![]() ![]() So, because of the model minority myth, my failure to reach an expected level of achievement in math was attributed to some kind of deficiency or lack of effort on my part. ![]() My mother is Malaysian Chinese my dad is white. My own 11th-grade experience offers one example. What could be so bad about being part of a group that’s seen as being successful? Like all stereotypes, the model minority myth erases the differences among individuals. While most people agree that negative stereotypes of Asian Americans are harmful, some still question the harm of the model minority myth. ![]() What’s So Bad About the Model Minority Myth? This myth characterizes Asian Americans as a polite, law-abiding group who have achieved a higher level of success than the general population through some combination of innate talent and pull-yourselves-up-by-your-bootstraps immigrant striving. Within the myth of the model minority, Tiger Moms force children to work harder and be better than everyone else, while nerdy, effeminate dads hold prestigious-but not leadership-positions in STEM industries like medicine and accounting. It perpetuates a narrative in which Asian American children are whiz kids or musical geniuses. The myth of the model minority is based in stereotypes. I knew my performance was being evaluated not against my own earlier work but against the image of the perfect, straight-A, Asian student who lived in my teacher’s mind: the myth of the “model minority.” ![]() In that moment, I felt acutely the weight of the dark braid trailing down my back and the glasses slipping down my nose. Someone like you? I’d never done particularly well in his class, so the implication of his words churned in my stomach. “I’m so surprised by grades like this from someone like you.” When I was halfway through the 11th grade, my pre-calculus teacher pulled me out into the hallway. ![]()
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