans refers to them outperforming their peers academically, financially, and professionally (Daga, 2018). Thompson., Kiang, and Witkow (2016), states that the model minority theory may be an inevitable part of the identity of Asian American youth. To some, the theory may be interpreted as a “positive stereotype”. In fact, Jackson (2016) states that the general population does not think Asian Americans are oppressed, and believe that racism is not an issue for them.

Its interesting to see how the model minority stereotype shapes expectations for Desi youth in so many ways. Their choices are influenced highly by cultural capital seen on campus and influences how successful they become. Knowledge and power interact and shape the social constructs one lives within. Model minority stereotypes predispose what kind of life the youth will live and shapes what the school faculty expectations of Desi youth in terms of accomplishment or display disappointment for those who don’t excel, putting pressure on them to strive for success like the rest of the South Asian community. All Asians are put to a higher standard of success and accomplishment, that is attainable only to the upper-middle class youth who have the

Stereotypes are prevalent in our society today and it seems as though we are constantly judging people and labelling them in categories. As a population there has not always been equality between races and genders and this is still true in some parts of the world today. These inequalities cause the effect of stereotyping from groups of people who have views or ideas about another group, or even their own group of people. For example, woman have not always been considered equals and this may well have led to the stereotype that they are not good at maths, and likewise with African Americans. It terms of the history of civilisation; it was only until recently that these groups of people gained equal rights to others. Women were once not allowed to publish books however this has changed significantly and now at school a