Model Minority

Andrea Burns
Post 12

A topic mentioned in this week's reading was the idea of Asian Americans being the "model minority." While it's meant to be complimentary, I feel it to be an inappropriate thing to say. For starters, a large basis behind them being called this is their success at assimilation. It seems to put a massive pressure on them to assimilate when they shouldn't necessarily need to. It also puts more pressure on them to be successful, intelligent, and to conform to this high pedestal that they're being placed on. Asian Americans are already expected to be of high intelligence and ambition and this furthers the stress being put on them. It puts them on a higher level than other minority groups that isn't necessarily granted for the correct reasons. Other groups may rather just stick to their native culture and shouldn't be looked down upon for that. This idea also groups all Asian Americans together as one when not every individual is necessarily a mathmatician. This overlooks the struggles Asian Americans have faced and still do, especially the Southeast Asians.