SID# 914019640
ASA 002 / A03
This week's readings were very interesting reads. As a San Francisco native who has attended Lowell High School, I was very surprised to see my high school mentioned in the first sentence of Nancy Chung Allred's "Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again." Allred's piece focuses on how affirmative action affects Asian Americans, and how different stereotypes surrounding Asian Americans puts them in a difficult situation when it comes to whether affirmative action should be preserved or not. Admittedly, for as long as education and affirmative action were relevant to me, I have never been sure of where I stood politically with the notion. Growing up in an old-fashioned, Chinese family, there was always emphasis on exceeding academically—my brother, who is the oldest sibling in the family, has always excelled in his studies and built up his and my parents' respectable reputation by attending prestigious universities and remaining at the top of his classes. This in itself, though entirely unintentional on my brother's part, has pressured me since I was young to follow in his footsteps as a scholar; thus, finding out that I may have to work harder and do better compared to my peers of different ethnic backgrounds just to be enrolled at the same school was hard for me to accept. However, after I was admitted to Lowell, I brushed all the negativity aside, thinking, "It doesn't matter now—at least I got in." While I was at Lowell, I was a part of a social outreach program called Peer Resources, and that opened my eyes a lot to the current issues in societal racism and oppression. I learned about the struggles of different people of color, mainly African American and Latino/a people; as a leader in Peer Resources, I was in a position to emphasize programs such as affirmative action to promote diversity and equity at Lowell. I had convinced myself that affirmative action helps those communities more than it hurts the Asian American community, and felt that if I was against affirmative action because it made it harder for people like me to get into certain schools, I would be considered selfish. Reading Allred's article made me hope that I could finally find a solid position to hold on this subject, especially since she even mentioned Lowell High School. However, at the end of the article, rather than forming a decisive opinion, I have learned that it is completely okay to be unsure. It is okay because the way our institutions are built and the way Asian Americans are forced into stereotypes or "mascots" is as lose-lose situation, regardless of whether affirmative action programs are maintained or terminated. I failed to recognize that the supremacy and privilege that white people experience come at my expense, and I am wired to think that it is my fault, or somehow, I am in the wrong. This article helped settle some of the uncertainty in my heart, and reminded me that my divided opinion on the complicated issue is completely understandable.
OiYan Poon's and Ajani Byrd's article and study, "Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices" shed some light on the differences between Asian families, despite the "tiger-mom" umbrella they are commonly put under. I found it interesting how there were gender differences for deciding factors on schools of choice for college students, since I mostly believed that everyone, regardless of gender, would either make a choice they thought best fit them, or best pleased their parents. Of course, I also acknowledge that many people are not as fortunate as I am, since I knew my parents would generally remain supportive of my decisions when it came to my education. However, one part of the article that resonated with me particularly is the portion that discusses how it is more difficult for certain students to go to college or go through the application process because their parents do not know much about it. I always found myself struggling with my identity as an American or as a Chinese person, since I was born in America, but felt like I had no one to turn to for help when it came to a process as strenuous and confusing as the college application process. As such, it is understandable when my efforts and achievements are diminished because people think I have "tiger parents" that push me against my will to be the very best. Everything I have done, from my academics to my extracurricular activities to my hobbies, were out of self-interest, and all my achievements were results of self-discipline and dedication, and it enrages me when others devalue my accomplishments thinking I was just another Asian kid who was forced to do so. I hope mainstream media can slowly, no, quickly, shift its questionable views on Asian Americans to more accurate and politically correct ones.
Attached are the demographics of my graduating class—as you can see, Lowell is no longer comprised of mostly (75%+) Asians, but they still make up a stark 56.7%. Although there is a notable shift in the last few decades, Lowell still struggles to balance diversity and "academic superiority."
Question: What are Professor Valverde's and Kaozong's views on affirmative action, and how it affects the Asian community?
Works Cited:
Allred, N. C., 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.
Student Accountability Report Card School Year 2015-16, pp. 3, retrieved from http://www.sfusd.edu/assets/sfusd-staff/rpa/sarcs2/sarc-697.pdf
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