What Does Model Minority Bring?

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.

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.

which a strong Asian heritage is struggling with culture different. Even if they come here at younger age, the bond to the tradition live hood will make it hard to integrate with American society. it make them tend to be only hang around only with only other Asian and do not make much friend with other races. At school many students faced the feeling of “stuck in this back hole of identity crisis,” and college is not making it easier (122). At older age it even worst, they have no choice but only can find a labor job, which is working for other Asian-American shop, restaurant, company owner at low

The model minority often makes people think of Asians because of their intelligence and strong family values. The music video “Safe” by Dumbfounded, the article “Asian Americans and the Burdens of being a ‘Model Minority’ and “Why Asian Mothers are Superior” both illustrate how Asian Americans are misrepresented in American society which ultimately

The Model Minority myth not only effects the education system but altercations with the law as well. “There is the story of Kuanchang Kao, an intoxicated Chinese-American fatally shot in 1997 by police threatened by his “martial arts” moves.”(Why Ferguson Should Matter to Asian Americans) As said in the article, this incident parallels the incident that has happened in Ferguson but did not receive national attention that the Ferguson case has gotten. This is mostly like due to the Model Minority. As it puts Asian Americans in a spotlight of success and makes Asian Americans disregard the validity of their struggles. Jack Linshi says that due to the Model Minority the idea of the Asian American struggle has been erased from the American

“Asian Americans are the highest-income, best educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success, according to a comprehensive new nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center.”

At the retreat there were workshops on model minority, which was about stereotypes for Asian Americans. During these workshops, three guest speakers came in and talked about how Asian Americans are perceived to have higher socioeconomic success, compared to the average population. After the guest speakers explained to the attendees about what model minority was, five

“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,

Asian-American students from widely divergent backgrounds have tended to be grouped together under the “model minority” stereotype. In result, a misconception that Asian students are conscientious, brainy and successful made teachers became in unattentive to those Asian-Americans who we may label them as unsuccessful groups.

In her Special Section on Asian American Leadership, Chin (2013) explained that Asian Americans as a group exceed all others academically and obtain more higher education degrees, but are underrepresented in leadership positions. For example, Asian Americans make up approximately 5% of the population, but only approximately 1% of leadership positions (Chin, 2013). A commonly held stereotype of Asian Americans congruent with their high achievement, is the myth of the model minority (Chin, 2013). In Cabrera’s (2014) qualitative study evaluating the perceptions Caucasian male, college students had about Asian Americans, participants recognized the model minority stereotype as being representative of hard work, high achievement,

The reality is that each Asian American student’s background is different. While some students may come from well off families; others may come from other situations such as refuges where education isn't easily accessed. Students from well off families have the resources and opportunities to learn English which assist them in falling into the “Model Minority”. At the other end are the children who come from poorer families or bad situation and aren’t given the opportunity to learn English. Due to the “Model Minority” theory these children aren’t given the same chance to succeed as their peers, in terms of what other ESL children are offered. All of this contributes to the child’s educational equality given in the United States. In instances where the child requires assistance due to language barrier, “the high expectations of their peers, teachers, and parents contribute to their higher rate of mental illness” (Poon-McBrayer, K. F, 2011). Due to this the theory of the Model Minority, a lot of Asian American students fail to get the assistance that they need which can be frustrating to a child. This creates “invincible barriers” which is an injustice to Asian American who are unable to get the equal educational help they

Those arriving in the last decades were mostly well educated professionals with many employable skills. He describes the Chinese as a “model minority”, as a minority ethnic group whose members achieve a higher degree of success than the population average.

Asian Americans face constant subjection to what has become referred to as the “model minority” myth. This myth enforces both a false narrative and broad generalization upon all Asian Americans as the ethnic embodiment of an idealistic work ethic and outstanding academic and socioeconomic success. The deconstruction of this “single story” requires the introduction of new perspectives and proper representation of the intersectional spectrum of Asian Americans, who oftentimes do not fit this typecast. Perpetuating this single story, is the lack of understanding of how Asian Americans can stem from 51 different Asian countries, struggle from the effects of poverty, and also remain unrepresented in popular media.

Kim also goes on to talk about how the model minority conception extends to society believing that Asian-Americans are for the most part exempt from common economic dilemmas that any other American would face like unemployment, debt, or poverty. While Asian-Americans have had economic successes like increasing their average family income to beat the U.S. average by over 28%, Asian-American households have a lower per capita income than white households by at least $2000. Many of the Asians in the United States are immigrants or are first-generation immigrants. Because of this, Asians have trouble finding work because of a number of problems like no time to learn new skills, deficiency of programs like learning English and training to help the immigrants adjust to working life in America, and having to regularly engage with non-immigrants in the labor market. These hindrances have led to them to turn to the lower level jobs of the market like into industries of agriculture or