Week 3 Margirie Dublin

ASA 2 Week 3

Margirie Dublin

Section A02

In Nancy Chung Allred’s journal, “Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again,” she addresses the struggle Asian Americans go through with education because of the model minority myth. She discusses her own experience at Lowell High School in which admission to this high quality school was strict and was located where many immigrant families lived. This elite school gave hope for the next generation to proceed to higher education. Yet because of it’s status many wanted to go to this school especially because there was no tuition like private schools. The need to diversify the school (because it had a heavy Asian population) was important which caused Asian student to compete and strive for higher test score than their fellow cohort. She also goes over a couple of Supreme Court cases which call affirmative action into question, especially since Asians are a minority yet, they tend to be a bigger population in education than other ethnic groups. Asians are mostly seen as second class citizens based on the model minority myth, the overlooking of Asian Americans with white privilege. I think it is interesting when she discusses how affirmative action in some cases have benefitted Asian Americans but it has also limited Asian Americans to be put in an overall category. I think it is important to look at the myth of being the model minority and relating that to hoe that affects Asian American students in higher education. One of the important concepts to understand, is that Asian Americans are not all the same, each ethnic group suffers from different treatment and socioeconomic status.  Personally, I have never had an opinion on affirmative action and this article also explains how many Asian American are stuck in the middle, I believe this to be so because of the ideas and myths that come from marcotting Asian Americans as the model minority. As Allred addresses this title given to Asian Americans sets us off to the side where we are stuck in limbo. It is suppose too give us this higher ranking/ power yet it is extremely harmful, making other minority groups see us as different and creating a more competitive field for success in education for Asian Americans. The downfalls of this title have become very harmful for Asian Americans, even though they are rarely discussed, personally I have experienced the stereotypes put with my status of being a model minority. Having to hear all my life from my peers that, “you are Asian so it is easier for you,” or “of course, because you are Asian.” Just because I have been given this title, I do not reap benefits from it, as addressed in the article not all Asians live the same way, being a child of immigrant parents, growing up in a low-income household and overall neighborhood, I had to work extremely hard to get into college. Many assumptions based on the model minority theory have not made my life easier, yet put expectations that cause more of a stressor on education.

Chung Allred, N. (2007). Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again. Asian American Law Journal, 14(3). Available at

http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/aalj/vol14/iss

Asian Journal. Behind the 'Model Minority' Myth: The Asian disadvantage
http://asianjournal.com/news/behind-the-model-minority-myth-the-asian-disadvantage/