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. Continue reading Teachers Should Avoid the Stereotype and Static Mindset When Teaching Students →

“With these words, he recognized and validated the worth of my family and my home environment…the letter also conveyed an understanding of the centrality of family and honor in Mexican culture. My principal was sensitive and reached out my parents with such a positive regard that was rarely extended to Mexican families such as mine” (Prieto 5).

Prieto, L. (2009). The stings of social hierarchies: From the San Joaquin Valley vineyards to the ivy walls. In J. A. Van Galen & V. O. Dempsey (Eds.), Trajectories: The Education and Social Mobility of Education Scholars from the Poor and Working Class (pp. 71-81). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Continue reading Respecting Culture in the Classroom →

“Growing up, some white peers and teachers would describe me as an anomaly within my community instead of connecting my achievements to the intellectual heritage within the Latina/o community. As others who come from poor and working-class backgrounds or people of color have done I too could have bought into the deficit perspective that I am better than my own, but the practices of mainstream schooling, curriculum, and patriarchy I continue to experience serve as a constant reminder that I am perceived as belonging to a community of second-class citizens at best. Even after poor and working-class, women, and/or people of color enter the academy as faculty members, we continue to struggle within a system that is not setup for our success. Therefore, I continue to learn about and extend the limits and possibilities within which I might envision the future of my communities—communities of women, working class, Latina/o, and/or immigrant students.” (Prieto, 10)

I found this passage moving because it shows that even when a member of a so-called “second-class” community excel, they’re still viewed as a sort of “exception that proves the rule,” and little in the way we handle different communities changes. I find this disheartening – it seems the dominant culture will always find a way to explain away the talents and successes of minoritized cultures. I appreciate how Prieto refers to this as a “deficit perspective” – a sort of glass-half-empty approach that centers around the fact that just because someone comes from a disadvantaged background, there must be something wrong with them, even if they succeed. Perhaps built into this deficit perspective is the notion that there is something wrong with them for succeeding – for rising above the expectations, both explicit and implicit, that the dominant culture has for them. It is all too easy to say that we should have high expectations for everyone, regardless of background, but it is certainly worth trying. I think the first step, reinforced by all the articles we’ve read today, is to re-examine our anglocentric view of the world, and learn as much as we can particularly about Spanish speakers, who speak a language that in the United States carries many negative connotations. What can their unique culture and language contribute to our classroom?