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| Perfect In America: Implications of the Model Minority Myth on the Classroom |
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As a racial minority group, Asian Americans are in a distinct position as the subject of stereotypes, both positive and negative. From the very beginning as Chinese laborers who immigrated to work in the California gold mines in the 1840s to the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s, Asian Americans were the focus of very express discrimination. This discrimination includes the 1860 California ban of Asian Americans in public schools (Wing, 2007), the 1880 California practice of forbidding marriage between a white person and "a Mongolian" (Shizue Seigel, 1999), and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese immigration to the United States (Yu, 2006). The concept of the "yellow peril" invading the country and threatening the American way of life were commonly portrayed views among Whites until the 1960s when the depiction of Asians began to shift. At that time, two prominent magazine articles highlighted Asian American success despite immense impediments. In The New York Times Magazine article, William Peterson wrote with reference to Japanese Americans who were exceedingly successful, possessed diligence, frugality, strong family ties, and a high regard for education that they were the "model minority".
What qualifies one as a "model minority" is multifaceted. Research has found that Asian American families have a higher median income, have a greater median number of years of education completed, have a disproportionately high population in top universities, and outscore other racial groups including Whites in numerous tests assessing intelligence, scholastic ability, and cognitive development (Ramirez, 1986). The stereotype that Asian Americans are conforming, passive, nonresistant, ambitious, highly valuing education, family oriented, and self-sufficient betrays the numerous members who struggle financially, medically, socially, academically, and emotionally but carry on unnoticed due to the myth.
The perpetuation of this myth and the rapidfire speed with which it spread is in great part due to the timing of its origin. Introduced in the 1960s, it was a divisive weapon to silence those who were fighting for the civil rights of all, but specifically of African Americans. The Civil Rights Movement threatened everything that white supremacy and institutional racism had created and maintained. Using one racial minority as a standard of success permitted the dominant group to dismiss the claims of African Americans at the time, as well as now (Yu, 2006). By maintaining this myth, the dominant group is able to preserve their position of power without truly examining the institutional racism that creates barriers that hard work and education can never overcome.
Asian Americans strive to be the model minority
As Asian Americans have immigrated to the United States, they have sought success for themselves and their families. They quickly learn to imitate the behavior and values of the dominant group in order to be perceived as "true" Americans. Asian Americans choose to work long hours, educate themselves, act submissively, and avoid conflicts in order to avoid the "yellow peril" mentality by Whites. For Asian Americans who are not first generation immigrants, there is no less pressure. In an article contrasting the assumed success of Asian Americans and the supposed failure of African Americans, Asian Americans students made up almost 50% of the student body of an elite magnet public high school in New York City. Surrounded by likeminded peers, these students enjoy academic support, similar familial experiences, and shared expectations of success. However, as Asian Americans, there is the reality that some will always view them as foreigners regardless of immigrant status. Due to this, Asian American parents and students reason they must counteract this reality with exceptional effort and educational success (Lew, 2006).
Asian American parents who are first generation immigrants often seek more for their children in education and assure this by being more likely to attend school meeting and activities, creating study space at home, and just as likely to attend parent teacher conferences, read to their children, and teach them letters and numbers as White parents (Corwyn & Bradley, 2008). It has been found that Asian American students average higher scores in reading and math, higher rankings and grade point averages, higher share of academic awards, and higher attendance and graduation from higher education (Hsia & Peng, 1998).
When Asian Americans are not the model minority
While Asian Americans as a collective racial group appear exceedingly successful financially, academically, and culturally, the diversity within this group belies the vast population that toils to achieve the American dream fruitlessly. Southeast Asian Americans have the highest percentage
of limited English proficiency at 55%, population with less than a high school diploma at 64%, unemployment at 33% for men and 58% for women, and likelihood of requiring government assistance (Corwyn & Bradley, 2008). Studies also show Asian American teenagers have intensified their involvement in alcohol and other drugs, gangs, the legal system and violent crimes. They have the highest rate of gang-related homicides in California and are more likely than any other racial minority to drink heavily (Choi & Lahey, 2006).
The stereotype that Asian Americans have reached a comfortable economic status, are academically successful, and self-reliant has allowed the dominant society to continue to withhold the essential support of community organizations, social service programs, educational assistance such as special education, and even other racial minority groups. In the findings of a study comparing Asian Americans to other racial minorities for at-risk behavior, it was found that GPAs for Asian Americans were not significantly different from Hispanics or Blacks when compared to non-immigrants (Choi & Lahey, 2006).
In one reported study, a student explained that his brother had dropped out of high school as a freshman and his sister had dropped out of school after becoming pregnant. Also, students who are from socioeconomically disadvantaged families often struggle with parental expectations but without the same academic and emotional guidance that more middle class parents are able to offer their children (Wing, 2007). Research implies that Asian Americans perform worse academically than other racial groups, have lower GPAs, were more like to be placed on academic probation, and less likely to graduate from college (Wong & Halgin, 2006)
How the model minority myth affects the classroom
Due to the prevalence of the model minority myth and the overrepresentation of Asian Americans in academically gifted programs, students who struggle or have genuine learning disabilities are neglected by the educational system. Asian American students can be subjected to impossibly high expectations by peers, teachers, and parents. Students suffer the burden of these expectations often at the expense of their own mental well being (Yu, 2006). Because so much credence is given to this myth, teachers are influenced by the stereotype and fail to refer students for assistance through the school for academic support and intervention. Also since Asian American children are trained to exhibit approved classroom behavior, they often are overshadowed by students who are difficult to teach or are behavioral problems (Doan, 2006).
In a report of one study, one 15-year-old Chinese girl explained an incident in which White students learned she was Chinese and then responded with disgust. In the same report, an African American student described the mindset of teachers who believed Chinese students could do anything. These students were often resented and harassed by students of other races and perceived as nerdy and not cool. (Qin, Way, & Mukherjee, 2008).
Even for students who might perform well on their own, the added pressure of the stereotype often causes Asian American students to study longer and work harder at achieving their grade (Wing, 2007). In the report of investigations of positive stereotype threat on intellectual performance, it was found that ethnicity has a greater impact on subjects' ability to succeed than one's gender. The authors utilized a math abilities assessment with a demographical question that facilitated their capability to determine how students' self-identification influenced their performance (Cheryan & Bodenhausen, 2000).
Conclusion
While the model minority myth, on the surface, appears to be a compliment to Asian Americans, it often generates barriers that are difficult to overcome. As many Asian Americans enjoy the success of their efforts, others struggle due to their invisibility and the lack of assistance available to members of the "model minority." Barriers observed in the general population will translate into the school classroom. Teachers overlook student disabilities, all students deal with both the intentional and unintentional biases of the teacher, and Asian American students attempt to handle the resentment of other students for their assumed academic superiority as well as the pressure of parents to excel and obtain the education that is perceived as the crucial key to American success.
There is evidence in the research reports to prove Asian Americans' ability to excel as well as the inability to overcome all the same obstacles that other racial minority groups confront. The first group has been used and continues to be used to perpetuate the American dream of hard work creating economic and social success. The second group struggles beneath the myth to find a measure of success that has been so overwhelmingly accepted as standard for Asian Americans. While neither is an accurate depiction of a vastly diverse group, it is the first group that has been embedded in American society as the definition of Asian.
As with any stereotype, the model minority myth creates difficulties for those it identifies. Stereotype threat creates academic pressure for Asian Americans inversely to the manner it creates the pressure for African Americans. The myth permits the dominant White group to ignore those Asian Americans who must fight daily to survive instead of compete with and seize jobs and positions from Whites. It also continues to give credence to the mentality that success is solely based on an individual's efforts while institutional practices are irrelevant. The myth, while seemingly positive and complimentary, benefits no one and in fact damages many.
Implications
As an educator, I find this myth often difficult to dispute with evidence from student data. Asian American students are mostly polite, hard working, and high achieving but there are generally a few students each year who do not fit the model minority criteria. There are also many students of other racial groups who do fit the same ideal of polite, hard working, and high achieving. I think it is my obligation to be more aware of how the biases I have learned affects my classroom management and my students. I also believe it is my responsibility to share with others this same information.
As a person, I am certain this myth is inaccurate. I have a sibling who performed well in school but not at the same degree as the other few Asian students. She often felt a great deal of pressure and that she somehow never measured up to what the expectations were for her. I was a high-achieving student but often felt the pressure to maintain those achievements by working harder than many of my peers. Are these the only possibilities for Asian American students? Should these be the only options for Asian American students? What must happen in American society to allow these stereotypes, along with countless others, to remove the biases that continue to exist in the classroom?
Bibliography
Cheryan, S., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2000). When Positive Sterotypes Threaten Intellectual Performance. Psychological Science, 11, 399-402.
Choi, Y., & Lahey, B. B. (2006). Testing the Model Minority Stereotype: Youth Behaviors across Racial and Ethnic Groups. Social Service Review, 80, 419-452.
Corwyn, R. F., & Bradley, R. H. (2008). The Panethnic Asian Label and Predictors of Eighth-Grade Student Achievement. School Psychology Quarterly, 23, 90-106.
Doan, K. (2006). A Sociocultural Perspective on At-Risk Asian-American Students. Teacher Education and Special Education, 29, 157-167.
Hsia, J., & Peng, S. (1998). Academic Achievement and performance. In L. Lee, & H. Zane (Eds.), Handbook of Asian American Psychology (pp. 325-357). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lew, J. (2006). Burden of Acting Neither White Nor Black: Asian American Identities and Acheivement in Urban Schools. The Urban Review, 38, 335-352.
Qin, D. B., Way, N., & Mukherjee, P. (2008). The Other Side of the Model Minority Story: The Familial and peer Challenges Face by Chinese American Adolescents. Youth & Society, 39, 480-506.
Ramirez, A. (1986, November 24). America's Super Minority. Retrieved October 18, 2008, from Fortune Magazine: www.money.cnn.com/ magazines/fortune.
Shizue Seigel, G. K. (1999). Changing Times. Retrieved March 14, 2009, from BayWindow: An American Love Story Site: http://www.kqed. org/w/baywindow/othercolors/changingtimes/ index.html.
Wing, J. Y. (2007). Beyond Black and White: The Model Minority Myth and the Invisibility of Asian American Students. The Urban Review, 39, 455-487.
Wong, F., & Halgin. (2006). The "Model Minority": Bane or Blessing for Asian Americans? Journal of Mutlicultural Counseling and Developement, 34, 38-49.
Yu, T. (2006). Challenging the Politics of the "Model Minority" Stereotype: A Case of Eduational Equality. Equity & Excellence in Education, 39, 325-333.
