Kristina Nguyen
Section 2
Week 3

It wasn't until about a couple months ago when I first learned about the term "model minority." In "Complicating the Image of Model Minority"  Bic Ngo and Stacey Lee fully defined and explained what the model minority is with very interesting points that were backed up by other researches as well as data. As a Vietnamese-American, I definitely connected to the reviews based on the methods of Vietnamese education/struggles/strengths/weaknesses within a Vietnamese household. The part that made me reminisce most was when they mentioned how a typical day for a Vietnamese student would be. It was literally on point. There was always about an hour after I got home from school where I was able to watch tv and enjoy a snack. After that, I had to either 1. work on my own homework, 2. help my three little brothers with their homework 3. read a book until it was dinner time. At dinner, everyone had to be present and me and my siblings usually cleaned and set up the dinner table. Reading the article really made me appreciate my parents even more and reminded me of all the small moments I took for granted as a child. I definitely consider myself one of the lucky ones who had parents who pushed me really far in terms of education, who no matter what tried their best to be involved in my academics as well as extra curricular, I do understand at a very young age that some of my other Vietnamese peers did not get the same support that I did. I had friends who at a very young age (middle school) who joined gangs and took part in illegal activities. It was sad but there was really no way to help them. Although there were certain resources available to try to keep them in school and out of trouble; there wasn't enough. As I started to mature and truly reflect on my community specifically Southeast Asian community, I definitely realized the model minority that we are in. I am from San Jose where one of the hugest Vietnamese population resides and yet we do not have many programs that focus on the academics and etc in our community. When it was time to go to college, I wasn't able to find any scholarships for Vietnamese-Americans and etc. I really hope one day to build a Vietnamese Community Center where I am from (San Jose) to be used as a resource for my peers and this article only reassured me about my goals for the future. Does having this model minority affect how people visualize their "American Dream?"