Asian Students in the United States - Essay Example

Lowe bases her arguments fundamentally on Asian immigration and their citizen status on American soil which is perpetually labeled as that of a foreigner. Despite the rising number of immigrants, who have adopted the United States as their homeland; Asians are vastly rendered isolated by American nationalist ideology that often sparks widespread discrimination and intolerance towards them and their culture.

Lowe cites the story by Monique Thuy-Dung Truong which tells the story of a Vietnamese-American woman in a predominantly white school. She feels overwhelmed by the vast majority of the white population in her school. Her feelings of isolation were further deepened by her nationalistic history teacher, Mrs. Hammerick, who constantly made her feel like “she was telling all the boys that her first name of Pearl and her last name was Harbor”. (Lowe, 1996, p. 55)

Truong’s story highlights how the teacher particularly left her feeling isolated around the boys in class, as she indoctrinated them with her nationalist and bigoted ideology and forewarned them from developing any ties with her. The feelings of being ostracized were indeed painful but the narrator was able to find long-lasting friendships with outcasts like her, Kelly, and Michelle. However, it was not race that had set them apart but Kelly’s weight and Michelle’s poverty. Truong’s story creates a contrast between the various ways society has now been divided. Amid this social turmoil, the girls develop a unique bond that is created as a result of their empathy for one another; even though their struggles were different, but they were able to cross the boundaries of race, physical appearance, and socioeconomic class.

While Truong’s protagonist was reduced to a status of an enemy in the eyes of her peers, another story by Patrick Leong in the Burning cane describes the struggles of a Chinese-Mexican in America, who is torn between the value system of his father and the Catholic beliefs of his mother. Such individuals feel as if they are in the “no man’s land’ as they are a part of two distinct cultures but belong to none (Lowe, 1996, p. 54). Not only interracial marriages, but Asian Americans, in general, are at a crossroad, where they are supposed to create a balance between two highly diverse cultures that does not match with each other in any way. Therefore, the bigoted economic and political policy in American society further deepens the divide between Asian immigrants and American culture.

Lowe argues that these are the repercussions of the education system that establishes this sense of isolation within the young Asian American population. Teaching history is essential, but using historical events to protect the identities of the victors and enemies from the students will only set off resentment and negative feelings between the minority and majority groups in class. The author further suggests that school curricula should incorporate texts that depict the strong alliances that have been developed between Asians with the American population. Such as Truong’s story depicts how to overcome racial barriers and help the general masses to understand the ambivalence of contemporary Asian Americans, who constantly battle to embody the values of two cultures. Read More