Yuanji Zhao A03 Week 7

Yuanji Zhao
A03
Week 7


What is the stereotype of Asian American teachers in American society? Are they hard workers? Are they kind people? Based on the research of Wei Ming Dariotis and Grace J. Yoo in the article "Care Work: The Invisible Labor of Asian American Women", they argue Asian American teachers are defined as "care workers". Especially the female teachers, they are recognized as " often find ways to be personally regenerated through care work and find their research and teaching by performing care work." These two authors state that due to the innate character of Asian American Women, they are more likely to provide more support than just academic instruction. These kind of support can be but not limited to emotional advice, anxiety relief, etc.
Based on my experience of interacting with Chinese teachers for over 10 years, the statement of Wei Ming Dariotis and Grace J. Yoo is highly convincing. My teachers back in China could be defined as "care workers" as their duties were far away beyond teaching. For instance, during my time in junior high school which is a boarding school, teachers often played several different characters. They could   give advices to students when they are encountering emotional problems and help they to overcome multiple challenges such as sexism, classism. Moreover, teachers could also act as financial consultant when their students are facing money problems.


Although the tendency of helping others is a positive character of Asian American teachers, it may not necessarily bring benefits to them all the time. When these teachers keep performing the "care work", they are highly possible to be recognized as people who are designed to perform "care work". As the result, they may be sometimes asked to work beyond their duty and perform different tasks which should not be done by them. To eliminate the stereotype for Asian American teachers as "care worker", both teachers and the government are responsible. In other words, it is important for teachers to speak for themselves when they are demanding more than their responsibility. They should let the people in their working environment aware it is the teacher's option to choose whether they want to do things beyond their duty. For the government, it is necessary to give the public accurate information about what is inside teachers' duty and what is not.

References

Wei Ming Dariotis and Grace J. Yoo-"Care Work: The Invisible Labor of Asian American Women"- May 9,2020 - "https://books.google.com/books?id=pPy9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT218&lpg=PT218&dq=Care+Work:+The+Invisible+Labor+of+Asian+American+Women&source=bl&ots=Te1J5t054A&sig=ACfU3U1WBs_YNTyKFoA_oXBRRrOW3pSQaQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4_4_M8afpAhUJP30KHUf9DIEQ6AEwBHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Care%20Work%3A%20The%20Invisible%20Labor%20of%20Asian%20American%20Women&f=false"