In “Asian American Students and School Stereotypes“, the Washington Post reports on Jenny Tsai, a recent Harvard graduate, for her senior college thesis for the social studies department last year, wrote the study “‘Too Many Asians at this School’: Racialized Perceptions and Identity Formation.” (Update: you can download the “essay” here) The article goes on in describing her study and findings:
“As part of her research, Tsai, who is Chinese American, interviewed 27 Harvard undergraduates, including 15 Asian Americans and 12 whites, plus one Asian American student at Boston College. All but one had attended one of four very selective public high schools — Boston Latin in Boston, Lowell in San Francisco and Hunter College and Stuyvesant in New York. She chose graduates of those schools because of their large Asian American contingents — roughly 75 percent at Lowell, 50 percent at Hunter College and Stuyvesant and 25 percent at Boston Latin — and because each of those schools had struggled with racial issues sparked by the fact that many students who want to attend can’t get in. Tsai, a Hunter College High School alumna herself, found many people thought Asian American students were getting more than their share of acceptance letters from these super magnets. Yet she saw little racial solidarity among the Asian Americans who did so well at those four schools that they got into Harvard. Instead, these students told her they were just trying to fit in with what they considered “white” American values, and often deferred to their white classmates when it came to extracurricular choices. As Tsai put it, among the Asian American students she interviewed, “acting white” was a good thing. I was surprised to read that Tsai’s subjects at Harvard often embraced that term. They thought of it more as a lifestyle than an academic strategy. To them, Tsai found, it translated loosely as being cool….
Many Asian American students at Harvard, Tsai said, were bothered by the stereotype of their group as a “model minority,” which they associated with the fear expressed by some whites that Asian Americans were putting them at a disadvantage. To them, that stereotype carried with it “negative connotations of being competitive, lacking passion, and being calculating,” she wrote in her paper.“
27 Harvard undergraduates (and a Boston College student) does not sound like a large sample, but I don’t think Jenny Tsai, as an undergraduate, necessarily had the time and resources for a large representative sample to extrapolate beyond her Ivy League halls (except to Boston College). So this isn’t necessarily the definitive study of Asian American “model minority” perceptions at college campuses (as well as K - 12), but it does bring up some valid observations.
By the way, I find some irony that this Harvard senior thesis is being reported on, considering my previous posting on Harvard’s lack of Asian American Studies program.
This article reminds me on a fairly “infamous” front page article in the Wall Street Journal in 2005 (before 8Asians.com’s time) on the Cupertino, California school system.
“Whites aren’t quitting the schools because the schools are failing academically. Quite the contrary: Many white parents say they’re leaving because the schools are too academically driven and too narrowly invested in subjects such as math and science at the expense of liberal arts and extracurriculars like sports and other personal interests. The two schools, put another way that parents rarely articulate so bluntly, are too Asian…the shrinking number of white students hasn’t hurt the academic standards of Cupertino’s schools — in fact the opposite is true. This time the effect is more subtle: Some Asians believe that the resulting lack of diversity creates an atmosphere that is too sheltering for their children, leaving then unprepared for life in a country that is only 4% Asian overall. Moreover, many Asians share some of their white counterpart’s concerns. Both groups finger newer Asian immigrants for the schools’ intense competitiveness.”
I think with most immigrant parents, there is definitely an emphasis on academics rather than extracurricular activities. As I have blogged and commented before, I think there are “two” Asian America’s - West Coast/California Asians and the rest of the U.S. - both groups, I have found, have felt “culture shock” from moving to California or vice versa - I certainly did. Back to the point…
As the Washington Post article did state, overall, Asia-Americans account for about 4% of the U.S. population. Whenever there is a statistical “over-representation” that can be easily observed, questions, concerns, and stereotypes will arise. Obviously, people individually need to move beyond stereotypes, but being aware of them and also noting some truthfulness and recognizing that stereotypes exist is one step towards eliminating them.
I wonder, after reading this article, if the “model minority” stereotype has translated into the workforce? I haven’t really read too many articles or studies on this subject. Academic success, as far as I understand, has not translated into corporate success, where many Asian Americans (even in San Francisco / Silicon Valley) have been hitting the glass or “bamboo” ceiling. Any thoughts on the “model minority” stereotype or the “bamboo ceiling”?
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Bo wrote:
John, this is what I deal with every day as a corporate diversity officer. The model minority does exist in the corporate realm but many of the characteristics that define the model minority are risk factors in the corporate setting. Studious, hard working, and deferential = non-creative, non-original, and lack of leadership in the eyes of many corporate managers. Although Asians only make up 4% of the US population, in most corporations, they make up the majority of the minority population. Where I currently work (a Big 4 firm), roughly 27% of the workforce is minority. Of that 27%, I’d say well over 90% is Asian with black and hispanic people making up the rest. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Although minorities make up a quarter of the overall workforce, less than 5% of the managerial level is minority. There IS a bamboo/glass ceiling for all minorities. I regularly hear performance feedback describing a certain Asian-American as “hard working, technically amazing but lacks a certain executive presence and leadership capability. Not a strong communicator, doesn’t speak up in meetings. Requires to much hands on supervision.” Some of the insight in the feedback may be true but often people are projecting their own unconscious bias onto a person.
Unfortunately, the current cultural model and leadership paradigm equate “success” characteristics with white behavioral norms. Hence the whole “acting white” phenomena in the black community. This is also the reason why a lot of people naturally view certain people (tall, white, male) as leadership material. It’s my feeling that change will be a two fold process
1) Educate minorities about the unconscious (and conscious) bias they will face within the workforce and equip them with the tools to combat this bias. I coach a lot of Asian Americans to speak up more in meetings, Be pro-active in finding mentors, seek out leadership opportunities etc.
2) Challenge the current leadership model to expand the definition of “leadership material” to naturally include people who may be diverse. This is the reason I find Barack Obama so inspiring. Just by running and being a viable candidate, he is shifting the leadership paradigm.
It’s sad to hear all these Asian-American students at Harvard be so clueless about the reality of the challenge they face and what they will need to be successful. There is a fatal flaw in the way Asian communities are preparing children.
Posted on 08-Jan-08 at 3:34 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
The irony of the “bamboo ceiling” is that it lead to Taiwanese and Chinese returnees to start their own companies who would later compete against the very same companies that they used to work for in Silicon Valley.
I just came across this 1999 study/paper:
The Silicon Valley–Hsinchu Connection: Technical Communities and Industrial Upgrading
“Immigrants like Gerry Liu turned increasingly to entrepreneurship in the 1980s and 1990s, in response both to the perception of a “glass ceiling” in the established companies and to the emergence of supportive ethnic networks and role models.”
http://siepr.stanford.edu/Papers/pdf/99-10.pdf
Posted on 08-Jan-08 at 6:40 pm | Permalink
Joanna wrote:
It is interesting to note that the points made in Tsai’s thesis continues to exist in higher education… in this day and age. We are in the 21st century, and one would have thought that given the global economy and international marketplace, there would be a broader perspective coming from the up-and-coming educational elite (asian or not - these high schools are ranked as top in the nation). Though, as is mentioned, 27 individuals is a small sample… Separately, yes, the stereotype does exist, and indeed, it occurs in the corporate workplace (albeit subliminally). There is a glass ceiling, for all minorities (interesting to note that Asians are 4% of the US population, thus a minority; Yet, in higher education, we no longer have that distinction), regardless of gender, race, sex and or even class. We acknowledge that American culture and ways of conducting business in the West is different versus the ‘asian’ model, perhaps. That said, as Asian Americans who have grown up here in the US and are for all intents and purposes, often viewed as ‘American,’ we should also take responsiblity to compete on equal footing and too, to turn those stereotypes on its head. On the flip side, it is also the case that the reverse of this ceiling and or barrier is true in Asia, for example. Americans of caucasian descent have a difficult time entering the business market and rise up in corporations in Asia or China, and there are extreme stereotypes of the ‘Americans’ who choose to reside and conduct work here in the Asia Pacific.
Posted on 08-Jan-08 at 9:13 pm | Permalink
ancient one wrote:
Hmm. An amusing thesis. Lots of comments here:
“Acting white” as being cool? That seems really strange, at least to me, growing up in the Bay Area and especially watching how my daughter and her friends. To them, “acting white” is the epitomy of “not cool,” and I have seen them do some vicious imitations of what they consider to be stereotypical white girls. Most of them go to fairly elite private high schools in Silicon Valley, too. To me, Asian American culture in Silicon Valley diverges down the middle. On the East Side of the valley (Milpitas, Berryessa and Evergreen in San Jose), Asian American kids seem to have a harder urban edge to them, and there are a lot more poorer Asian Americans there than on the West side of the Valley (Cupertino, Saratoga).
I think that John’s comment about West Coast Asian American culture is fairly apt. I went to an Ivy, and even though that was over 20 years ago (hey, that’s why I’m the ancient one :-)), I found the East Coast Asian American’s were pretty different, even the ones from heavily Asian places like Stuyvesant and Hunter. I personally felt I had more in common with African Americans (musical tastes, attitude, and perspective) than with many of Asian Americans there, especially the East Coasters.
Bamboo ceiling: I have worked in Silicon Valley for over 25 years (yes, I am the ancient one), and I don’t see it as much of an issue any more. A lot has changed. When I first started, there was a hierarchy that was like this: white management, Chinese and Indian engineers, Filipino, Vietnamese, and white technicians, and Filipino, Vietnamese, and Hispanic assemblers. I remember talking to an HR person during that time, and she said that one of the big tensions was with white technicians having to deal with work for Asian engineers. Years later, the big HR issues was promoting Asian engineers, as there was signficiant brain drain as they hit the bamboo ceiling and left to start up their own firms. Now, I don’t see the bamboo ceiling as an issue. I see Asian and Asian Americans every level of management, from the board members and executive vice presidents to my own boss. Around the Valley, I see the same thing. I also see an embracing of diversity, with Asian American’s backgrounds being leveraged for doing business internationally and also celebrated internally. My own company has and endorses a vareity of internal employee groups, ranging from Muslims to gays and lesbians to Indian and Chinese associations. Career concerns about being Asian American or having to “act white’ is the least of my worries, especially compared to having a teenage daughter who will be driving in a year and a half!
Posted on 08-Jan-08 at 11:52 pm | Permalink
Bertie wrote:
Yes, I noticed the cultural differences between West Coast Asian Americans and East Coast Asian Americans in college. The West Coasters (Bay Area), even if they grew up in gated communities, borrowed a lot from hip hop culture - they wore baggy jeans, listened to hip hop and used urban slang words, whereas the East Coasters were either preppies or hipsters.
Posted on 09-Jan-08 at 9:57 am | Permalink
Lily wrote:
I wish I majored in “social studies.”
This should only be called a study of a subset of Harvard students and their like, rather than of Asian Americans of that age in general. At Brown, having an ethnic identity was cool, and being unaware of that or out of tune with it would have been uncool.
What was her thesis called? “Some conversations with my friends and people on Facebook”?
I doubt that a Harvard undergraduate has any well-pressed thoughts about this subject. But, we’ll see. I requested the document per the article’s instructions. Somehow I have a feeling she won’t send it. She probably got a crapload of email from that article. She should have done something more sensible and uploaded it somewhere, where anyone who wants it can go get it. Now she has to either email everyone individually, send a mass bcc email, or ignore them all and have everyone think she’s a flake.
Also, the whole thesis seems to be a reaction to white sentiment against Asians at her high school. Why does she even care what they think?
Posted on 09-Jan-08 at 10:46 am | Permalink
Bertie wrote:
What was her thesis called? “Some conversations with my friends and people on Facebook”?
———
You’d be amazed at what Harvard lets people get away with. One individual I know wrote her thesis on “mating and dating at Harvard”. Her research? She plunked herself down with a notebook at the bar most frequented by students at the time and took notes.
Posted on 09-Jan-08 at 11:41 am | Permalink
Efren wrote:
LOL, if anything, it’ll get her into a good sociology or anthropology graduate program!
Professors know that they can’t expect much from a graduating senior who’s trying to do an honors thesis and all of her other classes, so doing something like her project is actually really impressive, since a lot of the qualitative social studies like ethnography, participant observation, and qualitative methods are based on exactly what she’s doing. Being a good social scientist means simply being able to take what just seem to be off-the-cuff conversations and other observations, connecting the dots, and finding theories that help to explain commonaities. You just learn in grad school how to find the theories and find the academic mumbo-jumbo to make your papers sound more impressive.
For example, the paper that got me into graduate school in sociology at UCSB was a study done through the internet on LGB Korean Americans, where I interviewed about 10 queer Korean American college students, and at the time, it was considered impressive (granted, this was done in 1994, and the internet was just starting to become popular) and seeing how the common threads of religion, ethnic identity, familial expectatoins and alienation caused these people to integrate (or deny) their sexuality into their identities.
I used to get a lot of shit from people who thought that my studies were too touchy-feely and not based on reality because you couldn’t see the numbers, but once they saw the theories that came out of it, they shut up.
Posted on 09-Jan-08 at 4:13 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
You can download the article here at:
Too Many Asians at this School’: Racialized Perceptions and Identity Formation
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1082148
Posted on 09-Jan-08 at 9:12 pm | Permalink
Marlene Ferguson wrote:
Acting white as being COOL? Why can`t you just be who you are? You are Asians for God sake!! That will NEVER change!! I`m black and my husband is Japanese, and thats who we are!!
Posted on 12-Jan-08 at 5:43 pm | Permalink
Bertie wrote:
I’m still confused as to what constitutes “acting Asian”, “acting Black”, “acting White” or “acting [?????].” Quit labeling. We should really move past this. It’s depressing that current or relatively recent Harvard grads are still concerned with this garbage. The sooner we move to a post-racial, post-gay, post-tribal, post-religious, post-labeling society the better.
Sorry for the mini-rant.
Posted on 13-Jan-08 at 9:15 pm | Permalink