How does the model minority stereotype affect Asian Americans in regard to their academic performance and why? While examining the average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores by ethnicity and gender the question came up as to why Asian American students scored on average higher in the math section than all other ethnicities including White students. Through readings in Anderson and class discussions a strong correlation between the income of a family, primarily the income of the father, and the child’s SAT scores was found, but is there something more behind the academic success of Asian Americans (Anderson, 446; Class Notes, 5-28-04).
American society is caught up in the quest for intelligence and understanding what contributes to academic success. Therefore, it is important to examine why Asian American students are seen as intelligent and model minorities. The term, “model minority” refers to the idea that Asian Americans are successful because of their strong work ethic, family cohesion, and their ability to assimilate to American society (Gotanda, 94). Are these characteristics of Asian Americans cultural, biological or both? In addition, it is important to see the effect of the model minority stereotype on Asian Americans both on a personal level and on an educational institutional level. On a personal level the stereotype could affect a students academic performance and how one view oneself. While on an institutional level, the way a teacher views a student could effect one’s performance and the way a school views Asian Americans could effect acceptance into the school and the student’s education.
For centuries people tried to determine if intelligence is biological or innate through various experiments and studies. This “scientific racism” can be seen in Samuel Morton’s study on the size of the human brain. Morton obtained 800 skulls from all different races and filled each skull with sand, measuring the capacity, and after finding the averages of the brain capacity per race, Morton determined that the English have the largest brain size, so therefore must also be the smartest. However, there are many other studies done including IQ tests to different groups of people in different regions of the world, but there are variables that cannot be attributed for such as background and social or cultural disadvantages (Fong, 81). In addition, IQ tests are really no guarantee to be the best way to measure intelligence either, but there is no agreement on the best way to measure intelligence (Yoo, 74). “Testing may not have specifically set out to ‘prove’ the inferiority of racial ethnic minorities, but it lent support to widely held assumptions of racial inferiority, difference, and hierarchy in American society” (Yoo, 75). However, there are many studies that deal with how one’s IQ has a high correlation with the income of the family and the person’s educational attainment (Suzuki, 30). Also, in the video, Race – The Power of an Illusion, the experiment the students did in comparing their DNA strands with fellow students of various race and gender, proved that genetically there are very few differences between people of different races (Race – The Power of an Illusion). Therefore, if complex traits like intelligence cannot be encoded in the genes or biology, then possibly one’s cultural values and experience affect Asian Americans performance in school.
Another theory as to the intelligence of Asian Americans is based on the cultural values that are instilled in them. Getting a good education among Asian families is significant because they feel that is necessary to have a good future in America (Lee, 58). In addition, Asian American students are, “motivated by a sense of guilt and responsibility to their families” because many Asian families make many sacrifices to allow their children the opportunity to get an education in America (Lee, 68). In fact a study in Chicago found that a high amount of Asian American parents would be willing to give up their own financial security to help further their children’s education. Also, within Asian families there is the mentality that the academic success of the child reflects the parents’ success in raising their child, which puts more pressure on the child to do well (Fong, 94). The sense of filial piety, the respect that one has for one’s parents, contributes to the family cohesion of Asian American families, which creates a desire to uphold family honor and to please one’s parents. Asian American parents also take a more active role in the child’s life through setting up preparation courses for SAT’s, picking the schools their child attends, and possibly even what career path the child takes (Fong, 86,93). Therefore, there is a very strong work ethic among Asian American students due to all the pressure put on them from cultural mentalities and from familial responsibilities, but some say these cultural aspects are not enough to explain Asian American student’s academic performance because they do not account for outside factors.
The theory of Relative Functionalism combines elements from the influences of culture and other structural and historical factors (Lee, 54). Due to these cultural views such as the importance and necessity of a good education, Asian Americans might also narrow their education scope to the hard sciences and to fields of education that they perceive as acceptable according to the model minority stereotype. Also, Asian Americans could gravitate to those areas of hard sciences because of language barriers or racial limitations, which are all structural factors that constrict Asian Americans into these areas of education. Therefore, the theory of Relative Functionalism still supports the cultural mentality of the importance of an education and how it will get them a better job, but also incorporates the different structural and historical experiences these groups face (Fong, 87-88). However, even though this theory broadens the understanding of Asian American academic performance, it still does not address those students who are struggling in school (Lee, 54).
Even though the model minority stereotype is flattering to the Asian American community, it creates many problems for both the individual and for institutions, which in turn affects the individual. The model minority stereotype puts Asian American students under a lot of pressure to do well in school and succeed (Fong, 61). However, there is still a large population of Asian Americans who are not succeeding and doing well in school, which causes these students personal and emotional dilemmas. When students do not perform as well as their parents would like, there are feelings of failure, which can cause children to be very self-critical of themselves and even suicidal (Fong, 93). There are many Asian American students who are not doing well in school yet do not seek help from tutors or teachers because they would rather hide behind the model minority stereotype and not deal with the shame of disproving the stereotype (Lee, 61). In addition, by conforming to the stereotype or not fitting into the stereotype these students are being forced to lose their own voices because in fulfilling the stereotype the student loses his/her individuality (Fong, 9). Likewise, if a student is not being successful in the eyes of his/her parents the student is inclined to not speak to anyone about his/her problems or get help because by expressing these things to people would bring dishonor to the family, which causes them to lose their voice as well (Fong, 61). However, many of these students who are not doing well still work hard in school, but in many situations since their English proficiency is so low it puts them at a disadvantage in all of their other classes (Lee, 60).
Even though there is a need for bilingual education and remedial English, the educational system in California has eliminated the program due to Proposition 227 (Fong, 91). Lee talks about how at Academic high school there is a program called ESOL, which incoming freshmen take if they are struggling, but this class is looked down upon by the students fellow peers. Therefore, not only do students not want to be in the class, they consider themselves as ‘losers’ and do not see the value in trying to become a ‘winner’ (Lee, 65). This therefore affects the teacher’s attitude and reactions towards these students, which perpetuates the downward spiral of how this student sees him/herself and his/her academic performance. The teachers described in Lee’s book all take the stance that Asian American students are good and easy to teach because they are well behaved and don’t cause much trouble. However, when a teacher is asked about one of the Asian American students who is not doing as well the teacher describes him as being, “bright, but lazy” and, “not like my other Asian students…he’s capable of doing better”. Through these quotes it is apparent that these teachers have very positive viewpoints of Asian American students, and teachers even said they passed Asian American students just because he or she was a good person (Lee, 62-63). Therefore, the projection that the teacher puts on these students affects the performance of the student through the self-fulfilling prophecy. When a teacher puts a label on a student, the teacher tends to act towards the student in the way he/she views the student, then the student’s behavior matches what the teacher labeled him/her as, the teacher then sees the students performance and confirms the initial label, and lastly the student accepts the label as part of him/herself (Anderson, 452). Based on the self-fulfilling prophecy, it is possible for teachers to evoke a desired academic performance from the student based on how the teacher perceives Asian American students. In Academic high school, since the teacher’s favored Asian American students, the success of the Asian American student population is reflected in the high amount of Asians being in the top 10 of the school (Lee, 62, 56). With an increase of Asian American students being in the top of their classes, this also effects how institutions and colleges see Asian American students.
Even though the amount of Asian American students to get into the Ivy League schools and undergraduate programs like University of California at Berkeley is increasing there was a point where Asian Americans were discriminated against and faced difficulties in getting into certain schools and establishments. For example, at UC Berkeley from 1983 to 1984 there was a drop in the amount of Asian American students accepted, which is seen as being a discriminatory practice due to the anti-Asian sentiments on campus. After close scrutiny of UC Berkeley and many other schools including Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and UCLA a decrease in the amount of Asian American students accepted were found. These schools did not admit to practicing discriminatory acceptance policies, but blamed part of the high admission rates of non-Asians to children of alumni (Fong, 103-104). Therefore, the way that institutions view the model minority Asian American student affects the student’s access into a school and effects his or her education as well.
The model minority stereotype affects Asian American students in regard to academics in many ways. Based on the cultural influences and values that are instilled in an Asian American student, a sense of filial piety, a strong work ethic, and the desire for a good education are ingrained in the child, which affects the students academic performance. The model minority stereotype might push students to work harder to please their parents and to fulfill the role that teachers or their peers might have for them, which puts these students under a tremendous amount of pressure. Or students might hide behind the model minority stereotype because they are ashamed to show people their failure to fulfill the stereotype. In addition, the model minority stereotype affects one’s academic performance in the classroom as well based on how the teacher and institution views Asian American students through the self-fulfilling prophecy theory and acceptance policies into their institution. Therefore, even though the model minority stereotype might be positive on the surface, the affect it has on education is both good and detrimental.
