Week 3 - Carissa Fejarang - A02

The theme of this week has to do with the fight for Asian Americans in academia. In general, Asian Americans are underappreciated and marginalized, especially in graduate school, as Manee Moua discusses in “Navigating Graduate Education as a First-generation, Hmong American Woman: An Autoethnography”. Moua explains her experience as a first-generation graduate student as a Hmong American and the struggles that come with it. She wrote the article to provide literature about subjects like these because the fact that Asian Americans, let alone Hmong Americans, are underrepresented is not recognized and she also wants to emphasize the importance that Asian Americans have in academia. Among the many concepts she discusses, she mentions the model minority theory that is used by the dominant race to dismiss or devalue minorities, as well as look down upon their failures by believing that they fail because they did not try hard enough. This is problematic because in most cases, that belief is false because what if, for example, they weren’t able to succeed because they weren’t able to get the resources that others had?

Another concept that Moua discussed was how Asian Americans generally grow up believing that they should do what they are told. This leads to heavy and possibly burdening expectations on children because most times, children feel like if they do not succeed, they let down or dishonor their parents. First-generation college or graduate students tend to have even higher expectations due to them having access to more opportunities and resources than their parents had. These expectations may hinder adults, subconsciously or consciously. Things like these can cause the imposter syndrome to come into effect, because if they feel like they are having doubts about themselves belonging in or being smart enough for college or graduate school, they may be afraid of being exposed as something besides what they portray.

Question: Would the teaching styles of professors impact the way that Asian Americans feel included?

References: 

Kane, J. (2017, December 07). 5 Reasons Your College Decision Isn't Your Biggest Decision Ever. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/05/college-decision-isnt-biggest-decision_n_6417562.html

Moua, M. (2018). Navigating Graduate Education as a First-generation, Hmong American Woman: An Autoethnography. Hmong Studies Journal, Volume 25. Retrieved from: http://hmongstudies.org/MouaHSJ19.pdf