Asian American Analysis - Article Example

Running head: ASIAN AMERICAN ANALYSIS Asian American Analysis Affiliation. Psychological Needs and Issues Asian American of the Chinese, Indian and South Korean origin are under a variety of stress because of the stereotypes generally assigned to them. These stereotypes cause emotional distress and this can often create conflicts with their peers both inside and outside of their racial group. Many Asian Americans have felt emotionally disturbed by the stereotypes present about them; they are often called racially insulting names and left out of various activities (Kim and Yeh, 2000). Racial and ethnic discrimination is a very disturbing part of the psychology behind Asian American students. One study done by Siu in 1996 "found that a large proportion (63 percent) of Vietnamese, Hmong, and Korean elementary and secondary students reported that American students were "mean" to them" (par 8). Being insulted or laughed at by classmates were cited as reasons for not liking school and lacking friends. In addition, commonly mentioned concerns of Vietnamese, Chinese, and Cambodian refugee school age children were physical altercations with peers in school and in social interactions" (Kim and Yeh, 2000). According to Jay Matthews (2008), Asian American students "were bothered by the stereotype of their group as a "model minority," which they associated with the fear expressed by some whites that Asian Americans were putting them at a disadvantage. To them, that stereotype carried with it "negative connotations of being competitive, lacking passion, and being calculating," she wrote in her paper" (par 10). Christine Yang's (2009) article discusses how, on college campuses, several Asian students of the Chinese, Indian and South Korean decent have experienced hate crimes and discrimination in response to their race. Thus, the general stereotypes affect Asian Americans psychologically. If they are not currently successful students, they may be too frightened to ask for help, thinking they will be rejected because of who they are, or ostracized by those within their own ethnic group. This causes a threat for Asian American students that are failing, because intervention will be key; counselors must understand that these students will more than likely not ask for help. Social Needs and Issues According to Sharon Lee: "As many Asian American studies scholars have pointed out, Asian Americans are depicted as model minorities but they are also portrayed as foreigners, disloyal to America," (2008, par 10) Lee further elaborates that: "Dual images of Asian Americans as model minorities, people to be praised and emulated and embraced, and foreign threats, people to be watched, monitored, and distrusted, have long been a part of U.S. history." (2008, par 11) How can Asian American students of the Chinese, Indian and South Korea origin reject these types of stereotypes without hurting their academic record It is nearly impossible. Many Asian American students feel that if they are going to break the stereotype, they should and will fail their classes. This will hopefully, in their minds, put them outside the mold and beyond the stereotype, and perhaps earn the trust of other classmates as well. This is something that a counselor and a school must keep in mind when realizing that Asian American failure rates are going up; a big inspiration for this problem is the desire to "fit in" with other students by "getting out" of their Asian American stereotypes. Another important item to consider is the fact that Asian American families generally want their children to be acculturated but not want them to be assimilated. Most of the parents speak their first language in the homes. Many of the parents are immigrants and may not speak English fluently. Therefore, this can cause concerns as far as fitting in and social norms are concerned. This means that these Asian American students may never feel fully accepted, nor may they ever be able to achieve full acceptance as their culture holds them back. These children may be able to speak English and function within the culture, but they will not have a total assimilated mind context, and this can hold them back from educational and social success. Educational Needs and Issues As far as education is concerned, there is a stereotype surrounding Asian Americans that puts quite a bit of pressure on their academic achievement. Generally, Asian Americans of the Chinese, Indian and South Korean origin. are expected to perform well, and if they do not, they often feel very depressed and are embarrassed to ask for assistance. According to Kim and Yeh: "Moreover, dispelling the Asian American universal academic success myth, the Educational Testing Service (1997) found that twelfth grade students from six major ethnic groups (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, South Asian, and Southeast Asian) had significant variations in their educational backgrounds and achievement" (para 10). ETS also demonstrated how stereotyping has led to the neglect of the development of student services and support for the many Asian American students who are undereducated and have low socioeconomic status" (par 12). According to the article, "Asian American Students" (2007 par 10 ), "It is important to remember that "Three in 10 Asian-American students come from families with annual household incomes of less than $40,000, and one in five needs special tutoring or remedial work in English, says the report, "Beyond Myths: The Growth and Diversity of Asian-American College Freshmen, 1971-2005," which can be ordered online." Asian American students come from various backgrounds, just like all students. Some may be suffering things like economic depression, parental strain and divorce, and even abuse in their families. Therefore, these conditions need to be taken into consideration when counseling Asian American students that are failing. There can be some underlying social or family situation interfering with their progress, and since these students are less likely to seek assistance, it is important for the school to reach out to these students. Counseling Strategies and Examples The scholarly arguments analyzed above provide several good ideas and concepts that can be applied when counseling these Asian American students in need. First, as it has been noted above, Asian American students will generally not reach out for assistance if they are struggling academically. Therefore, a program must be implemented in which teachers recognize the students that are struggling and suggest that they are referred to counseling. This type of reference program will then provide a gateway for assistance for those Asian American students that are afraid to ask for help (Matthews, 2008). Second, when counseling these students, the counselor must realize that those students who are purposely struggling academically in order to break the "good Asian student" stereotype will need to be allowed time to discuss and vent their frustrations. When approaching these types of students, the counselor will need to use effective listening initially, in order to allow the student to express his or her feelings, and in order to gain trust (Matthews, 2008). Once this trust has been established, the counselor can ask the student if he or she is ready for the counselor's opinion. The counselor should use the techniques of empathy and sympathy in this approach, letting the student know that he or she cares, first of all, and reminding the student that hurting his or her own academic record could be detrimental to his or her future overall. By demonstrating care and concern as well as patience instead of immediately reprimanding the student after developing trust, the student should be more motivated to complete his or her work because generally, when a person they like shows care or concern, they tend to become more motivated. Secondly, it is also important to offer yourself as a counselor to the student anytime the student needs to vent. Often times, these students simply need a non-prejudiced ear to voice their concerns (Lee, 2008). The counselor will also need to assess if the student is having family issues or other outside issues that could be affecting his or her work. If so, the counselor should set up weekly counseling sessions with the student in order to help him or her deal with the psychological ramifications of the present issues. As well as providing counseling help, tutoring may also be helpful to these students in need. Tutoring should be setup for these students that are truly struggling and may have fallen behind. Tutoring can be setup through teachers or through peer tutoring groups. Offering both can often be an effective strategy because it will give the student a choice, and he or she can go with what he or she is more comfortable with. Providing comfort and choice to those within the Asian culture is very important as far as academics are concerned because it helps to gear them towards their own cultural motivation for better grades (Lee, 2008). Again, however, it will be important to remember that teachers will need to refer these students to tutoring. Therefore, it will be important for teachers to be actively involved in this process. Language and cultural tutoring may also further help these students. As mentioned above, most of the Asian parents want their children to be acculturated but not want them to be assimilated (Wang, 2009). Part of this includes language, as the first language is usually spoken in the home. This means that the student Most of the parent speak their first language in the homes. This can prevent these students from having the benefit of complete and proper English language development when compared to students that have English as their first and only language. This concept can hurt these students as they study. Furthermore, it may also be important to discuss cultural implications with these students. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them wishing to maintain their culture, but it is also important for the counselor to demonstrate that these students can get involved in the culture they are currently living in as well. Conclusion Therefore, when coming up with an approach to this problem, it is important to consider the stereotypes surrounding Asian Americans of Chinese, Indian and South Korean descent. These stereotypes cause several academic problems for them that a counselor needs to be aware of. These include the lack of inspiration when seeking out academic help for fear of rejection, the rejection of academic participation in order to break their stereotypes. Another important item to consider is the fact that Asian American families have as many stresses on them as typical American families. Therefore, these stresses could also be causing educational issues as well. Counselors must take into consideration all of these factors when approaching this type of issue in schools. References Asian-American students face more obstacles Than Stereotypes Suggest (2007). Retrieved July 23, 2009, from http://chronicle.com/article/Asian-American-Students-Face/39792 Kim, A and Yeh, C. (2009). Stereotypes of Asian American students. ERIC Digest. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from: http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-4/asian.html Lee, S. (2008). Satire as racial backlash against Asian Americans. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/02/28/lee Matthews, J (2008). Asian American students and school stereotypes. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/08/AR2008010802038.html Wang, C (2009). Report: UT not meeting needs of Asian-Americans. July 23, 2009, from: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2.4489/report-ut-not-meeting-needs-of-asian-americans-1.975362 Stereotypes of Asian American Students. ERIC Digest. by Kim, Angela - Yeh, Christine J. In 1995, 268,000 of the 720,000 new immigrants that came to the United States were from Asia and the Pacific Islands. The Asian American population doubled between 1980 and 1990, and it will double again between 1990 and 2020. "Asian American" as a racial group represents 29 distinct ethnic categories (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1993). Further, there is considerable social and economic variation between recent Asian immigrants and Asian American communities that have been in the United States for generations. The number of Asian American school age children and youth increased from 212,900 in 1980 to almost 1.3 million in 1990, creating a significant influx in many of the nation's public school systems, especially cities along the East and West coasts. This digest discusses the various negative and positive Asian American stereotypes. It also explores how school practices and individual educators--consciously or unconsciously--may reinforce them. Doing so has important negative social, political, and economic ramifications for Asian Americans. Indeed, while Asian Americans are often characterized as the "model minority" (Lee, 1997, p. 442), many have serious psychological and emotional concerns which are not being addressed. GENERAL STEREOTYPES The various stereotypes assigned to Asian American students cause them emotional distress and create conflicts with their peers, both those of different races and those in their own racial group. Even more important, stereotyping limits students' opportunities and access to resources (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000; S. Lee, 1996). Indeed, Fisher et al. (2000) found higher levels of distress from peer discrimination (being threatened, called racially insulting names, and excluded from activities) in Chinese and Korean students than in African Americans, Hispanics, and whites. S. Lee (1996) reported that high- and low-achieving Asian-identified students experienced anxiety to uphold the expectations of the model minority stereotypes. The students who were unable to perform well academically felt depressed and were embarrassed to seek help. Moreover, dispelling the Asian American universal academic success myth, the Educational Testing Service (1997) found that twelfth grade students from six major ethnic groups (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, South Asian, and Southeast Asian) had significant variations in their educational backgrounds and achievement. ETS also demonstrated how stereotyping has led to the neglect of the development of student services and support for the many Asian American students who are undereducated and have low socioeconomic status. Some of the educational stereotypes identify Asian Americans as "geniuses," "overachievers," "nerdy," "great in math or science," "competitive," "uninterested in fun," and "4.0 GPAs" (S. Lee, 1996). Some personality and behavior stereotypes assert that Asians are "submissive," "humble," "passive," "quiet," "compliant," "obedient," "stoic," "devious," "sneaky," "sly," "tend to hang out in groups," "stay with their own race," "condescend to other races," and are "racist," "not willing to mesh with American culture," "try to be like Americans," "want to be Caucasian," and "act F.O.B. [fresh off the boat]" (S. Lee, 1994; 1996; Yeh, 2001). The physical appearance and mannerism stereotypes include "short," "slanted eyes," "eyeglass wearing," "poor or non-English speaking," and "poor communicators" (S. Lee, 1996; Siu, 1996). Stereotypes related to the socioeconomic status of Asian Americans and their attitudes about money identify them as "stingy," "greedy," "rich," "poor," "grocery store owners," "dry cleaners," "restaurant owners," and "chefs" (S. Lee, 1996; Yin, 2000). MODEL MINORITY STEREOTYPES The model minority stereotypes attribute educational and economic success to all Asian Americans, with the danger that they ignore the between- and within-group differences of assimilation/acculturation, social, political, economic, and education backgrounds (Educational Testing Service, 1997; E. Lee, 1997; Siu, 1996; Yin, 2000). By focusing on exceptional "success stories" and generalizing to all Asian Americans, the model minority myth does not take into consideration the large number of Asian American students and their families who suffer from poverty and illiteracy (Educational Testing Service, 1997; Siu, 1996; Yin, 2000). For example, while only 5.6 percent of Japanese Americans have only an elementary education or less, 61 percent of the Hmong Americans fall into this category (Siu, 1996). Further, although the poverty rates for Japanese and Filipino Americans are 3.4 percent and 5.2 percent respectively, 24 percent of Vietnamese, 42 percent of Cambodians, and 62 percent of Hmong Americans live below the poverty line (Yin, 2000). Within a group, Chinese American parents, for example, who are well-educated, English-speaking, wealthy professionals from Hong Kong will have different experiences and needs for their children in the United States than will a poorly-educated, non-English speaking, financially-troubled laborer from the countryside in China (Siu, 1996). In addition, Southeast Asian (Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, and Hmong) students and their families--whose backgrounds may include war trauma, relocation experiences, family separation, and education disruptions--will have different psychological and academic needs from East Asian (Chinese, Filipino, Koreans, and Japanese) students and their families (Boehnlein, Leung, & Kinzie, 1997; E. Lee, 1996; S. Lee, 1994; 1996; Leung, Boehnlein, & Kinzie, 1997; Moore, Keopraseuth, Leung, & Chao, 1997; Siu, 1996). SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCERNS The model minority stereotype that Asian American students are "whiz kids" (Brand, 1987) and immune from behavioral or psychological distresses prevents them from acknowledging academic and emotional problems and seeking help. S. Lee (1996) reports on a Cambodian student named Ming who was failing his classes but refused to seek help for his academic difficulties, believing that admitting his academic failure would cause his family to lose face (be ashamed). He was trying to live within the boundaries of the model minority stereotype, and as a result was perpetuating his academic problems, leaving him feeling isolated and depressed. Whether the Asian American students are excelling academically or having problems, it is essential to recognize and acknowledge that they experience school, social, and familial stresses to uphold their "model minority" image (Chung, 1997; Fisher et. al, 2000; Huang, 1997; S. Lee, 1996; Siu, 1996). In fact, a study (Lorenzo, Frost, & Reinherz, 2000) found that although Asian American students did better academically and had fewer delinquent behaviors than Caucasian Americans, the Asian American youth reported more depressive symptoms, withdrawn behavior, and social problems. They also had poorer self-images and reported more dissatisfaction with their social support. In addition, Asian American students have reported experiencing racial and ethnic discrimination by their peers (Fisher et al., 2000; Kohatsu et al., 2000; Phinney & Chavira, 1995; Siu, 1996). Siu's (1996) study of literate Asian American students at risk demonstrates the social and psychological struggles resulting from the model minority stereotypes that foster discrimination and anti-Asian sentiments from their peers. The review found that a large proportion (63 percent) of Vietnamese, Hmong, and Korean elementary and secondary students reported that American students were "mean" to them. Being insulted or laughed at by classmates were cited as reasons for not liking school and lacking friends. In addition, commonly mentioned concerns of Vietnamese, Chinese, and Cambodian refugee school age children were physical altercations with peers in school and in social interactions. S. Lee (1996) discusses how Korean students distanced themselves from Southeast Asian students because they did not want to be associated and be perceived as "welfare sponges." It was, further, found by Siu that the proportion of suspensions for fighting was much higher for Filipino and Southeast Asian students than for all other ethnic groups, including whites, Latinos, and African Americans. These fights were attributed to cultural barriers and prejudice against Asians, especially Southeast Asians. Such racial tensions and a hostile school environment may divert students' focus from their studies to less productive or even destructive activities, and spur some Asian American youths to join gangs for their own protection and for a sense of belonging (Siu, 1996). The increase in the number of Asian American students in schools highlights the importance of understanding how Asian American stereotypes are reinforced in the school context and contribute to a biased and limited perspective of Asian Americans that does not reflect their within group heterogeneity. In order to serve the social, psychological, and educational needs of Asian American students, teachers, counselors, and administrators must be able to address their own assumptions about this growing group, understand how those assumptions shape their interactions with the students, and effectively communicate that they care and want to help. REFERENCES Atkinson, D. R., Morten, G., & Sue, D. W. (Eds.). (1993). Counseling American minorities: A cross-cultural perspective (4th ed.). Madison, WI: W.C. Brown & Benchmark. Boehnlein, J.K., Leung, P.K., & Kinzie, J.D. (1997). Cambodian American families. In E. Lee (Ed.), Working with Asian Americans: A guide for clinicians (pp. 37-45). New York: Guilford. Brand, D. (1987, August 31). The new whiz kids: Why Asian Americans are doing so well and what it costs them. Time, 130, p. 42-46. Chung, W. (1997). Asian American children. In E. Lee (Ed.), Working with Asian Americans: A guide for clinicians (pp. 165-174). New York: Guilford. Educational Testing Service. (1997, March 14). Stereotyping shortchanges Asian American students. Available: http://modelminority.com/academia/ets.html Fisher, C.B., Wallace, S.A., & Fenton, R.E. (2000, December). Discrimination distress during adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29(6), 679-695. Huang, L.N. (1997). Asian American adolescents. In E. Lee (Ed.), Working with Asian Americans: A guide for clinicians (pp. 175-195). New York: Guilford. Kim, S.C. (1997). Korean American families. In E. Lee (Ed.), Working with Asian Americans: A guide for clinicians (pp. 125-135). New York: Guilford. Kohatsu, E.L., Dulay, M., Lam, C., Concepcion, W., Perez, P., Lopez, C., & Euler, J. (2000, Summer). Using racial identity theory to explore racial mistrust and interracial contact among Asian Americans. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78(3), 334-342. Lee, E. (1997). Chinese American families. In E. Lee (Ed.), Working with Asian Americans: A guide for clinicians (pp. 46-78). New York: Guilford. Lee, E. (1996). Asian American families: An overview. In M. McGoldrick, J. Giordano, & J.K. Pearce (Eds.), Ethnicity and family therapy (2nd ed., pp. 227-248). New York: Guilford. Lee, S.J. (1994, December). Behind the model-minority stereotype: Voices of high- and low-achieving Asian American students. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 25(4), 413-429. Lee, S.J. (1996). Unraveling the "model minority" stereotype: Listening to Asian American youth. New York: Teachers College Press. Leung, P.K., Boehnlein, J.K., & Kinzie, J.D. (1997). Vietnamese American families. In E. Lee (Ed.), Working with Asian Americans: A guide for clinicians (pp. 153-162). New York: Guilford. Lorenzo, M.K., Frost, A.K., & Reinherz, H.Z. (2000, August). Social and emotional functioning of older Asian American adolescents. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 17(4), 289-304. Moore, L.J., Keopraseuth, K.-O., Leung, P.K., & Chao, L.H. (1997). Laotian American families. In E. Lee (Ed.), Working with Asian Americans: A guide for clinicians (pp. 136-152). New York: Guilford. Phinney, J.S., & Chavira, V. (1995). Parental ethnic socialization and adolescent coping with problems related to ethnicity. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 5(1), 31-53. (EJ 498 126) Siu, S.-F. (1996, December). Asian American students at risk: A literature review. Report No. 8. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk. (ED 404 406) Yeh, C.J. (2001, June). An exploratory study of school counselors' experiences with and perceptions of Asian-American students. Professional School Counseling, 4(5), 349-356. Yin, X.H. (2000, May 7). The two sides of America's "model minority." Los Angeles Times, Part M, p. 1. http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-4/asian.html Report: UT not meeting needs of Asian-Americans Student group talks to UT officials about counseling, representation, funding Christine Wang UT services and programs that target minorities are often insensitive to the needs of Asian-American students, members of the Asian Pacific American Coalition said in a report released Friday. The report, presented to UT officials in a closed meeting, also says that the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center is not meeting the needs of Asian-American students, that Asian-American students have not been adequately represented on the UT Presidential Student Advisory Committee, and that the Asian American Studies program at the University is underfunded compared to similar ethnic studies programs at the University. UT President Larry Faulkner said that the APAC report was "comprehensive," covering academic as well as other issues, and that the University will be looking into the report carefully in the coming weeks. The purpose of Friday's meeting, said Joi Ngo, APAC's co-director of public relations, was to make the UT officials "aware that the Asian-American community needs to be represented and included" on campus and to "open dialogue to the concerns that need to be addressed." The meeting included student leaders from various Asian-American organizations on campus, as well as Faulkner, Charles Roeckle, deputy to the president, Gregory Vincent, vice provost, and Juan Gonzalez, vice president of student affairs. The report listed four counts of racial profiling or hate crimes against Asian-Americans at the University, but APAC did not provide The Daily Texan with documentation of these incidents, saying that they wanted to protect the identities of the students involved. Mamta Accapadi, an adviser to APAC and assistant director of the Multicultural Information Center, declined to give a range of dates for these incidents. APAC is an agency of the Multicultural Information Center. In response to the racial profiling section of the report, Roeckle said, "We know racial profiling occurs on campus and off. That's why there is the Police Oversight Committee." A 2003 news release said the 12 faculty, staff and student members on the Oversight Committee serve as "the principal institutional channel of communication between members of the University community and the UTPD." The committee's 2004 report said that data collected did not suggest any trend of racial profiling in UTPD's practices. APAC's report, titled "The State of Asian-American Affairs," has been compiled by APAC since this summer. It draws on "our own opinions created from our own experiences at the University," Ngo said. Everything has been "student-initiated, student-led and student-oriented," Accapadi said, adding that her role was mostly "proofreading." The administration's next step will be to review the report and delegate it out to the different groups responsible, Faulkner said. APAC plans to stay involved in the process. "This is just the beginning," Ngo said. "Only time will tell how the administration will handle the state of Asian-American affairs." Satire as Racial Backlash Against Asian Americans February 28, 2008 By Sharon S. Lee Imagine for a minute if student leaders at elite college campuses devoted themselves to mocking black people or Jewish people or gay people. I'm not talking about drunk students posting pictures of their offensive parties on Facebook, but student newspaper editors - thought of as being both smart and progressive - giving space over for the sole purpose of making fun of people because of their background. It's hard to imagine. And yet recently this phenomenon of racial caricatures as "satire" has emerged with Asian Americans as the object of the jokes. Bottom of Form Why Asian Americans After all, Asian American college students tend to make headlines as super students, attending prestigious private and public colleges at rates way above their state demographics (hence they are "over-represented") and as excelling academically above and beyond any other racial group, whites included. This "model minority" image is not new and has been around since at least the late 1960s, with Asian Americans often embraced as symbols of the merits of hard work and individual effort, all undertaken without complaint or political agitation. So ... shouldn't that mean that Asian Americans would be seen as well integrated -- academic and otherwise -- with white students Indeed, this image and the stereotype that all Asian American college students are high achieving have led to a belief that they are well integrated into higher education. I would go so far as to say this model minority image has also conveyed that racism and racial hostility are no longer issues for Asian American students. It is not uncommon for colleges to exclude Asian Americans from affirmative action recruitment efforts and services for "minority" students. Yes, it is true that unlike African Americans, Latinos, or Native Americans, many Asian ethnic groups -- though not all -- do not struggle with severe under-representation in college matriculation or retention rates. However, does this mean that they are not racial minorities and do not continue to confront racial issues on campuses In my years as a student and administrator on various university campuses, I have been troubled by what I have observed to be the increasing exclusion of Asian Americans from "minority" student or diversity discussions. Asian Americans are not seen as contributing to diversity though, in and of themselves, they are extremely diverse. They are frequently not identified as being minority students; when I see conference papers, journal articles, or Web discussion on "minority" students, I look for any mention of Asian Americans, only to find, more often than not, their omission. The focus now seems to be on "underrepresented minorities" -- or code for "minority, but not Asian American." Asian Americans have been what I call "de-minoritized," erased from these discussions. By no means do I want to detract from the critical issues of representation that persist for African American, Latino, and Native American students; under-parity is a serious signal of inaccessibility and hostility for students of color grounded in long and problematic history. However, I do not subscribe to the presumption that the opposite of under-representation (over-representation) means that a racial non-white group has achieved integration and full acceptance. In fact, in the case of Asian Americans, their over-presence in competitive institutions such as Ivy League colleges has heightened a sense of backlash that takes highly racialized overtones and contributes to a negative campus climate for this "high achieving" group. Enter the campus paper satire, the latest manifestation. As many Asian American studies scholars have pointed out, Asian Americans are depicted as model minorities but they are also portrayed as foreigners, disloyal to America, and suspicious. Despite generations of citizenship in the United States (after years of denial of naturalization rights for Asian immigrants), Asian Americans are still seen as foreign and un-American, often as the "enemy" during economic and military crises, as during the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, during the 1980s economic recession and competition with Japan's automotive industry that lay the backdrop to the beating and death of Vincent Chin, and currently with post-September 11 depictions of South Asians and Muslims as terrorists. Dual images of Asian Americans as model minorities, people to be praised and emulated and embraced, and foreign threats, people to be watched, monitored, and distrusted, have long been a part of U.S. history. Recently, Asian American college students have emerged in the media in this foreigner/ invading guise -- as the butt of "satirical" jokes published by college student papers. Whether or not these articles are "satires" or offensive representations is not my point. My focus is on the powerful and racialized imagery evoked -- the jokes that continue to depict Asian Americans as foreign, un-American, inscrutable, non-English speakers-- basically as anything but a regular college student on a university campus. And my focus is on the fact that often times not many people are laughing at these satires. For instance, in October of 2006, Jed Levine published a "modest proposal for an immodest proposition" for the UCLA Daily Bruin. Speaking as a white male, he identified as an "underrepresented minority" and pointed to Asian Americans as the real problem who took away admissions slots from Black and Latino students and proposed a solution to the "Asian invasion" as funneling "young Maos and Kim Jongs" into a new UC campus "UC Merced Pandas." In January 2007, the Daily Princetonian published its annual "joke issue" that included a satire of "Lian Ji", a twist on Jian Li, the Chinese American student at Yale, who filed a complaint with the U.S. Education Department for Civil Rights claiming his rejection from Princeton was due to his ethnicity. The joke article, from "Lian's" point of view was written in broken English, complaining that Princeton did not accept "I the super smart Asian," and touting the stereotypical nerdy Asian American credentials of winning record science fair awards, memorizing endless digits of pi, and playing multiple orchestral instruments simultaneously for the New Jersey youth orchestra. Ultimately, "Lian" accepts his fate at Yale saying, "I mean, I love Yale. Lots of bulldogs here for me to eat." Most recently, Inside Higher Ed reported on yet another satire in the University of Colorado at Boulder paper, The Campus Press, which resulted in controversy and a statement by the chancellor. In the satire, Max Karson, noticed the tensions that Asian American students exhibited towards whites. While pointing out the racial tensions on both sides, Karson deduces that Asians just hate whites, and it was "time for war." Such efforts included steps to find all Asian Americans on campus (easily identifiable by areas of campus they frequent and by their ability to do a calculus problem in their heads), forcing them to eat bad sushi with forks; and a test for them to display emotions beyond a normal deadpan (read: inscrutable) face. At the end, Asian homes will be redecorated "American" style, replacing rice cookers with George Forman Grills and the like. My point here is not to argue over what is satire, freedom of the press, artistic license, or the "right way" to read pieces such as these. Rather, my observation lies in the continued pattern of Asian American students being a) the butt of such jokes, basically the punchline; b) that the jokes are heavily laden with racial stereotypes; and c) that these such essays reveal volumes about racial relationships, tensions, and perceptions of Asian American students as all being, in some way, the same -- foreigners, math and science nerds, and all around different from the regular average college student. What does this recent rash of Asian Americans-as-satire articles tell us Ultimately, that despite an image of Asian Americans as model minorities, super achieving students who thrive on college campuses, race continues to matter for Asian American students. Many Asian American students reject and challenge these depictions and stereotypes and seek campus policies that acknowledge and support their experiences. It tells us that higher education administrators need to look beyond Asian American model minority-ness and begin to reconsider a conception of "minority" student experiences beyond easily measured assessments of grade point average and SAT score, to recognize instances of racial alienation and marginalization embodied in these satires. It speaks to uncovering the experiences of Asian American students who want academic courses that reflect their histories and literature, to meeting their counseling service needs, to providing spaces of support through cultural centers and minority student services. It is to challenge the silencing and de-minoritization of Asian American students. Many educational scholars demonstrate that campus climate measures go beyond statistical representation. These satirical articles reveal that something else is happening on campus regarding how Asian American students are perceived and represented and even reveals something in the sheer license felt to put forth such racialized representations of Asian American students at all. As campus parties where white students dress up like stereotypical African American or Latino caricatures seem to be in "vogue" these days, the preferred venue for Asian American figures seems to be in these campus pieces. I end this essay aware that I am exposing myself to the response: "Asian Americans have it relatively made in higher education. What are you complaining about" I have heard this response from students and administrators from all racial backgrounds. To those who would argue that other minority needs are more pressing and urgent, my appeal is to widen our working definitions and perceptions of "minority" students, to allow spaces for Asian Americans to enter and to work in coalition against such racialized hurtful images that affect all people of color. To those who don't see Asian Americans as dealing with race at all, my response is to complain, to challenge the presumptions and expectations that I, an Asian American woman, should be the model minority who works hard and doesn't complain. And I raise the question of these satires, what they mean, and how they can inform a better understanding of the experiences and needs of Asian American college students -- no longer as "objects" of satire but subjects of their own lives. Asian American Students and School Stereotypes By Jay Mathews Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 8, 2008; 11:57 AM The surge in the number of Asian Americans the past four decades has affected many sectors of society, particularly public schools. On the whole, Asian American students tend to perform well on standardized tests and have a high rate of acceptance into some of the most selective high schools and colleges. The energy and ambition shown by many of these students has both improved our schools and fueled stereotypes. For example: All those hard-working Asian kids, some people say, are raising the grading curve and putting too much pressure on the rest of us. I have often wondered what Asian American students think about this. Fortunately, one of them has just completed a very small but intriguing study that shines a surprising light on this often overlooked issue. The study, " 'Too Many Asians at this School': Racialized Perceptions and Identity Formation," was written by Jenny Tsai as her senior college thesis for the social studies department at Harvard last year. If you e-mail Tsai at jenny.tsai@post.harvard.edu, she will send you a copy. What she describes is not a cabal of brainiacs trying to steal all the academic glory from their non-Asian competitors, but a collection of industrious and ambitious American teenagers trying to emulate their equally achievement-oriented white classmates, while society and government shove them into an artificial group called "Asians and Pacific Islanders" on the census forms. As part of her research, Tsai, who is Chinese American, interviewed 27 Harvard undergraduates, including 15 Asian Americans and 12 whites, plus one Asian American student at Boston College. All but one had attended one of four very selective public high schools -- Boston Latin in Boston, Lowell in San Francisco and Hunter College and Stuyvesant in New York. She chose graduates of those schools because of their large Asian American contingents -- roughly 75 percent at Lowell, 50 percent at Hunter College and Stuyvesant and 25 percent at Boston Latin -- and because each of those schools had struggled with racial issues sparked by the fact that many students who want to attend can't get in. Tsai, a Hunter College High School alumna herself, found many people thought Asian American students were getting more than their share of acceptance letters from these super magnets. Yet she saw little racial solidarity among the Asian Americans who did so well at those four schools that they got into Harvard. Instead, these students told her they were just trying to fit in with what they considered "white" American values, and often deferred to their white classmates when it came to extracurricular choices. As Tsai put it, among the Asian American students she interviewed, "acting white" was a good thing. I was surprised to read that Tsai's subjects at Harvard often embraced that term. They thought of it more as a lifestyle than an academic strategy. To them, Tsai found, it translated loosely as being cool. Tsai wrote in her paper: "Among blacks, 'acting white' is socially stigmatized, but Asian students who 'act white' usually occupy the more socially prestigious positions. Because 'acting Asian' is equated with acting foreign or like a nerd, 'acting white' among Asian people becomes a source of pride, and is valued as the ability to assimilate into American society. While both performances are frequently practiced, the Asian students who 'acted white' are more likely to achieve extracurricular activity status within the school, which often led to admissions into more prestigious colleges." Tsai told me: "One of the most alarming features of my research was how Asian students who went to Harvard were very aware of and often shied away from having too many Asian friends. They saw having only white friends as sort of a badge of honor." Tsai examined Facebook groups at Harvard and found one that called itself "Twinkies." This group, with what would appear to be a racially insensitive name, had 34 Asian American members. They celebrated the practice of being -- again, as they defined themselves -- "yellow" on the outside but "white" on the inside. To this group, liking white women or wearing Ralph Lauren was a point of pride. Tsai emphasized to me that there was humor in these students' self-descriptions, and that their perspective was likely more prevalent among Asian Americans at Harvard than Asian American youth as a whole, but the group was not a hoax or a satire of the Twinkie label. Many Asian American students at Harvard, Tsai said, were bothered by the stereotype of their group as a "model minority," which they associated with the fear expressed by some whites that Asian Americans were putting them at a disadvantage. To them, that stereotype carried with it "negative connotations of being competitive, lacking passion, and being calculating," she wrote in her paper. This is where racism takes us, off on another tangent, leading even these bright young Americans to waste time and energy worrying about distinctions based on ill-examined assumptions. Tsai said she got the idea for her thesis from her experience as a student at Hunter College High. She said some of the school's non-Asian American students felt "that the increasing percentage of Asian students at the school threatened the culture of the school. HCHS prided itself on being a school that fostered student leadership through a plethora of student clubs, sports teams and artistic groups. Students attested that the growing Asian student population had detracted from the creativity and independence that had defined HCHS's activity scene as the Asian students focused primarily on their academic studies. Those Asian students who were active in extracurricular activities were perceived to be disingenuous." Such stereotypes make even more difficult the job of creating healthy and intelligent attitudes toward race -- something the best schools I know try to do. That is a shame since the magnet schools Tsai examined are educating some of our most talented young people. Tsai makes clear that as these schools try to increase their very small number of black and Hispanic students, they need to address all racial myths, including the one about grade-grubbing Asians crowding out everyone else, or their efforts to bring wisdom to some of our leaders of tomorrow will not be nearly as successful as they hope. October 18, 2007 Asian-American Students Face More Obstacles Than Stereotypes Suggest The proportion of Asian-American college students has almost doubled each decade since the 1970s - to 8.8 percent of the total enrollment in 2005 - but those students do not enjoy the universal success that stereotypes suggest, according to a new report by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles. Three in 10 Asian-American students come from families with annual household incomes of less than $40,000, and one in five needs special tutoring or remedial work in English, says the report, "Beyond Myths: The Growth and Diversity of Asian-American College Freshmen, 1971-2005," which can be ordered online. Drawing on data from the research institute's well-known freshman survey - with responses from more than 360,000 Asian and Asian-American first-time, full-time students at four-year institutions from 1971 to 2005 - it bills itself as the "largest compilation and analysis of data on Asian-American college students ever undertaken." Asian-American students tend not to take full advantage of financial-aid opportunities, instead relying on parents, relatives, and employment to pay for college, one of the report's authors said in a written statement. The study found a significant increase in students who planned to work full time during college to cover costs. The report also says that Asian-American students are more than twice as likely as their peers to apply to six or more colleges. But fewer Asian-Americans - 51.8 percent in 2005, compared with 69.8 percent nationally - were attending their first-choice institution. -Sara Lipka References Read More