Bay Area high schools are notorious for their competitive environment, with students stacking AP and honors classes and filling their resumes with extracurricular activities. At Logan, the competitive nature of students creates tension in the community, exacerbating the model minority myth.
“I think the model minority is something that all Asians experience. It’s an expectation set on them that they are all smart, submissive, and are basically robots or textbooks,” said Caleb Hui, a senior.
The model minority can be described as a stereotype set onto Asian Americans to be successful and overachieving. As a result, the well-being of many Asian Americans is neglected as they struggle with their identity.
“I was taking in from our culture, from … American culture, about, what it says about Asians and internalizing that we are high achieving, so I must be high achieving. We are smart, so I must prove that I am smart. The question at the end is…, who am I proving it to? “ said Mr. Mak, an English teacher.
The model minority has been so normalized that both Asian and American cultures have played a huge role in shaping individuals’ life goals and decisions. Many students’ parents keep high expectations of them, hoping they excel in their classes and extracurriculars while balancing their social life. In addition, American culture has only highlighted examples of Asian Americans who succeed and fit into the studious stereotype. Whether it is intentional or not, the movie Crazy Rich Asians and Youtubers like the Fung Brothers, only further ingrain the model minority by portraying parents as helicopter parents and pushing their kids to be “A-sians” instead of “B-sians.”
Laila Khan, a senior, stated, “I receive a lot of pressure from my parents to do well because they want me to go to a good college, and I also want to go to a good college. I feel like I don’t want to be seen as lesser than my peers, so I try to keep up with them in terms of academics.”
Another senior, Tyler Luu added, “A big part of our friends and our identity was like, yeah, we were Asian. We were supposed to be good and get good grades and everything and be superstar athletes and superstar academic achievers overall.”
Many may see the model minority as a positive stereotype; however, with it comes issues surrounding an individual’s well-being. Asian Americans are therefore trying to fit into a role given to them instead of pursuing their passion.
Mr. Mak reflected on his college experience, “Yeah, I do like tech, even though I never thought about it. I actually think deep down I already knew I’m a humanities person, and to constantly live with that friction, that kind of discrepancy [of doing computer science]; I hate this. I wanna do this other thing? But if I don’t do CS, then who am I? Am I sell out, like, am I? Who am I like racially, and is it OK for an Asian to be in humanities? Like, I don’t see anybody in humanities.”
The model minority myth has persisted for years in academic settings, causing a rise in competition and hostility between classmates and peers instead of a welcoming, collaborative community.
“I’ve had friends, and we get too competitive with each other, and unfortunately, some of that competition kind of like got to us personally, which I really hate,” Luu acknowledges.
Mr. Mak adds that in his honor classes, he sees himself reflected in the students who try to continuously fit into the model minority, “They’re trying to live up to a stereotype or generalization that ultimately will not serve them happiness-wise or mental health-wise.”
As the model minority is systemically perpetuated, we must become aware of the implications and harms it poses, so we can dismantle stereotypes in place. Ultimately, we shall be content and secure in our identities. Mr. Mak concluded, “it’s about accepting that you will be outside of the norm, and that is actually okay. In the end, accepting that your personality and who you are will deviate from what is expected of you is okay, and not only is it okay, it’s almost essential if you want to be happy.”
