The Truth Behind Asian Americans
Asian Americans make up a small percentage of the total population in America. However, many find Asian Americans as being overachieving and over-represented in society. For example, Asian Americans comprised of 17% of the total percentage of students accepted into Dartmouth College’s class of 2020, by far the highest percentage of students accepted than any other ethnic minority group. Putting numbers to perspective, Latinx and African-American identifying students combined to comprise of only 16% of the total percentage of students accepted (“Admissions”). Comparing just these three minority groups, it is clear that Asian Americans are accepted at a higher percentage than students from Latinx and African-American backgrounds. Because of this relative success, many believe that all Asian Americans are a model minority and that they are the most privileged minority group in America. Many scholars, like Roli Varma, Paul Spickard, and Deborah Woo, have written about the misrecognition of Asian Americans, either socially, economically, or educationally, to counteract this societal belief about Asian Americans. While these scholars have often studied Asian Americans one-dimensionally, either socially, economically, or academically, there has not been much studies about the intersectionality of these three different factors that contribute to broader misrecognition of Asian American identities. This paper will fill this gap by holistically viewing Asian Americans from a social, economic, and educational perspective to allow for better recognition of Asian Americans, away from the stereotypes that try to define them. In exploring the misrecognition of Asian Americans, I will be drawing on the works from various scholars to support and broaden the concept of the misrecognition of Asian Americans, focusing specifically on social, economic, and educational stereotypes. In doing so, I hope to be able to increase the recognition of Asian Americans, thereby satisfying diversity and inclusion for disadvantaged Asian American students in higher education, especially at Dartmouth College.
The actual term “Asian American,” which is such a broad term that encompasses a diverse group of different people, misrepresents the complex identities of Asian Americans. The term “Asian American” was officially created in the 1960s in order to gather a coalition of people to support the growing Civil Rights Movement at the time. William Wei describes how the term “Asian American” was created to incorporate the experiences of Asians in America (Spickard 590). From my ethnography about first-generation, low-income Asian American students at Dartmouth, I found out that my interviewees have all been misrecognized socially, ethnically, and culturally. This misrecognition is the common experience that Wei describes in his description of Asian American. Even before the term was officially used, Westerners commonly referred to Asians as Orientals. Paul Spickard goes on to say that “Orientalism has been a persistent theme in Western culture, and it had much to do with the way that Asian-descended peoples have been treated throughout their history in the United States” (Spickard 587). In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement called upon the oppressed to come together in solidarity to demand for a change. Even more so than usual, Asian Americans faced political blanketing and lacked representation. As a result, the pan-Asian community successfully created this idea of being Asian American to have this coalition of supporters. Therefore, the term Asian American today is not just a social term, but a political one as well. However, the term Asian American today lumps everybody who looks Asian American into this group and characterizes them by stereotypical social, economic, and educational views, thereby misrecognizing all of the different ethnic and cultural backgrounds that each group has. These stereotypes in regard to social, economic, and education factors make it impossible to recognize Asian Americans, and therefore, never being able to fulfill diversity and inclusion in society, as well as, institutions.
Asian American are perceived to be a single unified group in America, which creates a sense of misrecognition for all Asian Americans that rejects inclusion. First off, Asian Americans are all different and come from different life experiences, mainly dependent on ethnic background. Deborah Woo argues that “Asian Americans are not a homogeneous cultural ‘group’ but rather an ‘aggregate.’ […] It is unclear what common experiences they might share” (Woo 127). From interviews that she conducted, Woo found that Asian American students found some comfortability with seeing other Asian Americans, however, there was not much commonality between them and other Asian American students. This experience also resonates with the experiences of the students at Dartmouth, as my ethnography revealed. I found that some of my participants did not feel comfortable within the Asian American community, while also not feeling comfortable with people from other racial groups. In addition to not feeling connected with other Asian American ethnic groups, Asian Americans are faced with a constant idea that they do not belong in America. Asian Americans are generally not seen as American based on their cultures, lifestyles, and beliefs compared to other racial groups. Paul Spickard mentions that “Asian Americans have been regarded as eternal foreigners in the United States” (Spickard 588). Some Americans are unable to recognize that there are Asian Americans that live in America causing issues with their recognition and identity. From the two examples provided, some Asian Americans faced a lack of recognition and inclusion from both their American and Asian American sides. Therefore, by viewing Asian Americans as separate from the general Asian American identity and seeing them as actually Americans, Asian Americans will be recognized for who they are and more included in society.
The misrepresentation of data on Asian American households’ economic statuses ignored other Asian American families who do not fit into the typical Asian American economic status. Asian Americans are seen as the most economically successful racial group in America, surpassing even Whites, in general, in this category. In conversation about Asian American success, Roli Varma says that “Asian Americans have achieved notable success in educational attainment, employment, and income; thus; they more closely resemble the non-Hispanic White lot than the other minorities. In recent years, Asian Americans have acquired the image of being a ‘model’ for other minorities” (Varma 290). While Varma discusses the relative success of Asian Americans in relation to Whites, Arthur Sakomoto sheds light on Asian American success in a different way, by showing the general success of one Asian ethnic group, but the lack of success in another ethnic group. In one of his research studies, Sakomoto gathers data about Asian Americans and explains how the poverty rates of ethnic Asian groups differ drastically. He explains that “the poverty rate ranges from 6.5% for Filipinos to 29.7% for Hmong” (Sakamoto 257). From Sakamoto’s studies, it is evident that although some Asian American ethnic groups, like Filipinos, are economically better off than whites, there are other ethnic Asian American groups, Hmong, who are doing far worse than blacks. Asian Americans are, on average, economically better off than Whites. However, if used as a criterion for measuring Asian American economic status, these generalized statistics will misrepresent as well as misrecognize the more disadvantaged Asian Americans. From the scholar’s perspectives, Asian Americans are viewed as being the model minority in society. Therefore, Asian Americans are expected to do better academically, economically, and socially compared to other ethnic minority groups in society. However, when they are unable to fit this mold, it caused others to question them and them to question themselves. As Sakamoto showed in his study, not all ethnic Asian American groups fit into this idea of resembling non-Hispanic Whites. Generally, most people do not know about Hmong people because they are ethnic minorities living in China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand. From the statistics, Hmong people suffer from poverty at higher rates than African Americans living in American. From my ethnography of first-generation, low-income Asian American Dartmouth students, I found that there were many Vietnamese American students that I could have interviewed, but also, Asian American students from other ethnic backgrounds that are generally more affluent, like Taiwanese and Korean, as well. Therefore, the need to see Asian Americans as independent entities, separate from their generalizations, is necessary to recognize them.
The general sense of academic success of Asian Americans blankets the need for more resources to help Asian Americans succeed in school. Along with the model minority identity, Asian Americans are seen as being so academically successful that they do not need academic support, like the other racial minority groups in America. Many scholars agree with this idea and have done research to support their argument. Amy Hsin and Yu Xie, for example, argue that Asian Americans have exceeded Whites as being the most academically successful racial group in America. Their article revolves around the different factors that contribute to this high success rate. In one of their studies, Hsin and Yu disaggregated “Asian Americans into four groups: East Asians, Filipinos, Southeast Asians, and South Asians” to determine academic achievement, cognitive, skills, and academic effort between these ethnic groups and whites. Hsin and Yu specifically point out that all “Asian ethnic groups outperform whites in academic achievement, including Southeast Asians, who came from poorer and less educated families relative to whites” (Hsin 8418). Even though this data is disaggregated to an extent, it still does not give some Asian ethnic groups, especially the Southeast Asian group, the proper recognition. Southeast Asia consists of many different countries, all of which have differing cultures, lifestyles, and backgrounds. For example, Singapore ranks among some of the wealthiest countries in the world, while Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos rank among some of the poorest (“World’s”). In the further disaggregation of this data to actual Asian ethnic groups, there have been few scholars who have studied this. One of these scholars, Arthur Sakamoto, has studied Asian Americans economically and academically and has disaggregated the data that he received by Asian ethnic group exposing the disparities within the Asian American community that would not have been acknowledged otherwise. From his study, Sakamoto shows that while all other Asian ethnic groups had over 40% of their participants having Bachelor’s degrees, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Hmong participants fell far below this mark, having 25%, 13%, 12%, and 12%, respectfully (Sakamoto 258). As evident in his studies, he discovered that the Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Hmong population’s educational and economic status lie far below that of their other Asian American ethnic counterparts. However, looking back upon Hsin and Xie’s argument, they say that the Southeast Asians in their studies, on average, still were achieving academically at a higher rate than their White counterparts. Connecting the two arguments, it is seen that Hsin and Xie’s attempt at disaggregating the data of Asian Americans into four groups still does not provide a correct picture for specific ethnic groups. My ethnography aligns with the ideas presented in Sakamoto’s article. I was able to interview some Vietnamese Dartmouth students and they expressed to me that being a first-generation college student is difficult because they do not believe that people recognize this in them. From Sakamoto’s study, he shows that only through the separation of data by ethnic groups can a more accurate picture of Asian American groups in American be seen and without it, all Asian Americans will be subject to the misrecognition of being academically successful.
Social, economic, and academic stereotypes all contribute to the identity of an Asian American individual that is not always recognized by everyone. Socially, Asian Americans are not typically seen as being American, but rather, as people who will always be foreigners in society. Along with this, Asian Americans do not always share similarities within inter sub-ethnic groups, which is a root problem in recognition when this is not acknowledged. Economically, Asian Americans, as a whole, are seen as being the most affluent racial group, based on census results and what other scholars generally say about Asian Americans. However, Arthur Sakamoto brings up the research that he has done showing how poverty rates within the Asian American community vary drastically. On one hand, Philippinos have a poverty rate lower than Whites, while Hmong people have a poverty rate exceeding that of African Americans in America. Educationally, Asian Americans are overly represented as being more academically successful than all other racial groups, including Whites. Scholars Amy Hsin and Yu Xie argue that all Asian Americans fall into this category of being academically successful. However, from Scholar Arthur Sakamoto’s research, we see that the Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, and Hmong communities all consists of low rates of obtaining Bachelor’s Degrees, opposing Hsin and Xie’s argument that these Asian American ethnic groups should be successful as well. Recognizing these three factors that characterize typical Asian Americans and how not all of them can identify in this way allows us to see individuals for who they are and not based off of stereotypical views.
By first recognizing the misrecognition of Asian Americans, Asian American in society, like me, will finally be able to be seen completely for who we are as individuals, rather than by stereotypes. In society, Asian Americans are stereotyped into being better off than we truly are. Although some Asian American families do indeed fit the idea of being the model minority, there are many families that do not, and this concept of being socially, economically, and educationally better than Whites discriminates against them. By misrecognizing me, Dartmouth and society will never satisfy its diversity and inclusion goals because I am not recognized for all of the qualities that make me an individual, like coming from a low-income, disadvantaged family as a first-generation college student. Therefore, I call for a disaggregation of data for Asian American students into different ethnic groups and the recognition of Asian American as a disadvantaged minority group in America, like shown in Arthur Sakamoto’s study. Ultimately, I also hope for the recognition of other disadvantaged Asian ethnicities that are often overlooked in the East and South Asian centric idea of being Asian. Secondly, Dartmouth College can make more effort to shed light upon the diverse group of Asian Americans in our society and school to allow others to better recognize us. Dartmouth can sponsor more cultural events for these Asian American ethnic groups and bring in more faculty that specializes in these groups to teach about our different experiences. Along with classes, Dartmouth should create a formal Asian American studies program to show us Asian Americans that our history is important and worth learning. It is time for elite schools and organizations to acknowledge that Asians are a diverse group of people coming from different cultures, lifestyles, and worlds. It is time to recognize me for who I am and not confine me to the stereotypical views that are associated with being Asian.
Works Cited
“Admissions Facts & Advice.” Class Profile | Admissions, admissions.dartmouth.edu/facts-advice/facts/class-profile.
Hsin, Amy, and Yu Xie. “Explaining Asian Americans' Academic Advantage over Whites.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 111, no. 23, 2014, pp. 8416–8421. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23776433.
Sakamoto, Arthur, et al. “Socioeconomic Attainments of Asian Americans.” Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 35, 2009, pp. 255–276. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27800078.
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Varma, Roli. “Asian Americans: Achievements Mask Challenges.” Asian Journal of Social Science, vol. 32, no. 2, 2004, pp. 290–307. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23654590.
Woo, Deborah. “Asian Americans in Higher Education: Issues of Diversity and Engagement.” Race, Gender & Class, vol. 4, no. 3, 1997, pp. 122–142. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41674842.
“The World's Richest and Poorest Countries.” Global Finance Magazine, www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/worlds-richest-and-poorest-countries.