Xinmeng Yang, Week 1, SS1

  In the poem “Waking” by W.P, the author characterized herself as a mouse in the lab. She said that her human right in the academia was even worse than a mouse in the lab. Even a mouse’s animal rights wee emphasized to students, but as a professor, W.P’s talents were erased just because she’s Asian. And the professor who took over W.P’s position in the class didn’t show sympathy to W.P’s unfair situation, oppositely had tears down for a mouse. I read this poem repeatedly and I was thinking whether the “diversified” campus I’m studying in is just a utopia? What I could see is that my university has welcomed many scholars from minority groups, also students from minority groups have been increasing. It seemed like our campus is a comprehensive environment, but how do we know if scholars & students from minority groups were treated fairly? Since they don’t have a space to uphold their justice. Like W.P, what she could do was just write a poem to share her anger. Also as a result of rising nationalism under current president of United States, I don’t know if the future academic environment will be more friendly, or even worse for minority groups.

Question: Some critics indicated that the reason why Asian American was often ignored in American society is because Asian tend to endure unfair situation, rather than speak out. Will the situation change if Asians tend to unite and speak out for their rights? 

References: Ping Wang, Waking. Retrieved from canvas.ucdavis.edu/courses/392140/files/folder/Weekly%20Readings/Week1?preview=6305117.

Image: Parke, Caleb. Harvard discrimination trial reveals Ivy League School's different SAT standard for Asian Americans.https://www.foxnews.com/us/harvard-discrimination-trial-reveals-ivy-league-schools-different-sat-standards-for-asian-americans