Asian youths cope with studies, and a model minority myth

[Amit Choudhury]

I shall be happy to recieve a copy.'
Thanking you in advance
Yours sincerely
Amit Choudhury
Senior Lecturer
Dept of Statistics,
Gauhati University,
Guwahati-781014
Assam, India. 
Tel : (0361)2471302, 09435015217
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lane" <laneonline at yahoo.com>
To: <lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 12:33 AM
Subject: Re: Asian youths cope with studies, and a model minority myth


> Last fall my colleague and I published a paper on a
> rather more extreme, though not uncommon case of young
> Asian Americans grappling with group identity issues.
> The study focused on three first-generation teenage
> girls who used features of AAVE (African American
> Vernacular English) in their everyday speech. Their
> academic performances ran the gamut from an
> overachieving class president to a failing student. I
> also presented this study at AERA 2005 in Montreal. 
> 
> I'll be happy to send this article from The Journal of
> Interdisciplinary Studies published at Cal Poly Pomona
> to anyone interested.
> 
> Lane Igoudin, Ph.D.
> ESL/Business English 
> Cypress College & Cal Poly Pomona
> 
> 
> --- "Harold F. Schiffman"
> <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:
> 
> > Asian youths cope with studies, and a model minority
> > myth
> > March 16, 2006, 10:49 AM EST
> > 
> > At 17, Heayeon Lee's thoughts often wander to her
> > impending high school
> > graduation, trendy fashions and the latest object of
> > her affection. Lee
> > also worries about her grades. The Rincon High
> > School senior is barely
> > passing her government class; she would rather
> > splash paint on canvas than
> > try to decipher U.S. foreign policy. The teen
> > shatters the stereotype that
> > all Asian-American students belong to a problem-free
> > population of high
> > achievers. That myth has been tossed at Lee before.
> > "You're Asian, how
> > could you not know that?" Lee said a teacher once
> > blurted out when she
> > admitted not knowing the answer to a math problem. 
> > Lee, who also uses
> > Michelle as her first name, said she is more fond of
> > art than of numbers.
> > She wants to be an art teacher someday.
> > 
> > Members of Tucson's Asian community know that the
> > "model minority" label
> > doesn't apply to everyone in their diverse
> > population, and they work to
> > dispel misconceptions through programs aimed at
> > young people such as Lee.
> > In the Tucson Unified School District, which enrolls
> > most of the city's
> > schoolchildren, 1,600 Asian-American students,
> > combined, speak more than
> > 20 languages. Among those languages are Chinese,
> > Vietnamese, Korean and
> > Filipino. Although Asian-Americans make up just 2.7
> > percent of Tucson
> > Unified School District's more than 60,000 students,
> > their needs are no
> > less serious, said Maria Hooker, director of the Pan
> > Asian Studies
> > Department. "There are a lot of students who
> > succeed, but there are a lot
> > of students who have trouble making it."
> > 
> > Hooker's department acts as an advocate for students
> > and works with
> > community groups to tackle some of the obstacles
> > that keep the youngsters
> > from thriving. Most of the hurdles are related to
> > family language and
> > culture, Hooker noted. Some Asian-American children,
> > including some who
> > were born and raised here, have a difficult time in
> > school because they
> > speak an Asian language at home and their English
> > vocabulary is limited,
> > she said. And students who struggle academically
> > can't count on parental
> > help with homework and other school-related matters,
> > because the school
> > system is foreign to the adults.
> > 
> > Many Asian immigrants stay away from schools because
> > they see their
> > involvement as interfering with teachers, said
> > Hooker, who is
> > Korean-American. Hooker often explains to parents
> > that here they are
> > expected to get involved in their children's
> > education. But not all can,
> > she said, particularly recent immigrants who must
> > hold two jobs to
> > survive. As Hooker and others work to change
> > cultural perceptions,
> > Asian-American youths who need a little extra help
> > get it from the Pan
> > Asian Community Alliance of Tucson. The group
> > operates a center where
> > students of all ages get homework help after school.
> > 
> > Lee, who moved from South Korea to this country
> > seven years ago, is among
> > the students who stop in frequently. The teen said
> > she tries not to be
> > bothered by the misperceptions that many have of her
> > community. "I just
> > laugh it off," she said. The oldest of three
> > children, Lee faces all the
> > youthful angst of most people her age. And being an
> > immigrant child who
> > learned English as a second language has posed other
> > challenges as well.
> > Dorothy Lew, the alliance's executive director, said
> > that as the
> > American-born child of Chinese immigrants, she can
> > identify with the
> > struggles of Lee and the other youths she has met
> > over the years.
> > 
> > Lew recalled that as a young student, like many of
> > the Asian youths who
> > visit the center, she lacked a rich English
> > vocabulary because she always
> > spoke Chinese with her parents and grandparents. And
> > she still remembers
> > the parental pressure that pushed her to work hard
> > in school. "My family
> > used to say, 'If you fail, you will embarrass
> > yourself and you will
> > embarrass your family," Lew said. Brian Chen, 15,
> > has lived in this
> > country for just five months. He visits the Pan
> > Asian center almost daily
> > to get some help with language, reading and math.
> > 
> > "My mom always tells me to pay attention and study
> > hard," said Chen, who
> > is from China and a freshman at Sahuaro. "For me,
> > it's hard, but for other
> > Asians, study is very easy."
> > 
> > 
> >
> http://kvoa.com/global/story.asp?s=4640808&ClientType=Printable
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
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