Model Minority Image and Educational Issues for Asians

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Model Minority Image and Educational Issues for
Asians

• EWS 404
• Week 6

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Model Minority

• Asian Americans had a higher educational
  attainment levels, high median family incomes,
  low crime rates, low juvenile delinquency and
  mental health problems set an example for other
  minority groups.
• New York Times Magazine in 1965 reviewed the
  success of Japanese Americans higher income
  than white the U.S. News and World Report had an
  article entitled "Success Story of One Minority
  in the U.S." ( Dec. 26, 1966)
• In 1982, the Newsweek headlined
  "Asian-Americans A Model Minority. Forbes's
  1983 list of the "richest" Americans included An
  Wang.
• Theories of Model Minority Asians have a strong
  work ethic they respect education and they
  value family life. That is how they succeed in
  America.

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Problems of Model Minority concept

• 1. It downplays historical racial discriminations
  against Asians and removes Asians from
  Affirmative Action or other remedy programs in
  education and employment.
• 2. It promotes misunderstanding and racial
  conflicts between Asians and other groups.
• 3. It indicates that individual success is a rule
  rather than an exception.
• 4. It advocates that social mobility depends on
  cultural values rather than social structure and
  class status of a person.

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Typical Myths of Asian Success in Education

• They experience on discrimination in education
  historically.
• Schools and colleges favor Asian students.
• Asians are rich and Asian kids do not have to
  help in family chores or business.
• Asians are nerds and do not participate in other
  activities.

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Misinterpretation of Data and Asian Income

• 1990 family income Asian median income 36,000
  v. non-Hispanic white 31,100
• However, three-fifths or 80 of Asian Americans
  lived in CA, Hawaii, and NY
• 4 metropolitan areas Asian median income was
  37,200 and non-Hispanic white was 40,000.
• 20 Asian families had 3 or more workers compared
  with 13 of non-Hispanic whites.
• Average per capita income in 1991
• Asian -- 13,420
• white -- 15,260

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Misinterpretation of Data and Asian Income

• Poverty 1993-- 15 Asians vs 10 white
• 1960 -- Chinese male income was only 68 of
  white-male income in the San Francisco Bay Area
  and 56 in the N.Y. metropolitan area, the income
  for Chinese women was significantly lower -- 36
  and 44 in each respective area.
• 1980 -- 51 of the 77,829 employed Chinese
  immigrants were located in menial service and
  low-skilled jobs while 42 were engaged in
  managerial and technical occupations.

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Misinterpretation of Data and Asian Income

• Family below Poverty Line In a 1992 report, 11
  of Asian American families lived below poverty
  line compared with 8 average American family.
• In a 1992 report, 11 of Asian American families
  lived below poverty line compared with 8 average
  American family.
• If 12,674 is the poverty line for a family of
  four in 1989
• 16 -- Koreans 16 -- Chinese
• 24 -- Pacific Islands 25 -- Vietnames
• 45 -- other Southeast Asians belonged to this
  group.

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Misinterpretation of Data and Asian Income

• Social problems for Asians
• Discrimination, poverty, unemployment, crowded
  housing, educational handicaps, lack of
  marketable skills, languages barriers,
  citizenship requirements, and culturally biased
  and irrelevant tests for professionals.
• Typical social groups
• The unemployed Hmong, the Downtown Chinese, the
  elderly Japanese, the old Filipino farm workers,
  and many others live far below poverty line.

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Historical Discrimination against Asians in
Education

• The 1884 Tape vs Hurley case parents of Mamie
  Tape.
• Chinese children thus attended segregated schools
  well into 1930s.
• October 11, 1906, the San Francisco School Board
  ordered all Japanese and Korea children(93) in
  the public schools transferred into the
  segregated Oriental school in Chinatown.

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Historical Discrimination against Asians in
Education

• Lau vs Nichols case
• On March 25, 1970, Kenney Kinmon Lau and 12
  non-English-speaking Chinese American students,
  over half of them American-born, filed suit in
  Federal District Court in San Francisco against
  Alan Nichols, president of the San Francisco
  Board of Education on behalf of nearly 3,000
  Chinese-speaking students.
• They demanded adequate funding for ESL programs,
  and bilingual teachers teaching those programs.

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Interpretation on Educational Success among
Asians

• Asian College Population
• 3.7-4 of US population but 9-10 of all college
  students in the nation.
• In 1920s-30s, Jewish Americans represented 3.7
  of US population but 9 of all college students
  in the nation.

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Asian College Population

• In 1994, two-fifths of Asians above 25 has a BA
  or higher degree.
• Yale 14 undergraduate Harvard 12 Stanford
  24.
• In the UC system, whites still make up the
  biggest share of the undergraduate population.
• According to 2002 figures, they constitute 37 of
  those students.
• Next come Asians, at 33 Latinos, at 13 and
  African Americans, at 3.
• At UC Berkeley, Asians are the largest group, at
  38, followed by whites, at 30 Latinos, at 10
  and African Americans, 4.

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Asian College Population

• UC system's total student population in 1994 is
  151,356
• White students made up 49.3 -- less than half
  though still the majority.
• Minority
• 53.4 at Berkeley
• 55.7 at Riverside
• 56.2 at Los Angeles
• UCI Asian 47 of 16,443 in the fall 1994 v. the
  white students of about 33.
• In Cal Poly, Asian students are 33. And 40
  2001-2.

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K-12 System in California

• Asians dominate many Los Angeles and Orange
  Counties campuses.
• In 1981, they outnumbered all other ethnic groups
  at 77 California schools - 13 in Los Angeles
  County and 1 in Orange County.
• By 1995, that number had grown to 367 campuses --
  85 in Los Angeles and 30 in Orange County.

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Why Asians Do Well in School?

• Genetics theory
• Smart genes, high IQs top of the Bell Curve
• Cultural values
• Asian value education family supports
  educational activities
• Functionalist theory
• Limited job opportunities without education.

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Education in Asian Societies

• Education in China
• Education led to wealth and prestige, and hence
  the existence of numerous clan or private schools
  in rural areas.
• Education background of Filipinos
• Filipino Americans had about as much education as
  white Americans and slightly less than Asian
  Indian Americans.
• But they were much better educated than those who
  stayed in the Philippines.
• In 1980, over 25 of all Filipinos aged 25-29 in
  the islands were high school graduates of these
  who are in the U.S. the figure was almost 85.

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Education in Asian Societies

• In 1970, there were 732,868 students enrolled in
  colleges representing 25 of the college-age
  population in the country.
• In its ratio of higher education enrollment per
  100,000 population, the Philippines rated second
  only the U.S.
• In 1972, only 60 of college graduates could
  work in jobs that fit for their degree.
• US literacy rate in 1990s 25 million
  functionally illiterate(248 million total pop.)
  average reading level 6th grade.
• High school dropout rate 30-40
• Literacy rate in Asia Singapore 100 Japan 99,
  Taiwan 93, Malaysia 90

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Education in Asian Societies

• Education as Family Agenda
• Story of Burton Liao..
• The role of class and educational background of
  the new Asian immigrants and their motivation to
  outperform than native-born Americans.
• In fact, any social/racial group Jews, blacks,
  women, Latinos, Asians, gays, or others
  immigrant background, middle or upper class
  family background help explain why some people
  are more motivated for high level of education
  and occupation.

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Investing More Time and Money

• An intensive summer SAT program runs 2½ hours a
  day, five days a week for as long as 10 weeks,
  and students also regularly get homework.
• Parents ordinarily pay 140 to 160 a week.

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Quota on Excellence

• Asian American students blamed of raising class
  grade curves.
• In 1905, a group of white parents at Washington
  Grammar School in SF insisted that 4 Chinese
  students, all academic superstars, were cheating
  by exchanging answers in Chinese.
• In 1928, a white community in Mississippi decided
  to bar all Asians from attending the local school
  after a Chinese boy graduated at the top of his
  class.

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Quota on Excellence

• In 1982, Asian Americans had to score an average
  of 112 points higher on the SAT than the
  Caucasians who were admitted at Harvard
• Asians 742 verbal and 725 math 1467
  Caucasian 666 and 689 1355.
• In 1983, the minimum test score for admission to
  Lowell was 62 (originally 66) for ethnic Chinese,
  59 for Caucasians, 58 for other Asians, 56 for
  Hispanics African Americans.
• In 1984, a task force report found out that
  Berkeley turned away students with perfect GPAs
  while admitting students who had not submitted
  their grades or test scores.

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Quota on Excellence

• In 1987, Yat-Pang Au, son of HK immigrant, a
  straight A student, valedictorian of his class,
  won prizes for 10 extracurricular activities,
  earned letters in cross-country and track, served
  as a justice on the schools Supreme Court, but
  was rejected by Berkeley.
• Of the 16,318 applicants, 5.032 or 30.8 were
  Asians and only 20 of them admitted.
• Based on the Individual Assessment criterion,
  University of Michigan assigned 20 points (on a
  150-point scale) for the color of an applicant's
  skin, when perfect SAT scores counted for 4.

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The Right to Excel

• Fong indicates that
• Asian students should be not published by being
  more competitive.
• Many Asian students come from middle class family
  background.
• Being educated or literate immigrants help them
  adapt to new society, learn new language, and
  assist their children at school. (Fong, p 88)
• Many Asian students come from immigrant family
  background.

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Problems Confronting Asian American in K-12
system

• In Los Angeles, thousands of youths belonged to
  an estimated 250 Asian gangs.
• Nearly 46 of Filipino high school girls in San
  Diego Unified School District in a survey five
  years ago indicated that they seriously
  contemplated suicide.

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Problems Confronting Asian American in K-12 system

• A 1997 study on the educational needs of Asian
  American youth found that schools offer little
  Asian American history.
• Another study indicated that only 16 of Asian
  children reported seeing their race very often on
  television, compared to 22 of Latino children,
  42 of African Americans and more than 70
  whites.
• In California, only about 2-3 of teachers are of
  Asian descent compared to 9 of the students.
• Asian American teachers 15 of all American
  college students major in education compared with
  only 6 of Asian Pacific students in college in
  1980-90s.

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Conclusion

• Roger Daniels
• In general, in American society there is a
  direct relationship between education and income
  the more education, the more income. P.315.
• Asian American education is an issue of cultural
  tradition vs social structure, cultural elements
  vs. class, situational elements.
• Considering racial environment for Asians, their
  need for bilingual, bi-cultural service support,
  stereotype image of Asians in the curriculum, and
  other social problems, Asians are still racially
  discriminated minority and should be included in
  Affirmative Action programs.