Week 2: Alexander Soong A01

Alexander Soong

ASA 2 A01

Week 2

I am personally from Cupertino, California and I grew up going to Monta Vista High School and have had many friends go to Lynbrook and Lowell High School as mentioned in Nancy Chung Allred’s “Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again”. This reading explained to me a social phenomenon that I had been blinded by, because I was personally living in it. I thought it was the norm, and it was not until much later when I realized how the situation looked like from a 3^rd party’s point of view. The whole idea of the “Yellow Peril” is very true, and I clearly remember an encounter with a White student at Monta Vista claiming that the Asian students get together and cheat on exams to help each other get into better universities. At the time, while still naïve and unexposed to the real world, I thought this was a singular incident that just so happened to occur at my school. At the time, I failed to see the bigger picture of ethnic inclusion and exclusion and was only paying attention to the competition amongst peers. As much as the “Tiger Mom” stereotypes have been in the spotlight for attributing to pressuring prospective Asian American college students, as described in “Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices,” by Byrd and Poon, I found that the largest influence on where I went to college was a form of peer pressure that I brought upon myself. The fear that my peers would get into better universities than I, caused a buildup of anxiety and determination that I had to do whatever I could to keep up and achieve good grades. Looking back at my high school days, and even my experiences from my first few years of college I wish that I could care less about what other people thought of me, and rather focus on my learning and developing my passions.

Question:

For the students that grew up with a “Tiger Mom”, or grew up in a community where having a tiger waiting for you at home was the norm, what is your feeling now? Are you appreciative of the “up tight” behavior of your parents or do you feel that it was detrimental to your growth and development?

References:

1.     Allred, Nancy C. (2007). Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again. Asian American Law Journal, Volume 14. Retrieved October 1, 2017.

2.     Poon, O., & Byrd, A. (2013). Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Difference in Asian American College Access and Choices. School of Education: Faculty Publication and Other Works, 23-30. Retrieved October 1, 2017. 

3.     Vitamin-Ha. (2015). Funny Asian Memes Retrived October 1, 2017 from http://www.vitamin-ha.com/funny-asian-memes/