Math in School and Equal Opportunity

Aung Lin

ASA 2-Reading Reflection #3

Title: Math in School and Equal Opportunity

Word Count:500

1.       Title: “Complicating the Image of Model Minority Success: A Review of Southeast Asian American Education” by Bic Ngo & Stacey J. Lee

Asian Student Studying Math

I work in an office during breaks from school. My coworkers know I’m Chinese/Burmese. Whenever we do checks and deposits, I’m always assigned to do the project by my boss. All of my coworkers and bosses are Americans. They all think all Asians are good at math but that’s completely not true. In my case, they’re right. I am good at math and majoring in math at UC Davis. But my brother is also Asian and he sucks at math. Even though, my coworkers didn’t hurt my feelings, I was often stereotyped. Ngo and Lee’s article relates to my personal experience out in the real world. I agree with Ngo and Lee. All Americans think Asians are good at math. Personally, this includes my housemates and coworkers. Like in Ngo and Lee’s article, many parents that I know of in Burmese community don’t like public schools in America because it makes their children do things in American ways which they find disrespectful. Children are not allowed to talk back at their parents in Asian cultures and school teaches kids to take in charge of their own lives and make their own decisions.

Questions:

1)      If Asian Americans are known to be successful in college, how come almost all of them don’t make six-figure salaries like whites in the business world?

2)      How and why did most of Southeast Asians came to US as refugees and not as immigrants?

2. Title: “A Quota on Excellence?” by Don T. Nakanishi

UC Berkeley 

I can definitely relate to this article. Almost two years ago when I was transferring from community college to a university, I heard many stories similar to Nakanishi’s article. Many friends and coworkers always tells me that I’m a math major and Asian so if I want to get into a famous university like Berkeley, I at least need 4.0 GPA which I don’t have. They all told me UCs expect much higher GPA when Asians apply compared to white, Latinos, or African Americans. I told them immediately that this is not right. Everyone deserves equal opportunity in education and skin color has nothing to do with it. They laughed and told me that that’s how life works. And they told me that Asian’s population in universities is rising at an alarming rate so officials are trying to reduce it by demanding higher GPA. In the end, UC Berkeley didn't accept me and I found out that these stories I heard are true. I want everyone to know that these prejudices in this article are all real.

Question:

1)      Why does all the famous universities keep raising the GPA requirement each year on Asian applicants and made statements saying they are always fair?