In composing my reflection paper, I dwelled on the topic of Asian Americans being model minorities and how I fit within this myth.
While I feel that I have attained the American Dream in some sense— having gotten into college and about to begin my professional career— I realize that many are not so fortunate. I am proud to be the actualization of a dream but I am guilty of perpetuating a stereotype, “the model minority” stereotype. Half of all Asian Americans are immigrants but all of them on the whole are doing very well socio-economically, when compared to other minority groups. Collectively, they have made remarkable strides in revolutionizing American culture. They positively contribute to American fashion and music, politics and science, as examples. The modern faces of Asian America are Yahoo Founder Jerry Yang and Fashionista Vera Wang, people of talent and affluence. In many respects, Asian Americans have done remarkably well in achieving the “American dream" of attaining a good education, having comfortable careers, and earning a good living.
The image of the "model minority" is a bright, shining example of hard work and patience whose example other minority groups should follow. Many people may even contend that since Asian Americans are doing so well, we cannot possibly be victims of any discrimination or require public services such as bilingual education, government documents in multiple languages, and welfare. These people assume that all Asian Americans are successful and that none of us are struggling. On the exterior, it may sound rather innocuous and even flattering to be described in those terms. However, the reality is much more convoluted. Despite a positive trend in the attitudes toward Asian Americans, racial discrimination and glass ceilings still exist. Numerous studies show that the majority of the general American population cannot make a distinction between the various Asian American ethnic groups, treating all of us as one generic, monolithic group: the model minority.
However, the model minority notion is a myth. Not all Asian Americans are the same. Vietnamese Americans have a college degree attainment rate of only 20%, less than half the rate for other Asian American ethnic groups. The rates for Laotians, Cambodians, and Khmer are even lower at less than 10%. Studies indicate that, as a whole, Asian American families have higher median incomes than White families. However, this data is skewed by the fact that the typical Asian American family tends to have more working, income-earning members than the typical White family. It is not unusual for an Asian American family to have four, five, or more members working. Using a more justifiable statistic, per capita income, results show that Asian Americans still trail Whites on this very important measure. Furthermore, Asian Americans are much more likely to concentrate in metropolitan areas where the cost of living is much higher. Although Asian Americans have come a long way to assert power and influence in American society, they are still significantly underrepresented in positions of political leadership. In the corporate world, Asian Americans are underrepresented as CEOs, board members, and high-level supervisors.
Just because many Asian Americans have "made it," this does not mean that all Asian Americans have made it. Extracted into subgroups of individuals, many Asian Americans are still the targets of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. For instance, the enduring notion that "all Asians are smart" places a great burden on many Asian Americans. Many, particularly Southeast Asians, are not able to conform to this unrealistic expectation, this stereotype threat, and in actuality, have the highest high school dropout rates in the country. Because of this flawed image of achievement, Asian Americans are also increasingly becoming the victims of hate crimes. Recent research shows that Asian Americans are the fastest growing victims of hate crimes in the United States. Although Asian Indians and other successful Asian Americans may have commendable socioeconomic achievement, it is rare that many of them will claim that they no longer experience discrimination because of their Asian ethnicity. The model minority myth does a disservice to Asian Americans, because it suggests they neither need nor can benefit from affirmative action or social justice. As I had illustrated, the glass ceiling exists for this minority group as well. Unfortunately, the model minority myth blinds others to these realities.
Because society's subtle discrimination of Asian Americans has dire consequences, I hope we can all make a consolidated effort to learn not to discriminate or make assumptions about people based on phenotype but look within and learn to embrace all people as individuals. It is VERY important to remember that the model minority notion is a stereotype and like many stereotypes, there is a repetitive and self-perpetuating nature to them. It is NOT true that Asian Americans are more intelligent than other races. It is NOT true that Asian Americans are more successful and less often victims of discrimination. The myth and stereotype does disservice to Asian Americans who are not high achieving but expect to, in what is termed "stereotype threat." It does a disservice to other racial minorities who are told to follow the model set by Asians.
The fact is, Asian Americans are not ruling the world. We do not comprise a great share of CEOs, Nobel Prize winners, representation in Congress. Clearly, we are not such a model minority after all.
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