Asm 100: The Model Minority Myth

ASAM 100 has been one of the most insightful classes I have taken in college—so far! Through this class, I was able to learn a great deal about my culture and about myself as a person. In retrospect to my first “Why ASAM?” essay, I still believe that it is important for everybody to learn about their culture sometime throughout their life. I was able to learn about various topics such as: the issues of my culture, the traditions of my culture, how others view individuals of my culture, and more. Throughout this class, I learned about the Model Minority Myth and its effect on individuals of Asian background, I learned about issues that other Asian Americans faced through the video, Asian American Voices, and I learned to grow as a writer. Throughout

Whenever I heard stereotypical phrases such as: “Of course you’re smart—you’re Asian!” and “Of course it’s easy for you—you’re Asian,” I felt as though they were merely compliments. Before taking ASAM 100, I never realized the damage that the stereotypes were causing to various individuals of the Asian American community. Growing up in the heart of a Vietnamese community, Westminster, California, I was never aware about the issues behind the model minority myth. Since the people around me were mainly Asian, I never realized that numerous people from other ethnicities categorized all Asians as smart and academically successful individuals—through the model minority myth. I simply viewed Asians as regular people—some being more academically superior while some being more academically inferior. The most important issue I learned about the model minority myth was that it caused conflict to numerous individuals of Asian descent who did not fit the stereotype. As many people, including individuals of Asian descent, continue to spread the model minority myth, people who do not

During the start of this class, I hated having to write at least 2 times a week, every week. I believed, before even stepping into this class, that I was a horrible writer. I hated writing with a passion since I never was able to receive the grades that I desired on my writing assignments. Through my academic career, I was never deemed as a good writer—neither by my peers nor by my teachers. At first, writing 2 essays a week was practically impossible. However, as the weeks progressed, it seemed that I had also progressed. I became more confident in my writing as I started receiving positive feedback for my essays. It started to seem that the writing was becoming easier and easier. The words started to flow more nicely and fluidly. By the time we had to write our research paper, I felt prepared. During the first draft, I was immensely confident and strived to write it all in one sitting. Although I was not able to complete all 12 pages, I was content with the 10 pages I had written with ease. Thanks to this class and to the constant writing, I was able to evolve into a more sophisticated writer. Today, I feel more confident in my writing capabilities than I have ever felt before taking this