The term “model minority” was first conceived in 1966 by sociologist William Petersen in his essay Success Story, Japanese-American Style. Petersen applauded Asian Americans for achieving success in the United States despite their minority status due to their work ethic and values based on family. Since then, the general American populace has mistakenly championed Asian Americans as the model minority, not questioning the underlying racism attached to the concept. Although a “flattering” stereotype, the model minority image harms all Asian Americans by stripping them of normal human traits and flaws––Asians are expected to perform exceptionally without complaint. Along with harming Asians, the stereotype harms other minorities as well. People use the achievement of Asians to justify their prejudices of other minorities, citing their lack of success due to their “problematic” cultures. The stereotype is especially damaging to communities who do not fit under the image of high achieving Asians, namely Southeast Asians from poor and volatile neighborhoods. Asian Americans achieved a relatively high level of success compared to other minorities because of highly-skilled Asian immigrants, leading to the creation of the model minority; however, the model minority stereotype impedes the social progression of underachieving Asian American students by grouping all Asian Americans under the same blanket experience of academic and financial success.
Stacey Lee extensively details the meaning of the model minority image in her book Unraveling the “Model Minority” Stereotype, essentially stating that the concept was birthed from neoliberalist values of hard work and self-determination. She states that the goal of the stereotype is to spread the message that “individual effort will be rewarded by success and that failure is the fate of those who do not adhere to the value of hard work” (Lee, 1996). Lee commentates that neoliberals place Asian Americans on a pedestal as their success justifies their mistaken capitalist beliefs that anyone can achieve success as long as they work hard. However, this form of thinking is flawed and dangerous as it completely dismisses the plights of other minority groups, attributing their underperformance to laziness or cultural flaws rather than systematic disadvantages.
The model minority stereotype also entirely ignores the reason why Asian Americans even achieved relative success in the first place. Before 1965, when immigration laws were changed to remove quotas and allow for families separated across borders to unite through the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, Asians Americans were seen in the same vein as other minorities. They mostly worked in back-breaking menial work with low wages, and few rarely climbed higher than that. The general population’s perception of Asian Americans did not change until 1965, when suddenly an influx of high-skilled professionals began to immigrate into the United States. An article titled “The Asian Advantage”, published by the New York Times in 2015, states that “Asian-American immigrants in recent decades have started with one advantage: They are highly educated, more so even than the average American” (Kristof, 2015). These skills came in the form of doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. Asian American parents in these professions had enough wealth to privilege their children with the resources needed to attain success, which explains why college attendance among Asian-Americans is so high compared to other ethnicities.
However, this high-achieving experience does not apply to all Asian Americans––only to the ones who arrived as immigrants. Asian Americans who migrated to the United States as refugees from Southeast Asia face an entirely different experience, an experience that is largely dismissed because of the model minority stereotype. Lee states in her book that “while Asian Americans were being used by the mainstream press to support dominant group interests, Asian immigrants were largely abandoned in their time of need”. She is referring to struggling Southeast Asian Americans in this quote, namely those from Cambodia. Because Southeast Asians immigrated to America out of necessity rather than choice, they lacked the skills needed to find high-paying jobs, resorting to moving into poor and often dangerous neighborhoods. Pass or Fail in Cambodia Town, a documentary that details the struggles of Cambodian students in Long Beach, covers this subject extensively. Students interviewed in the documentary stated that school simply is not a priority for them as they have more pressing matters to attend to, such as the safety of their families. An infographic supplementing Pass or Fail in Cambodia Town, states that “Cambodian Americans are less likely to have a high school diploma than African Americans, whites or most other Asians”. With the absence of a safe home environment, the chances of graduating high school, yet alone attending college, among these students is low. This tidbit would surprise most of the general populace, as the model minority stereotype has lead them to believe that Asian Americans do not face these issues.
Despite the struggles of Southeast Asian Americans, few are willing to better their conditions, or even acknowledge their struggles at all, because of the model minority stereotype. Lee states that “While Asian Indians, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans are doing well economically and educationally as groups, Cambodians, Hmong, and Lao suffer relatively high rates of poverty and low rates of educational attainment” (22). Little attention is given to this disparity. Teachers often do not attend to their Southeast Asian American students experiencing these issues as they are assumed to be performing, both economically and academically, as well as their more privileged East Asian peers. The 2017 article “Behind the 'Model Minority' Myth: Why the 'Studious Asian' Stereotype Hurts” by Chris Fuchs delves more into this issue of Southeast Asian students being ignored. The article interviews former student Nkauj Iab Yang, who details her experience in the classroom as a Hmong, recalling that “you’re treated a little bit differently as a Southeast Asian young person who’s going through the K-12 system, where maybe your teachers are not paying as much attention to you” (Fuchs, 2017). Southeast Asian American students often fail to receive the academic help they need as they are assumed to already be performing well, which exacerbates the issue of low graduation rates. Yang also commented that “she needed mental health services because of trauma she inherited from her parents, both of them refugees from Laos … [but] nobody knew to even identify that” (Fuchs, 2017). Children often inherit trauma from their parents, and this is especially true for the children of Southeast Asian refugees who have been traumatized from the wars and genocide occuring in their home countries. Naturally, mental health issues such as these will lead to poorer academic performance––but Southeast Asian Americans often are unable to find the help they need because of the model minority image of Asian Americans, who are expected to be flawless.
Fortunately, there are a number of actions that can be taken to weaken the prominence of the model minority stereotype and, in turn, alleviate the issues of the Southeast Asian American community. The general populace needs to stop spouting racist jokes about Asians naturally excelling at academics. Comments like “well of course you passed your AP Calculus exam, you’re Asian!”, while seemingly harmless and flattering, still perpetuates the model minority stereotype and alientates Asian Americans who do not fit under this image. The stereotype is as strong today as it was in the 1960s because the general populace accepts it to be true, so jokes of this nature are never challenged, which strengthens the model minority myth. Another action that can weaken the model minority image is to increase Asian American representation in the media. Most people’s perception of Asian Americans are formed through how they are represented in movies and television––and they are usually depicted as socially awkward nerds intensely focused on academics. By casting Asian Americans in more diverse roles reflective of their actual experience in America, then the model minority stereotype will slowly lose its prominence, and more attention will be given to underachieving Asian Americans.
The model minority concept was first conceived by neoliberals who championed Asian Americans as the pinnacle of the American dream: hard work will raise an individual to the top, no matter their race or circumstances. However, the concept is deeply flawed as it ignores the history of Asian Americans and how they actually attained success in the United States––by immigrating here with the skills already needed to land high-paying professions, thereby securing the resources needed to establish a strong foundation for future generations. The biggest problem attached to the model minority stereotype is that it alienates those, namely Southeast Asians,. who do not fit under its projected image. Their plights are disregarded because their issues are not even acknowledged by the general American public, as the stereotype has lead them to believe that Asians do not face the same issues that other minorities do. By changing the general perception of Asian Americans through conscious choice to omit racial jokes and increased representation of Asians in the media, the model minority image will wither and die.