Week 10 Lauren Velasquez

Lauren Velasquez

Section A03

Week 10

There are many disparities within the university infrastructure that causes stresses and illnesses among many of the affected groups. In Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde’s paper, “‘The Time to Fight is Now’: When Asian american Women in Academia Go Rogue,” she recognizes how the university has become “a workplace teeming with labor and civil rights abuses, rather than the… ‘idyllic’ haven of intellectual discourse creating thoughtful members of society” (Valverde, 2017.) While I do agree with this point, I think college curriculum is opening the students’ eyes to recognize the disparities that occur in academia. If it wasn’t for the ethnic studies classes, it would be harder for these messages to be broadcasted among a number of students. In ethnic studies, we learn about the disparities within America on a broader scale which allows us to think critically of our university and of the administrators running it. Because of the haven of intellectual discourse we have at college campuses, this allows us to think more critically of the positions that we stand in. Another interesting point that was made in the paper was the description of Asian American women as a “‘phantom peril’ in the university” (Valverde, 2017.) White people feel threatened by Asian American women because we are the “model minority.” However, when Asian American women do not follow the guidelines of being a model minority, they are quickly disregarded and no longer considered as an “honorary white.” Again and again, Asian American women as a whole are brought up just to be thrown back down again. The women are never good enough and must conform to others’ views to be accepted

The picture below shows a TIME magazine cover of what the Asian American model minority stereotype is. This is an inaccurate representation of what many Asian Americans are really like. Many Asian Americans have to face many disparities within the system to be able to ever get to a place like this. This cover does not show the struggles that we all go through daily as an Asian American.

Question: How do we stop this epidemic of "illnesses" and "high stress environments" moving forward from now?

Thai, T. (n.d.). Asian-American Whiz Kids [Digital image]. Retrieved June 4, 2017, from http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19870831,00.html

Valverde, C., & Dariotis, W. (2017). "The Time to Fight is Now": When Asian American Women in Academia Go Rogue. Retrieved June 4, 2017.