Asian American Families beyond the stereotype Part 2

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Asian American Families beyond the
stereotypePart 2

• Mei-Ling L. Liu, Professor
• California Polytechnic State University,
• San Luis Obispo
• 2006-07 U. S. Fulbright Scholar in the Republic
  of Macedonia

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Who is the most famous Asian American right now?
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Cho Seung-Hui, Virginia Tech gunman
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The Family
Readily took advantage of American opportunities
on arriving in the country They ploughed their
whole being into that oldest Asian stereotype
the dry-cleaning business of long hours,
killer-routine and noble sweat.
Originally a low-income used-book seller in South
Korea.
Lived in a home in Centreville, a comfortable
Washington suburb. The home is estimated to
worth 500,000.
The familys older child, Cho's older sister,
graduated from Princeton.
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The Son
Described by a peer as "supersmart", winning A
grades.
Excelled in English (by no means an Asian
stereotype).
Disobedient he would ignore questions directed
at him
Excelled in mathematics
Non-compliant instead of writing his name at the
class registration, he scrawled a question mark
instead
Played an instrument (trombone) and took music
lessons.
Stoic
Violent
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• The Asian Family Stereotype
• Facts and Myths

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Over 50 percent of all minority-owned businesses
whose sales exceeded one million dollars were
Asian American owned. Asian American-owned firms
are not just dry cleaners and mom-and-pop
grocery stores. Asian American businesses
represent all industries including Engineering
Accounting Research Facilities Management
Advertising, Marketing Public Relations Real
Estate Healthcare Security Commodity
Brokers Manufacturing Transportation -- US
Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce
Thirty-five years after the arrival in the USA of
the first Indian motel keepers first- and
second-generation Indian-Americans are running
upscale-branded hotels Marriotts, Sheratons and
Hiltons, in many instances. Few other industries
can claim such a large minority influence.
Indian-Americans own 43 of the 47,000 hotels and
motels in the country, according to Asian
American Hotel Owners Association, or AAHOA -
4/17/2007 USA Today
Cambodian Americans own some 90 percent of
Californias donut shops. - Asian Week, 6/28/2000
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A study by the Center for Equal Opportunity found
that Asian-American applicants to selective
colleges have significantly higher test scores
than applicants of other races In 2005, the
median test score for Asian students offered
admission to the University of Michigan was 50
points higher than the median score for white
students, 140 points higher than Hispanic
students, and 240 points higher than black
students. (The SAT used a 1600-point scale at the
time.) -November 20, 2006, the Harvard Crimson
Among the five major racial/ethnic groups in the
U.S., Asian Americans have the highest college
degree attainment rate, rates of having an
advanced degree (professional or Ph.D.), being in
the labor force, rate of working in a "high
skill" occupation (executive, professional,
technical, or upper management). In these
categories, Asians even outperform Whites.
http//www.asian-nation.org/ based on the 2000
census
Some analyses of standardized test scores show
that Asian-American applicants, on average, must
attain higher scores to snag admission to some of
the nations most desirable schools -November
20, 2006, the  Harvard Crimson
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Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey -
Wikipedia
As a whole Asian American families have higher
median incomes than White families.
In terms of personal income, the White full-time
worker has a higher median income than its Asian
counterpart.
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The typical Asian American family tends to have
more members who are working than the typical
White family. It's not unusual for an Asian
American family to have four, five, or more
members working.
Asian Americans are much more likely to
concentrate in metropolitan areas where the cost
of living is much higher.
The only reason why many Korean small business
owners are able to make a small profit is that
they have no paid employees and work 20 hours a
day. -- www.asian_nation.org
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US 2006 Census Bureau Survey Figures, wikipedia
Although Asian Americans have the highest rates
of having a college (43 of all adults between 25
and 64) or a law, medicine, or doctorate degree
(6.5 of all adults between 25 and 64), they only
have the second highest median personal (per
capita) income behind that for White workers.
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Among immigrants, naturalized citizens have a far
lower poverty rate.
Asians as a whole have a much higher poverty rate
than Whites.
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• Not all Asian Americans are the same
• http//www.asian-nation.org

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• There can be very large and significant
  socioeconomic differences among Asian American
  ethnic groups. Several Asian groups are doing
  very well and in fact, consistently outperform
  Whites on many measures of socioeconomic
  achievement. On the other hand, a few Asian
  groups may exhibit a few very positive
  achievements but on the whole, do not possess the
  same attainment levels of other Asian groups and
  Whites.

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The persistent belief that all Asians are
smart puts a tremendous amount of pressure on
many Asian Americans. Many, particularly
Southeast Asians, are not able to conform to this
unrealistic expectation and in fact, have the
highest high school dropout rates in the
country.
Because many Asian Americans have "made it," it
does not mean that all Asian Americans have made
it.
For every Chinese American or South Asian who
has a college degree, the same number of
Southeast Asians are still struggling to adapt to
their lives in the U.S.
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In California, almost 40 of all Vietnamese
refugees are on public assistance.
In Minnesota and Wisconsin, 40 of Cambodians,
Hmong, and Laotians receive public assistance.
Vietnamese Americans only have a college
degree attainment rate of 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.
Many Korean immigrants come to the U.S. with
very high levels of education. For various
reasons (i.e., not being fluent in English), many
are not able to get well-paying jobs and resorted
to work as janitors, waiters, busboys, or go into
business for themselves to survive.
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• Continued on Part 3