Why I Am Tired of Talking about the Model Minority Myth
For Asian Americans, the myth of the “model minority” has created conditions where Asian American students are treated within the narrow confines of a racial stereotype. Because those confines encourage us to think of Asian American children as “whiz kids” or coming from determined and education-focused families — qualities we all think of as positive — it may be difficult to see how the myth can be harmful. Yet, decades of research has demonstrated that this myth continues to marginalize and harm Asian American youth. The research has also made it clear that belief in the myth is pervasive in schools — and that we need to excise it from our teaching and learning practices.
Truth be told, I am so tired of doing workshops on the model minority myth. I know it’s important, and serves me right for engaging in published scholarship related to the topic, but it’s difficult for me to constantly revisit this problematic stereotype of Asian Americans that continues to perpetuate the notion that all Asian Americans are hard-working, overachieving, gifted, and driven individuals who achieve against all odds. Time and again, I am asked the question, “But, Liza, why is that stereotype bad? Don’t people want to be seen as all of those positive things?” To be honest, nearly every time I am asked this question, I am being asked by genuinely curious people. And sometimes I am even asked that question by other Asian Americans.
So, real talk: Yes, of course people want to be known as hard-working, overachieving, gifted, and driven. Those qualities, by themselves, are not insults. I’ve been to award ceremonies that use those very words to describe incredible leaders. I have read — and probably written — college and job recommendations using similar words to describe former students and colleagues. I have read job descriptions that seek employees who meet these qualifications.
By themselves, these qualities are strong and validating. However, in the context of the historical treatment of Asian Americans, the fight for visibility in data, and cross-racial solidarity movements, the model minority myth takes on a very racialized meaning. And, as we all know, context matters.
Asian America
First, it’s important to note when and why the term “Asian American” first emerged. it was first used in 1968 as a label of self-determination. “Asian American” was an umbrella term and identity chosen by the Asian American community, whereas the previous popular term, “Oriental,” was a Eurocentric one that reinforced a colonial and imperialist agenda. The new term provided both an organizing umbrella under which a critical mass of those of us with Asian roots could connect and a way to identify our collective political and social needs. It provided us with a unifying identity through which we could organize and advocate for our rights.
Budiman and Ruiz (2021) report that there are approximately 22 million Asians in the United States. As of 2015, 24% of Asian Americans (4.9 million) were of Chinese origin, the largest single origin group. The next two largest groups are Indian-origin Asians, who accounted for 20% of the national Asian population (4.0 million), and Filipinos (19%, or 3.9 million). Those with roots in Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan easily clear the 1 million mark as well. Overall, Asian Americans represent 50 ethnic subgroups and nearly 2,000 different languages and dialects. Because there are so many different groups and subgroups, it is easy to see how the umbrella term “Asian American” was politically and sociologically useful.
Visibility Through Disaggregated Data
Taken in the aggregate, Asian Americans appear to be doing very well in terms of educational and economic success. This is why the model minority myth thrives. In particular, the myth cherry picks data that shows many members of the top six Asian Americans groups thriving in this country and uses it to reinforce the narrative that all Asian Americans are successful. Indeed, many Asian Americans, especially those who were allowed to come to the United States through specialized visa programs (e.g., programs for medical doctors, nurses, and engineers), found both institutional and structural support for immigration and settling in this country. They came with built-in jobs, opportunities, access to education, and financial opportunity — and generally they have done well financially. However, aggregated data does not tell the complete story. We tend to downplay or ignore the experiences of other Asian American groups such as Laotian, Cambodian, Thai, Pakistani, Nepalese, Indonesian, Burmese, Malaysian, Mongolian, and Sri Lankan — all of whom have unique historical and current relationships to the United States. These latter groups did not immigrate under inviting or easy circumstances. If we take out the data related to the top six Asian American groups, the demographic story is far more mixed and complex. The model minority myth works to hide this complexity.
A Racial Wedge
Because context matters, it’s important to explore the context in which the model minority concept was created as a racial wedge between Asian Americans and other minoritized groups, specifically African Americans. We can trace the first appearance of the term “model minority” to 1966 when William Petersen, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, made comparisons between Japanese Americans and African Americans through his article "Success Story, Japanese-American Style.” It positioned Japanese Americans, in particular, as being rule-abiding, in sharp contrast to the picture Peterson, and much of the rest of the country, was painting about African Americans at that time. Though only a few decades earlier, Japanese Americans were incarcerated in detention camps by the U.S. government, they were now being used as a racial prop to shame African Americans and set the stage for ongoing anti-Blackness. This false social narrative that Asian Americans were better than African Americans, in time, evolved into the full-blown model minority myth, harming both Asian Americans and African Americans and driving a wedge between the two communities.
The Role of Identity Conscious Education
In my new book, The Identity Conscious Educator: Building the Habits and Skills for a More Inclusive School, I argue that educators must examine their own socialization related to identity. Specifically related to Asian Americans and the model minority myth, I ask educators:
What were some of your first/earliest messages about Asian Americans?
Where did these messages come from? Where did you learn them?
Were these messages positive or negative? (I encourage you to abandon the “neutral” option here.)
How do some of those early messages show up in your teaching, leading, and learning today?
Academic and Social Services
If we perpetuate the myth that Asian Americans are high achieving, successful, and do not need any academic or social services, then we overlook the realities of many of our students. We dismiss the fact that many of the smaller ethnic Asian groups in this country have had vastly different experiences and access to education than most members of the larger Asian ethnic groups in this country. For example, the experiences of students who are the children of medical doctors who were provided special visas to enter and settle in the United States are different from the experiences of students who are children of refugees, survivors of war, and those who resettled with few belongings and support structures. If we treat all of our students as if they had access to the same political and structural support, then we erase what they need in order to achieve equity.
In schools, when we believe that Asian Americans are all academically high achieving, we render their actual needs invisible and, thus, do not offer support services. Research has made this clear. The model minority stereotype contributes to educators overlooking the needs of Asian American students. Even when they are struggling, we tend to minimize their needs and fail to provide them with equitable services. In my own experience, though I was struggling in high school math, my teachers repeatedly just said to me, “Oh, you’ll get it. You’ll be fine,” as if I was going to magically and genetically understand what was going on. Teachers dismissed me from extra help sessions saying I didn’t need it (yet I continued to struggle with a C or C- in their classes) They always skipped over me when walking around the classroom to help students, and they even recommended me for advanced classes when I was struggling to stay afloat. The model minority narrative got in their way of seeing me as someone who needed support, assistance, and guidance.
Mental, Emotional, and Psychological Health
Time and again, I’ve heard educators describe Asian American students as naturally self-motivated and determined, genetically programmed for academic success. But by buying into this myth, we erase the mental, emotional, and psychological support that Asian American students might — and often do — need. Some of our students are achieving despite great risk to their mental, emotional, and psychological health. Others are not. In fact, suicide was the eighth leading cause of death for Asian Americans, and Asian Americans college students were more likely than White American students to have had suicidal thoughts and to attempt suicide (Kisch, Leino, & Silverman, 2005). Because of the myth, however, we are less likely to recommend mental, emotional, and psychological support services to vulnerable Asian American students than we would for other vulnerable students.
Opportunities to Organize
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian Americans have been the target of anti-Asian slurs, violence, and discrimination. This increased animosity comes, in part, from the early nickname of the virus as “the China virus” — a comment oft-repeated by the previous U.S. president. A report by Ruiz, Edwards, and Lopez (2021), via the Pew Research Center, found a majority (71%) of U.S. adults currently see a lot or some discrimination against Asian people. Yet, by holding onto the myth that Asian American students are quiet, obedient, and stay out of trouble, we even ignore or dismiss this deeply troubling racism. We also can’t see clearly that Asian American students, in fact, are outraged, angry, and frustrated by this wrongful behavior. In turn, we overlook opportunities for them to organize protests or otherwise speak out. We may also be misreading their worries and fears about their safety simply as them being quiet. If we believe the narrative that Asian American students are not politically or socially engaged, we miss opportunities to support them and meet their learning and social needs.
Programs and Scholarships
Finally, because Asian Americans are often embedded in a narrative of success, they are often excluded from programs that provide support. For example, for programs and scholarships that seek to advance Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), Asian Americans are often not included in the qualifications — and, thus, not able to apply. Too often, the exclusion of Asian Americans is built on the belief that Asian Americans are high achieving and already experiencing success. The model minority myth restricts access for Asian Americans who actually would benefit from support programs and financial scholarships.
Action Items
As educators and school leaders, what are the steps we can take to dismantle our relationship to the model minority myth and improve our policies, practices, programs, and procedures to be more inclusive of the wide spectrum of experiences and identities within the Asian American umbrella?
Understand that term “Asian American” is still important. The term “Asian American” was created and used to build political capacity. In this regard, it is still a relevant term. Educators should support practices that engage the “Asian American” umbrella term to build critical mass and visibility.
Push for disaggregated data. Even though the larger umbrella term helps to build critical mass, it is also important to push for disaggregated data. Knowing that data sets often make invisible the needs of Asian subgroups, push for disaggregated data in your school or district’s reporting. This also means providing spaces for Asian Americans to self-identify or to systematically include options for Asian American subgroup reporting. Resist data that only tells a single narrative of Asian ethnic groups.
Examine how your policies may be creating inequity related to Asian Americans. Though you may have Asian Americans who are academically and economically successful, do not build entire policies and practices on this segment of the population. Examine how your policies and practices can be more inclusive of the diversity within the Asian American category and include groups for whom greater equity is still needed.
Create more windows and mirrors within the Asian American narrative in your curriculum. It is too easy to tell a single story about who Asian Americans are in this country. Build your library of narratives that include Asian Americans from ethnic groups not often represented. Include Asian American figures and characters who are based in America, and not just stories and tales that perpetuate Asian as foreign or external to American narratives.
Be proactive in your support for Asian American students. While we may have institutionally ignored the needs of Asian Americans, you may also encounter Asian American students and families who are not used to engaging in social, emotional, and academic support. Understand that this is due, in part, to the fact that we have ignored these needs to date and have left Asian American students and families to navigate the system by themselves. Don’t wait for students and families to approach us. Include Asian American students and families in outreach programs from the start.
Provide opportunities for them to speak up and speak out. Asian American students are often painted as quiet, obedient, and rule-following. Yet, many Asian American students are seeking opportunities to speak up and speak out about issues related to their community. Provide support for them to express their anger and frustration, their worries and fears, and their reasons for getting involved.
As teachers and school leaders, we have to address our own early socialization about who Asian Americans are and the narratives we have been told about them and us. We need to develop the habits and skills of building our own knowledge about Asian Americans and providing resources for our schools and students; engage in reflection about our own messages and connection to Asian American issues; and move to action to create a more inclusive school community. The model minority myth is both pervasive and problematic. We need to discard it now — and to take action to create conditions that enable all of our students to thrive.
Liza A. Talusan is an educator, facilitator, and strategic partner for schools and organizations. She works closely with teachers and school leaders as they build more identity-conscious practices for more inclusive school communities. Liza served as the Chair of the Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific Americans (2018-2020) and her dissertation “The Formation of Scholars: Critical Narratives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Doctoral Students in Higher Education,” was awarded the Dissertation of the Year Award by the AERA REAPA SIG (2017). Liza’s scholarship focuses on socialization, race and racism, and Asian Americans in education. She is a mother to three multiracial Asian/Latinx children and the author of The Identity-Conscious Educator: Building the habits and skills for more inclusive schools. More at http://www.lizatalusan.com.
References
Budiman, A., and Ruiz, N. (April, 2021). Key facts about Asian Americans, a diverse and growing population. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/29/key-facts-about-asian-americans/.
Kisch, J., Leino, E. V., & Silverman, M. M. (2005). Aspects of suicidal behavior, depression and treatment in college students: Results from the spring 2000 National College Health Assessment Survey. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 35 , 3–13.
Ruiz, N., Edwards, K., and Lopez, M. (2021). One-third of Asian Americans fear threats, physical attacks and most say violence against them is rising. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/21/one-third-of-asian-americans-fear-threats-physical-attacks-and-most-say-violence-against-them-is-rising/