The Model Minority Myth Analysis
After discussing the type of education my mother received during her childhood, we realized how all these events affected her ability to obtain social mobility later on in life. Because she was placed in remedial classes, she fell behind in school, causing her inability to graduate high school, which greatly limited her job opportunities.
The model minority myth “holds that Asian Americans have been more successful in the United States than other native ethnic groups and that they have been more successful because of their cultural heritage, not the material resources they have brought with them” (Wodziak). The model minority is a myth and is a dangerous stereotype of Asian Americans in the United States. Aekyung didn’t experience overt racism …show more content…
during the time when she was growing up in Chicago’s Chinatown. She said she did not interact with anyone who wasn’t Asian. The demographic of Chinatown at the time consisted of mostly Asian Americans, and because of this, Aekyung and her family didn’t feel that much different, and experienced little racism. The racism she experienced was not because she was an Asian American, but because she was Korean. She notes slight tension because the majority of residents were Chinese, while her family was Korean. This phenomena was explained during class and explained that ethnic people who live in ethnic enclaves experience less racism versus ethnic people who do not live in ethnic enclaves because they have less interactions with different groups of people (Wodziak). This is also mirrored in Aekyung’s experiences when she moved out of Chinatown. She said she experienced more racism when her family moved to the suburbs. The suburb they moved to mostly white and middle class. This is where she truly felt “different.” Obviously, she knew her and her family looked different from the other residents, but even the language they spoke, the food they ate, and the type of clothes that they wore were different. She said that during this time when her and her family were transitioning from living in a predominantly Asian community to a white one is when she realized moving the United States was like going “down a rabbit hole.” She used this reference to describe this transition because Alice’s Adventure to Wonderland was like her journey to the United States. There was a fear of the unknown. Aekyung and her family weren’t sure of anything and scared. She explained that she never felt ashamed of her culture until her and her family moved into the suburbs. Like most immigrants, her parents settled in this ethnic enclave at first then moved out when they gained some economic stability, a pattern that most immigrants follow (Gerber & Kraut).
Aekyung also didn’t feel the pressures of the model minority myth until she moved into the predominantly white suburb. When she moved, she was the only Asian-American child in her class, and she also explained how she didn’t have an Asian American teacher during school. Her teachers and classmates had a different expectation of her based on the fact that she was Asian. Most of her teachers assumed that she didn’t need help with course work and other students made fun of her because they thought she was “quiet, shy, and a teacher’s pet.” This false stereotype of the model minority hurt her educational experience. One experience that highlights this point is when Aekyung remembers asking her fifth grade math teacher for extra help and her teacher dismissed her and told her to ask her parents for math help because “that’s what Asians are good at.” This caused her to feel self-conscious not only about her math skills but her intelligence as well. This stereotype of Asian Americans is not only harmful because it places harsh expectations on them, but because it also homogenizes Asian Americans allowing people to deny the differences between Asian ethnic groups (Myth Busting Model Minority). Aekyung’s experienced made her feel alienated from the stereotypical model minority myth. When talking about the model minority, people are unaware of the differences experienced by both Uptown Chinese and the Downtown Chinese and stereotype all Asian Americans as academically and economically successful, invalidating they experiences more common with the downtown Chinese. Aekyung and her family are a part of the Downtown Chinese, being working class and having little education (Gerber & Kraut). They explained how members of the downtown Chinese were less likely to fit the mold of the model minority, and Aekyung and her family definitely did not fit this stereotype, which caused her to question her identity.
The immigrant experience has received a lot of attention and controversy over their participation in the labor market.
Most immigrants come to the United States to work, and many native-born Americans worry about the effect on their own jobs with the influx of immigrants (Gerber & Kraut). Scholars have looked at the actual conditions of immigrant workers and explored how immigrants use their social networks to concentrate in certain jobs and industries. Many immigrants find employment through ethnic enclaves and ethnic economies. Scholar Dae Young Kim examined the children of economically successful immigrant parents and found that “the parents were mostly self-employed professionals or small business owners with considerable assets to pass on to their children” (Gerber & Kraut, 113). This finding was also supported by Aekyung’s experiences. She revealed that the reason her parents wanted to immigrate to the United States was because her aunt had immigrated and started a restaurant in Chinatown with her American husband. The restaurant was a huge success and she promised Aekyung’s mother jobs for her family if she had moved as well. Aekyung’s aunt was a small business owner in a small niche. She had found success through the ethnic enclave and wanted to share that with her family. In result, Aekyung and her family shared this economic success, making a good wage working at her aunt’s restaurant until they had to close. Finding work after the closing of the restaurant was “humiliating and tiring.” She described that the promise of jobs in the United States was nothing like the reality. She was told that everyone in the United States had work and did well, which was the truth while she was working in her aunt’s restaurant in Chinatown. Once she and her family were forced to find work outside of the ethnic enclave, she realized the promise of this “new world” was illusionary (Gerber & Kraut, 114). Due to her limited English and limited social capital, she found work
in a zipper factory. The zipper factory was very far from her home, required long hours, and was classified as unskilled labor. Dirty, dangerous, and difficult jobs, also known as the 3Ds, refer to the certain kinds of labor often performed by immigrant workers (Wodziak). This was one of the “dirty, dangerous, and difficult” jobs that she had found. She explained to me how wages were very low, but she worked there because it was her only option. The factory itself was small, cramped, and she was positioned in front of a sewing machine, performing the same limited movements over and over again. The shift she worked was the night shift and she described it as “one of the most difficult” jobs she’s ever had, but she never complained. She finished her story by remarking, “at the end of the day, I still had a job, and that’s all that mattered.” This appreciation for any job in the United States highlights the differences between a native born American’s idea and immigrant of the worth of having a job, even if it’s dirty, dangerous, and difficult. Many people fear that immigrants are “taking” away jobs in the United States, but they should really ask themselves, would they want to work from midnight to 9 am making zippers in a dimly lit room next to hundreds of other women doing the same thing for only $6 an hour? Aekyung’s experience at the zipper factory is reminiscent of the Somali women working at the Tyson chicken factory in Shelbyville (Welcome to Shelbyville). These women like my mother moved to a specific city in the United States for a specific job. My mother moved to work in her aunt’s restaurant, and the Somali women moved to work at Tyson. They both performed dirty, dangerous, and difficult jobs but still were able to still find some joy. Generational conflicts have been defined as the differences found between generations, more specifically, the experience of immigration. Marcus Lee Hansen states that some family members may have different views on immigration because of the distance each generation has from the wrenching experience of leaving a homeland, traveling to the United States, and adjusting to a new place and new neighbors (Gerber & Kraut, 105).
The first generation is described with making appropriate changes in order to survive economically, live in a strange culture, and master the skills required to take advantage of their new life. The child of an immigrant is raised by parents who speak a foreign tongue, prefer the music and cuisine of their homeland, and cherish values that reflect the heritage of their home country. However, the child of immigrants must do what is required to succeed in the community where their parents have resettled and thrive in an American culture (Gerber & Kraut, 105-106).
Aekyung described that once she started embracing American culture more openly, her parents felt threatened by it. She remembered when her and her siblings stopped speaking Korean at home; her mother was deeply hurt and accused her of losing her morals, and more importantly, her culture. My mother described living in the United States at that time was very confusing for her. At home, everything in terms of her life was the same. Her parents spoke Korean, enjoyed Korean music, and still tried to keep connected to Korean culture. While at school and at work, everything was different. She was told to speak English only, to eat American food, and listen to American music. She described it as if she “was living in two worlds.” She knew that if she didn’t assimilate, she would not make any friends and she would not be able to survive in the United States. Aekyung agreed with Hansen’s generalizations and highlighted how the generational gaps she face with her parents influenced how she raised me.
In this essay, I was able to examine Aekyung’s responses to her immigrant experience, through the lenses of segmented assimilation, the model minority myth, participation in the labor force, and generational conflicts. Out of all the things we discussed, the most impactful part of the interview was her tone throughout the interview. She discussed her struggles and fears of immigrating to the United States, but she spoke with so much joy. As an interviewer, it was hard to understand how she could talk about her job at the zipper factory happily, but that’s when I realized, that was the whole point of the interview. The experiences immigrants bring to the United States is what makes this country great. As a native born American citizen, I do not see the world through the same lens as my mother or my grandparents. These different perspectives do not take away from “American culture.” These perspectives add depth to the history to the people of the United States. A history made up all different ethnic groups, different journeys, and different perspectives.
The model minority myth “holds that Asian Americans have been more successful in the United States than other native ethnic groups and that they have been more successful because of their cultural heritage, not the material resources they have brought with them” (Wodziak). The model minority is a myth and is a dangerous stereotype of Asian Americans in the United States. Aekyung didn’t experience overt racism …show more content…
during the time when she was growing up in Chicago’s Chinatown. She said she did not interact with anyone who wasn’t Asian. The demographic of Chinatown at the time consisted of mostly Asian Americans, and because of this, Aekyung and her family didn’t feel that much different, and experienced little racism. The racism she experienced was not because she was an Asian American, but because she was Korean. She notes slight tension because the majority of residents were Chinese, while her family was Korean. This phenomena was explained during class and explained that ethnic people who live in ethnic enclaves experience less racism versus ethnic people who do not live in ethnic enclaves because they have less interactions with different groups of people (Wodziak). This is also mirrored in Aekyung’s experiences when she moved out of Chinatown. She said she experienced more racism when her family moved to the suburbs. The suburb they moved to mostly white and middle class. This is where she truly felt “different.” Obviously, she knew her and her family looked different from the other residents, but even the language they spoke, the food they ate, and the type of clothes that they wore were different. She said that during this time when her and her family were transitioning from living in a predominantly Asian community to a white one is when she realized moving the United States was like going “down a rabbit hole.” She used this reference to describe this transition because Alice’s Adventure to Wonderland was like her journey to the United States. There was a fear of the unknown. Aekyung and her family weren’t sure of anything and scared. She explained that she never felt ashamed of her culture until her and her family moved into the suburbs. Like most immigrants, her parents settled in this ethnic enclave at first then moved out when they gained some economic stability, a pattern that most immigrants follow (Gerber & Kraut).
Aekyung also didn’t feel the pressures of the model minority myth until she moved into the predominantly white suburb. When she moved, she was the only Asian-American child in her class, and she also explained how she didn’t have an Asian American teacher during school. Her teachers and classmates had a different expectation of her based on the fact that she was Asian. Most of her teachers assumed that she didn’t need help with course work and other students made fun of her because they thought she was “quiet, shy, and a teacher’s pet.” This false stereotype of the model minority hurt her educational experience. One experience that highlights this point is when Aekyung remembers asking her fifth grade math teacher for extra help and her teacher dismissed her and told her to ask her parents for math help because “that’s what Asians are good at.” This caused her to feel self-conscious not only about her math skills but her intelligence as well. This stereotype of Asian Americans is not only harmful because it places harsh expectations on them, but because it also homogenizes Asian Americans allowing people to deny the differences between Asian ethnic groups (Myth Busting Model Minority). Aekyung’s experienced made her feel alienated from the stereotypical model minority myth. When talking about the model minority, people are unaware of the differences experienced by both Uptown Chinese and the Downtown Chinese and stereotype all Asian Americans as academically and economically successful, invalidating they experiences more common with the downtown Chinese. Aekyung and her family are a part of the Downtown Chinese, being working class and having little education (Gerber & Kraut). They explained how members of the downtown Chinese were less likely to fit the mold of the model minority, and Aekyung and her family definitely did not fit this stereotype, which caused her to question her identity.
The immigrant experience has received a lot of attention and controversy over their participation in the labor market.
Most immigrants come to the United States to work, and many native-born Americans worry about the effect on their own jobs with the influx of immigrants (Gerber & Kraut). Scholars have looked at the actual conditions of immigrant workers and explored how immigrants use their social networks to concentrate in certain jobs and industries. Many immigrants find employment through ethnic enclaves and ethnic economies. Scholar Dae Young Kim examined the children of economically successful immigrant parents and found that “the parents were mostly self-employed professionals or small business owners with considerable assets to pass on to their children” (Gerber & Kraut, 113). This finding was also supported by Aekyung’s experiences. She revealed that the reason her parents wanted to immigrate to the United States was because her aunt had immigrated and started a restaurant in Chinatown with her American husband. The restaurant was a huge success and she promised Aekyung’s mother jobs for her family if she had moved as well. Aekyung’s aunt was a small business owner in a small niche. She had found success through the ethnic enclave and wanted to share that with her family. In result, Aekyung and her family shared this economic success, making a good wage working at her aunt’s restaurant until they had to close. Finding work after the closing of the restaurant was “humiliating and tiring.” She described that the promise of jobs in the United States was nothing like the reality. She was told that everyone in the United States had work and did well, which was the truth while she was working in her aunt’s restaurant in Chinatown. Once she and her family were forced to find work outside of the ethnic enclave, she realized the promise of this “new world” was illusionary (Gerber & Kraut, 114). Due to her limited English and limited social capital, she found work
in a zipper factory. The zipper factory was very far from her home, required long hours, and was classified as unskilled labor. Dirty, dangerous, and difficult jobs, also known as the 3Ds, refer to the certain kinds of labor often performed by immigrant workers (Wodziak). This was one of the “dirty, dangerous, and difficult” jobs that she had found. She explained to me how wages were very low, but she worked there because it was her only option. The factory itself was small, cramped, and she was positioned in front of a sewing machine, performing the same limited movements over and over again. The shift she worked was the night shift and she described it as “one of the most difficult” jobs she’s ever had, but she never complained. She finished her story by remarking, “at the end of the day, I still had a job, and that’s all that mattered.” This appreciation for any job in the United States highlights the differences between a native born American’s idea and immigrant of the worth of having a job, even if it’s dirty, dangerous, and difficult. Many people fear that immigrants are “taking” away jobs in the United States, but they should really ask themselves, would they want to work from midnight to 9 am making zippers in a dimly lit room next to hundreds of other women doing the same thing for only $6 an hour? Aekyung’s experience at the zipper factory is reminiscent of the Somali women working at the Tyson chicken factory in Shelbyville (Welcome to Shelbyville). These women like my mother moved to a specific city in the United States for a specific job. My mother moved to work in her aunt’s restaurant, and the Somali women moved to work at Tyson. They both performed dirty, dangerous, and difficult jobs but still were able to still find some joy. Generational conflicts have been defined as the differences found between generations, more specifically, the experience of immigration. Marcus Lee Hansen states that some family members may have different views on immigration because of the distance each generation has from the wrenching experience of leaving a homeland, traveling to the United States, and adjusting to a new place and new neighbors (Gerber & Kraut, 105).
The first generation is described with making appropriate changes in order to survive economically, live in a strange culture, and master the skills required to take advantage of their new life. The child of an immigrant is raised by parents who speak a foreign tongue, prefer the music and cuisine of their homeland, and cherish values that reflect the heritage of their home country. However, the child of immigrants must do what is required to succeed in the community where their parents have resettled and thrive in an American culture (Gerber & Kraut, 105-106).
Aekyung described that once she started embracing American culture more openly, her parents felt threatened by it. She remembered when her and her siblings stopped speaking Korean at home; her mother was deeply hurt and accused her of losing her morals, and more importantly, her culture. My mother described living in the United States at that time was very confusing for her. At home, everything in terms of her life was the same. Her parents spoke Korean, enjoyed Korean music, and still tried to keep connected to Korean culture. While at school and at work, everything was different. She was told to speak English only, to eat American food, and listen to American music. She described it as if she “was living in two worlds.” She knew that if she didn’t assimilate, she would not make any friends and she would not be able to survive in the United States. Aekyung agreed with Hansen’s generalizations and highlighted how the generational gaps she face with her parents influenced how she raised me.
In this essay, I was able to examine Aekyung’s responses to her immigrant experience, through the lenses of segmented assimilation, the model minority myth, participation in the labor force, and generational conflicts. Out of all the things we discussed, the most impactful part of the interview was her tone throughout the interview. She discussed her struggles and fears of immigrating to the United States, but she spoke with so much joy. As an interviewer, it was hard to understand how she could talk about her job at the zipper factory happily, but that’s when I realized, that was the whole point of the interview. The experiences immigrants bring to the United States is what makes this country great. As a native born American citizen, I do not see the world through the same lens as my mother or my grandparents. These different perspectives do not take away from “American culture.” These perspectives add depth to the history to the people of the United States. A history made up all different ethnic groups, different journeys, and different perspectives.