Week 3

Anna De Villa
A03


OiYan Poon and Ajani Byrd’s Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices and Nancy Chung Allred’s Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: FromYellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again both bring up interesting analyses of the role that Asian Americans play in American culture. In the Tiger Mom article, Poon and Byrd study the truth behind the effects of strict parenting and the influence of parents on their children’s college choices and expectations. Allred’s work, on the other hand, examines the effects of the government’s affirmative action policies on Asian American admittance. Both articles combined seem to display a cause and effect initiated by harmful stereotypes. Allred focuses on the way the view of Asian Americans in the US swinging from model minority to yellow peril. These terms are used interchangeably to describe high-achieving Asians depending on how threatening or beneficial they can be to white people. In Poon and Byrd’s article, the stereotypes that others fear about Asian Americans can be described as the yellow peril because of the fear that tiger moms are rearing their children in such a way that they can beat out other races during college admissions.
As someone who would be considered in the 1.5 generation, I was raised with the idea that while certain colleges would be ideal, it would be what I did with my time and not where I went that would determine my success. I went to a high school that, while not particularly economically advantaged, did emphasize the importance of going to college and getting an education. I was expected to keep up straight As and if they were there I was free of any helicopter parenting that is usually portrayed in stereotypes. The tiger mom aspect of my upbringing was less of a strict type of parenting, but instead the mentality of my culture to aim high and please my whole family’s expectations. As I was reading the Tiger Mom article, I realized that I identified with the students’ responses. While my parents influenced my work habits, it was my peers and my teachers who enforced the idea that I should go to college and they provided me with much of the structural support I needed to become a student that would be accepted into the placed I applied.
My question: With each passing generation, does the tiger mom way of parenting still persist or are generations more far removed from the first generation more likely to practice ‘western’ parenting?

I chose this video because it was a funny perspective on the way Filipina moms raise their children. While it is obviously an exaggeration I still found it relatable to my own experience growing up.

References:
[Jo Koy] (2017, April 17). "Follow Your Dreams" | Jo Koy : Live from Seattle. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjVZ14eb0c
Nancy Chung Allred, Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again, 14 Asian Am. L.J. 57(2007).
Poon, O and A Byrd. "Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices." Journal of College Admission, 2013.