BROKEN

How the model minority myth creates barriers

Article by Lucy Chong

Graphic by Lia Garibay

Nine-year-old Inny Kim, shot off the bus when she arrived home and ran straight to the trash, where she quickly disposed of her disappointing spelling test, on which she had only earned a B. Later that day, her parents found the culture since the mid/late 20th century. The stereotype aims to paint Asians as the ‘model’ minority.

“Its a storyline that I think has been propagated mostly by mainstream white culture to describe…Asian minorities in a certain way—hard working, studious, law abiding,” said Dr. Shirly Yen, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of psychology training at Massa chusetts Mental Health Center.

Kim’s experience is one of many among first-generation Asian immigrants, who were forced to meet the expectations placed on them by both parents and peers as a product of this idea that Asians are

“My parents expected me to have these high standards because that was just the immigrant mindset,” Kim said. “If I was ever going to achieve the American dream, I had to be the best. It was always, ‘Oh so you got a 90 on your test, why

Like most stereotypes, the model mi nority is a myth— part fact and part fiction. It’s true that Asian students are over 12% more likely to attend college than their white, Hispanic and Black counterparts. However, it’s not because the students are Asian. Though 57% of Chinese-Americans have a college degree, only 15% of China’s population is college educated. The enrollment rate trends have less to do with being Asian and more to do with American im migration policy and which Asians were allowed to