Asian-American Stereotypes Essay

Introduction For decades, Asian-Americans are portrayed by the media as a successful minority. As the academic achievement of Asian-Americans soared in recent years, the model minority stereotype of Asian-Americans has become remarkably popular in the United States. The model minority stereotype indicates that “Asian-Americans, through their hard work, intelligence, and emphasis on education and achievement, have been successful in American society.”
The origin of the model minority stereotype is usually associated with the 1966 article of William Petersen in the New York Times, “Success Story: Japanese-American Style”. Petersen pointed out that Japanese-Americans have achieved great success regardless of having experienced the worst
From a first generation standpoint, a perfect Asian is someone who achieves a perfect SAT score, who plays the piano like a concert performer, who attends an ivy-league through scholarship funds, who intends to be a doctor or an engineer, and ultimately marries an Asian-American engineer or doctor and have successful children as well, thus going through the same vicious cycle all over again. Model minority stereotype have four key characteristics: 1) Asian-Americans are competent, self-disciplined, intelligent, and competitive; 2) Asian-Americans have outstanding academic performance and are well-educated; 3) Asian-Americans are career-oriented, hardworking, and have a higher socio-economic status than other racial groups; and 4) Asian-Americans are very adaptive to American culture and American life. Asian-Americans have done remarkably well in attaining the “American Dream” of obtaining a good education, landing a decent job, and earning a good living. Accordingly, Asian-Americans are now regarded as ‘the model minority’ who worked to beat all hurdles to achieve academic and socioeconomic success. Asian-Americans serve as models for other minority groups to