Model Minority

Julie Le

Week 3

ASA002 A01

October 4, 2015

Complicating the image of Model Minority

Southeast Asian American (SEAA) students are often lumped in with the model minority group but at the same time are perceived as low achieving dropouts despite carrying a different hxstory. While reading this article I thought about the so called “American Dream” that my parents and many others left their home land to find in order to provide a better life for their children. It made me realize that as hard as these students will work, they will still be discriminated against for who they are. The hard work they put in, or the lack of hard work, will be looked down upon because on one hand they should be able to do well because Asian Americans are expected to do well in school already but on the other hand “it’s just like them to be a good for nothing burden to society.” No matter how hard these students will work they can’t win against these socially constructed ideals that somehow determine our self-worth and worth to society. We live in a society where our hxstory and struggles are kept quiet but we are still perceived as successful regardless of the type of educational institution we are placed in.

Question: What exactly is the American Dream? Can it actually be reached? How can we get institutions to accommodate and properly serve these students?