Week 3 - Vy Nguyen - A02

Hoang Phuong Vy Nguyen

ASA02 - A02

Week 3

In Asian American and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again, Nancy Chung Allred discusses how opponents of affirmative action questions the effectiveness of affirmative action by upholding the model minority myth as well as presenting Asian Americans as ‘mascots', while maintaining their actual presence in the debate. In the past, affirmative action programs have supported Asian Americans, but it has also discriminated against the population. This is evident in the implementation of a ‘racial quota' as discovered by Allan Bakke, a white male, who filed a lawsuit against UC Davis' Medical School for favoring other races over white applicants like himself. A university's use of racial quotas in its admission process is unconstitutional as quotas affect all races, not just that of white.

Although what happened to Bakke was over 3 decades ago, quota systems still prevails in higher education. Michael Wang, a prodigy who graduated with perfect SAT scores, a 4.67 GPA, and even sang at Barack Obama's 2008 inauguration was rejected from six Ivy League schools (Jackson, 2015, para 7-8). When Wang wrote to the Ivies asking why he got rejected, he received no responses. He then went on to file a complaint to the Department of Education about the use of racial quotas at the Ivies to admit less qualified applicants; it has been 2 years since the case was filed and still no responses. There is obviously something stingy about this. Thus, one must examine how structural factors such as white privilege have transformed affirmative action into a negative impact on Asian Americans.

A picture of Michael Wong. Credit: Business Insider.

White privilege plays an invisible yet extremely role. In the context of higher education, it is shown through a college’s acceptance based on their ‘legacy', whether they were recruited for athletic purposes or have ties with politicians or bureaucrats. Asian American students rarely have such connections since many are often first-generation to go to college. Nonetheless, Asian Americans no longer need affirmative action, says white majority, because of their perceived success. Generally, Asian Americans seek higher education because they do not get paid as much as white. Thus, seeking higher education in hopes of providing greater return for their educational investment. However, the model minority has shifted into something uglier as Asian American students are now cast as the ‘contemporary Yellow Peril’ for the very thing that they were praised for. Therefore, by presenting Asian Americans as mascots and upholding the model minority designation, the white majority, or as they call themselves, opponents of affirmative, are enabled to bolster their credibility while maintaining their invisibility.

My question: Besides affirmative action/ admission to higher education, where else can we see white privilege prevail in academia? What are some practical implications/solutions to raising more awareness about the power of white privilege and its effect on minorities?

References:

1. Allred, N. C. (2007). Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again. Asian Am. LJ, 14, 57-84.
2. Jackson, A. (2015, June 01). A perfect ACT score couldn't get this student into Yale, Princeton, or Stanford, and he says it's because he's Asian-American. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-wang-says-ivy-league-discriminates-against-asians-2015-5