I want to share this article I read in the news.
High-achieving Asian-American students are being shut out of top schools around the country. Is this what diversity looks like now?
I complain to some of my friends how this stereotype of Asians being "smart" has always been negatively impacting me. But every single one of them would reply, "How is that bad? That's a good stereotype." This article shows why it's not always good.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
"High-achieving Asian-Americans may be running into obstacles precisely because they work so hard."Is it just me or is there something seriously messed up about this statement? What will we have to tell our future generations if working hard is not enough?
"Asian-Americans needed nearly perfect SAT scores of 1550 to have the same chance of being accepted at a top private university as whites who scored 1410 and African-Americans who got 1100."I'll be honest - I barely scored a little past a 1000 on my SAT. But I am just as, if not more, capable of succeeding in college. The fact that I was filtered out by some colleges just because I of my race is not fair.
"On top of that, [Asian-Americans] are getting pressure from this stereotype, which sets up the expectation that they always have to be the best. The pressure does facilitate success, up to a certain point. But it also gets to a point where it makes them feel that they can’t do anything right."My parents are far from being the "traditional" Asian parents. They never pressured me to get into Harvard or any other elite schools. They just told me to pursue what I love doing - architecture. Yet I still applied to Harvard. Harvard undergrad doesn't even have an architecture program. The pressure to be the best and go to the best school from the society led me to think that I almost had to apply to an Ivy League school - just to live up to the stereotypes. Like the corporate world expects me to have a diploma from a top notch school just because I am Asian.
The article ends with lawyer Chi Chi Wu's statement, which I couldn't agree more upon:
"If we Asian-Americans don’t organize, there’s no amount of piano practicing that will help us."Asians have the tendency to just let things slip and the attitude of "just deal with it". We need to talk about this before the problem gets worse. I personally have the same issue, but I'm trying my best to make sure that my voice will not be muted in this society. So the next big question is: How the hell do we fix this? Should Asians stop studying? What can I do as an individual to solve this problem?
we live in an unjust world, but its up to us to change it- not only for ourselves but for future generations
ReplyDeleteThey really need to start developing and using culturally sensitive tests, that's my initial thought. It could well be that the SATs happen to be more advantageous to Asians, their culture, their method of studying, and particularly dystonic for African American students who come from economically disadvantaged communities without good schools. The SATs are so lacking in predictive validity anyway, the whole thing is quite bogus.
ReplyDeleteIt's true..this article made me so angry that we would be so discriminated in such a way that it makes us feel like all that hard work means nothing because we won't get anywhere. Instead of being admired of our race and using us as role models, this society uses it against us because of jealousy or realizing that we may "take over". Whichever it is, it's discrimination and instead of continuing to work hard to get where we need to be, we should figure out how we can stop letting society walk all over us. In the end, it's not just about this generation but the generations to come. My parents were not the "traditional" Korean parents either and I only made a 1040 on the SAT. SO I'm not a stereotypical Asian. Thus, it is unfair as to group all Asians into status quo and assume that we are the stereotypical Asians. I used to be hard on myself for not being the typical Asian kid but you know..I'm me and I'm independent of my race in regards to the academic stereotypes. Higher education institutions shouldn't assume that just because we are Asian, we are all about academics, bc a lot of us aren't like that. But we do want to do our best and be successful like any other individual who wants a higher education of learning.
ReplyDeleteI do think it's unfair, but at the same time the admission officers feel that 1550 from an Asian reflects the same amount of aptitude and hardwork as a 1400 from a white, which is why they set their expectations accordingly. If an Asian gets 1550 by sheer hardwork and not by aptitude, then there is little room for improvement once he/she gets into college. On the other hand, if a white gets 1400 by aptitude, there is a way for him to improve if only he works harder, which is what the admission officer hopes. I know this is overly generalizing, but so are they, and all the figures and statistics they use are simply blanket overstatements.
ReplyDeleteAs to what we can do about it, maybe we can change the school system and curriculum itself so that it really reflects what college admissions want to see. Maybe change the SAT format so that it's not as easily overcome by sheer rote memorization and repetition. I don't know. My instinct deep inside still says that, despite the changes, Asian parents will still find ways to overcome it lol. That's why there are billions of us. We are survivors.