Importance: Learning about the model minority and how it affects Asian Americans has opened my eyes to the stereotypes that I did not even realize they had to face. Now I can see that even coming from a racially diverse school with a decent Asian population, that the model minority has become so deeply ingrained into society and holds true even in the most diverse environments. I believe that it is important for people to become educated on the subject to stop the stereotypes.
Definition:
Understanding the model minority is extremely important when it comes to learning about the stereotypes that Asian Americans face. Lee (2009) defines the model minority a set of stereotypes that depict Asian Americans as math geniuses, experts in computer
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There are multiple points throughout the book where success is connected to race. Success would mean having a good socioeconomic status and this varies across different races. As previously mentioned, Asian Americans have this stereotype around them that they are supposed to be successful. In contrast to the expected success of Asian Americans, members of other races such as Blacks or Latinos are projected to not be as successful. This idea of success perpetuates negative feelings between races. The addition of the expectations of the model minority aid in the growth of these negative feelings between …show more content…
They are used to set an example for all other minority groups to follow because of the idea that if they can make it then anyone can make it. There are many people that take this and argue that Asian Americans are doing very well and are not facing any discrimination and that none of them are struggling. This is not the case when the statistics are broken down (Le, 2016).
One topic that Lee mentions in her book is that culture differences have a relation to race. She writes about a teacher who believes that the two are directly related and leaves us with the idea that Asians and those who are Jewish are more likely to have good academic success while Black individuals are expected to have lower academic success. The teacher then relates it to each race’s culture. She states that families that are Asian and Jewish stress the importance of education while Black families do not. This direct connection between culture and success causes several racial problems between the different races (Lee, 2009). Although Asian Americans are expected to do well across these socioeconomic aspects there is data that proves otherwise. Several studies have shown that Asian Americans earn less money than Whites despite having equal qualifications. For every skewed statistic that provides that Asian Americans are picture-perfect, there