Week 3

Joshua Omoletski

Section 3

Personally, I found the readings for this week to be much more relatable than any of the previous ones. I especially found many elements of my own childhood in the “Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices” article. This piece discussed how Asian Americans can be treated as scapegoats for either side in the argument for affirmative action. One side says that Asian Americans are a “model minority”¹ and thus show that minorities are able to attain success as long as they work hard. However, at the same time, Asian American success is being diminished due to others thinking that the success was just because of affirmative action instead of hard work. This lead to Asian American parents putting their children against high standards in order to try and make them excel in school and have the academic record to justify being accepted to top schools and universities. Still, even with extremely amazing academic records, these students would not be accepted purely because of their ethnicity.²

When I was growing up, my parents were always tough on me. They were the stereotypical “tiger parents”³ and I always wondered why they kept my academic performance to such a high standard when there were so many other kids who did not try and whose parents did not care all that much. Little did I realize that my parents were setting me up to have an academic record that compensated for being Asian American. Yes, I realize I have a Polish last name and that is due to my dad being fully European. But my mom is full Chinese, and I spend much more time with her family and identify more with her culture. Even when it came time to apply to colleges, my parents told me to identify as white and not Chinese, which really confused me. My thinking back then was, “Why white? That makes me look like everyone else.” However, growing up in a city almost void of Asian Americans, I didn’t realize just how many Asian Americans attended colleges here in California, especially UC Davis. I now realize why my parents did everything that they’d done; it was to keep me from being labelled as part of the “model minority.”

4

This is a picture of a San Francisco Chronicle warning the public about the "terrible" effects Asian Americans will have on American society as a whole.

Question: How was it so easy for Asian Americans to go from being labelled as the “model minority” to being called the “Yellow Peril?”  Did no one question the sudden shift in “public” opinion?

References:

1. Chung Allred, N. (2007, January). Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again.

2. Chung Allred, N. (2007, January). Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again.
3. Poon, O., Byrd, A. (2013, Fall). Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices.

4. Densho Digital Repository (2005, March 9). Editorial: "The Yellow Peril". Retrieved from http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-69-16/