Model Minority and Perpetual Foreigners-The Impact of Stereotyping on Asian American Students
By: Stacey J. Lee
Reply by: Shu Shi
In the text it said, “Asian Americans live under the burden of racial stereotypes that structure their experiences and identities” (P.75). The author Lee highlighted two noticeable stereotypes about Asian Americans (AA) in the U.S. that AA are usually considered as the model minority for their hard-working quality, and as perpetual foreigners for their Eastern culture and distinct physical appearance.
In my opinion, stereotype is the static point of view towards others. If teachers treat their students with the inert mindset, we can never see the dynamic development of students. New students from Eastern countries, such as China, are negatively affected by the stereotype that “Chinese are all silent hard workers”. I have some younger Chinese friends attending American high schools. They don’t realize the existence of this stereotype until suffering from the pain brought on by it.
A Chinese male friend of mine studies in a public high school in the U.S. for two years where White students are dominant in his class. He complains that every time when discussing how to assign tasks to each team member, some of his classmates always give him the same role of “model analyst”. Their excuses are “we know you Chinese guys are really good at math” or “I guess you don’t want to join the debate”. As a result, even my friend himself begins to believe that he can’t take on tasks requiring demanding language skills. As far as I know, my friend’s oral ability and English proficiency are better than other Chinese peers in his class, but because most Asian students are silent in the class debate, my friend is unfortunately considered as one of the silent Asian students. Once the stereotype has been established, it’s hard to break it. The stereotype provides us a shortcut to deal with new people and information. Sometimes we rely on the stereotype to effectively reach out, avoiding any unnecessary troubles. But as a potential teacher, instead of grouping my students as homogeneous groups merely based on their language proficiency, I see development and heterogeneous learning styles and potentials in them. Some people act in certain way based on the acquired stereotype. They may think it’s a safe way to get along with others, but teaching students with this static mindset is dangerous for us teachers.
Shu: first of all, thank you very much for your anecdote, I think it was really helpful for rooting this conversation in a real context. I completely agree with your ideas about the dangers of committing students to racial stereotypes; such an act can destroy a student, and as an educator, we should know better than to come to the classroom and view students with such unfounded (and antiquated) biases. I like how you use the word “pain” to depict the effect of the stereotype put upon Asians in America; it reminds me of the stigma put against Asian Americans to feel any sort of depression, anxiety, or desire to not participate in the subjects you mentioned (math, debate, medicine, law, etc.), leading me to think of the Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho. Cho was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, though unfortunately, teachers and professors did not consider his mental condition seriously, and his mental health was neglected due to the adherence to Asian stereotypes. These educators, to the detriment of many lost lives and grieving families, as well as Cho himself, looked at Cho as just another Asian student in the back of the class who was probably brilliant and did not need attention. This gross neglect is unacceptable and dangerous, as you said, for we should view each and every one of our students as individuals, not as cookie cutters fitting a stereotype applicable to race. Perhaps if even one educator had looked beyond that Asian stereotype and actually saw Cho in the back of the class and asked how he was doing, he wouldn’t have been prompted to take so many lives on that fateful day in Virginia.