Behind the Myth of Asian Americans
Asian American students' population is growing on American campus, especially at Ivy League and top universities. "Fall's freshman classes: at Brown it will be 9% Asian American, at Harvard nearly 14%, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 20%, and the University of California, Berkley and astonishing 25%" (Shih 59).
Successes by some Asian American students make the overall images of Asians as "super minority." However, this stereotype causes some potentials which mask individuality and conceal real problems; the humiliations and the mistreatment of Asian American students.
§ TRUTH OF "MODEL MINORITY" MYTH
The term "model minority" has become a shibboleth for Asian Americans. In recent years, articles have proliferated in news magazines proclaiming that Asians are "Super Minority," "Outwhiting the Whites," or "The Triumph of Asian Americans" with "catchy" phrases in order to attract readers. Such stories are backed up by household incomes and educational level of Asians as a group are higher than those of whites. Asian students are seen as academic superstars who manage to graduate at or near the top of their classes. These evoking images of a supernormal group that has enjoyed extraordinary success in American society, despite a long history as an oppressed racial minority.
But recent studies proved that the image of "model minority" is inappropriate to describe Asian Americans. Although the median income of Asian families was higher than that of white families, the median income of individuals was found to be lower for Asians than for whites (Suzuki 14). The factor of this fact is because there are more members in Asian families. "Except for the Japanese, none of the minority groups had achieved economic parity with whites when adjustments were made for such factors as weeks worked, work experience, and education" (Suzuki 15). Many immigrant families, especially the Indo-Chinese refugees who arrived in the years following the fall of Saigon in 1975, remain in poverty. Their war-scarred children, struggling with a new language and culture, and are often dropouts of school.
§ THE CAMPUS LIFE: "NOT WHITE, BUT NOT DARK ENOUGH"
"You Jap! Stop speaking your f**king language!" This is what I heard from my white friend when my other Japanese friends were talking in their language at the dinner table on campus. I, Japanese, and the white student were good friends for a long time. But his one word wiped out my respect to him, and it was the end of our friendship.
On American college campuses, Asian students are treated unfairly among peers because of misunderstandings between Asian and non-Asian students. Some non-Asian students see Asians as "science nerds," or as strangers because Asians are "speaking other languages" and "hanging out within their racial communities." However, it is Asians' custom to have strong connections with their companies. Family ties take a major role in the Asian world, and they usually have larger family members. They seek stronger connections among their family clans, therefore people tend to be in a group because they value a state of "belonging."
Asian humiliation and intimidation are still occurring on campuses. At UCLA one Filipino female student was told by a white woman, "The reason UCLA is losing the football game is because of all you Asians," reports Bagasao, a member of the Filipino-American Educators Association of California (Bagasao 33). Another Asian American law student at Brooklyn University says, "We are sick and tired of being seen as the exotic Orientals" (Brand 46).
Even though Asian students are minority (Asians make up two to three percent of college population at the most of colleges), they are not received appropriate treatment as minorities. Asians are not considered as white, but they are excluded from minority group which require "blackness." Frequently Asian students are not subjects to educational opportunity programs and minority activities which provide supportive services to minority students. They are overlooked due to "super minority" image, which does not do justice to the many Asian American students who do not fit this image. Asians are underestimated and are thought to lack the necessity for special treatments and privileges.
§ SECRET PROCESSES OF ADMINISTRATION
A statistic shows a discrimination of administration processes against Asian American students, especially in private colleges. "At Princeton, 17 percent of all applicants, and 14% percent of the Asian American applicants were admitted." It shows three percent decrease in numbers of accepted Asian students. It also means that those three percent of Asian applicants who were rejected might be accepted if they were not Asians. At Harvard, 15.9% percent of all applicants and 12.5% percent of the Asian Americas were accepted" (Nakanishi 44). Put another way, Asian American applicants to Princeton were admitted at a rate that was only 82.4 percent of that for other applicants; to Harvard at 78.6 percent. It proves that Asian students have harder time to get in to some private collages.
Administration rejections of higher number of Asian students are because of their higher interests and level of their ability in science and math. At some college, Asian students were refused in order to set a equal proportion of students' race in the fields. Fred L. Jewitt, former dean of admissions at Harvard, made an assessment, "A terribly high proportion of Asian students are heading toward the sciences. In the interests of diversity, then, more of them must be left out" (Nakanishi 46). They consider that if Asian Americans were less homogeneous and were equally distributed among a range of majors, then there would be no disparities in admission rate. Yet, every students, no matter what their skin colors are , should have equal opportunity to study in the fields which they like and they are good at. College should not be the place where students are regulated by their race. In order to contribute the best to society, there should be the best students. But here is another question, why science and math?
§ "SCIENCE NERDS!?": MAJOR STORY
College majors are a major story in the undergraduate experience of Asian American students. One doesn't have to look far to learn about the Asians' typical majors: math, science, engineering, and computer science. Those students' achievements are reflected in the nation's best universities, where math, science and engineering departments have taken on a decidedly Asian character. "At the University of Washington, 20% of all engineering students are of Asian descent; at Berkley the figure is 40%" (Brand 42). One reason for this tendency is because of lack of English skills which is required in humanity courses. Asian students' decisions are also influenced by the promise of a good job after college.
This inclination for math and science is explained by the fact that Asian American students who began their education abroad arrived in the U.S. with a solid grounding in math but little or no knowledge of English. Dario Ng, a student at Oberlin College says, "I've had a fear of writing in English since I came to this country, when I was nine…. I stayed in science and art where you didn't have to write" (Bagasao 32).
A statistic shows that Asians are weaker on verbal section in SAT score. Comparative study of University of California students found that the SAT math score was a better than the SAT verbal for Asian Americans. For whites, the SAT verbal score remained stronger than math (Nakanishi 40).
Another reason for many Asian students to study math and science is to satisfy their parents' expectations. In the Asian world, family pride, academic achievement, hard work, and effort to succeed have higher priorities. Asians respect elders as symbol of knowledge, especially elders who achieved higher positions in society. It is a parents' responsibility to educate their children and therefore parents have significant influences on students. Many Asian students' parents have higher expectations for their children than non-Asian parents because they come from an educated elite in their native countries. Julian Stanley, a Johns Hopkins psychology professor, found that 71% of the Asian Americans' fathers and 21% of their mothers had a doctorate or a medical degree, VS. 39% of the fathers and 10% of the mothers of the non-Asians (Brand 44).
Asian American students' parents recommend their children to study in math and science because they think their children will be able to have stable jobs. "Asians feel there will be less discrimination in areas like math and science because they will be judged more objectively," says Shirley Hune, an education professor at Hunter College (Brand 42). And many parents themselves are scientists, also. Therefore those majors are popular and considered honored fields among Asian students.
Nonetheless, in the upper reaches of the meritocracy, there have been glints of image of Asian students as "science nerds." Asian Americans are exasperated with being seen as "grade grinds" who do nothing but study. A study by Samuel Peng in 1984, of the Department of Education, showed that Asian Americans actually do participate in a broad range of extracurricular activities, much as other U.S. students do. "Nearly a third of the Asian Americans he studied compared on varsity athletic teams, and more than 20% were active in student government" (Brand 46).
§ FOR THE BETTER
In order to provide better understanding of Asian Americans, and to provide equal opportunity to Asian American students, following should be adapted in college campuses.
・The media has tended to ignore any complexities and has stuck with catchy phrases for Asians such as "super minority." This must be stopped because it creates misunderstandings of Asian Americans.
・The doors labeled "minority opportunities" are closed to Asian Americans, despite their minority status and some very real needs. Retention services, for instance, should be provided to Asian American students.
・Exposure to the broader world of college majors and careers would be of great benefit to Asian American students in order to avoid "stereotyping." This can be accomplished by preparing students with a full set of skills, including English skills, by introducing students to the humanities and social sciences through counseling and advising services.
・Colleges should provide more of Asian study courses to provide more information and understandings of Asian culture to all students on campus.
・Like other minority groups, Asian should be accounted and treated as minority, with enough cares and privileges, such as special scholarship programs, study groups, and advising services.
・Asian American students themselves should be more aware of their race, and make moves in order to express their needs.
・Anti-Asian intimidation should not be tolerated.
Asian Americans have been fighting to build up their foundation since the last three generations. And there are still many new immigrants who have many problems and cannot be conceived as "model minority." Americans, both Asians and non-Asians, should react to this fact towards the end of racial misunderstandings. Knowledge is what makes human being special on the earth. Know the other races, for the better world.
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