Everyone has a pretty uniform perception about the stereotypical Asian: studious, good at school, and aiming for the Ivies. Asian Americans in the United States are known as the “model minority,” the minority who, through hard work and perseverance, has succeeded in achieving the highest average income and education levels out of any race in the United States. Despite this seemingly favorable impression of Asians, the “model minority” phenomenon is actually harmful to Asian Americans.
This “model minority” perception is reflected in colleges’ exclusion of Asian Americans from their affirmative action policies. Affirmative action programs in colleges entail that colleges consider an applicant’s race as a factor for acceptance; the goal is to further diversity in higher education institutions, undoing the ramifications of historical discrimination. For example, African American or Latino applicants’ are viewed more favorably due to their race. The controversy surrounding affirmation action arises from the fact that, while minorities receive special consideration, Caucasians do not benefit from affirmative action due to the high percentage of Caucasians in college; consequently, even if they may be more qualified, a minority might beat them out for a spot at a college.
In fact, interestingly, while Caucasians are neither helped nor harmed by affirmative action, Asian Americans’ applications are statistically proven to be hurt by the mention of their race. This is because Asian Americans already have a very high enrollment rate in colleges and thus are not considered by colleges to be a disadvantaged race. While positive, why should good academic performance and race prove to be a hindrance when it comes to getting accepted into colleges?
Michael Hackett ’17 agrees: “Despite being designed to help minorities, [affirmative action] is very flawed because it fails to include all minorities and is actually harmful to Asians.”
The idea that Asian Americans are a “model minority” is a generalization based off statistics and averages. The belief that Asian Americans are already successful and do not need any “help” belies the statistics about first or second generation Asian Americans which often indicate socioeconomic backgrounds comparable to that of the aforementioned minorities who benefit from affirmative action.
Emily Arakawa ’16 muses, “Being Japanese, a minority of Asians, I don’t think that’s fair that Asians, especially Japanese people, are not considered a minority anymore, so affirmative action is kind of a lose-lose situation for me and other Japanese people.”
In an opposing viewpoint, Collin Montag ’17 points out, “The point of affirmative action is to better balance racial proportions in education, so if Asian Americans have effectively [achieved a proportionate presence in education], statistically, it’s best to focus on other minorities.”
However, making a sweeping generalization about an entire race not only emphasizes the valuing of race over merit, but constitutes another form of discrimination.
Ashley Yang ’17 comments, “I think the fact that Asians might be considered a ‘model minority’ adds pressure to them for better performance, on top of the pressure exerted by their culture of hard work. Despite this, affirmative action is still necessary because it gives opportunities to other minorities that are in need of it.”
People assume that rigor and the inclination towards academics comes naturally to Asians, when in reality it is only just an expectation common to that culture: Asians have to work just as hard as everybody else to achieve desired results. It is blatantly incorrect to degrade achievements on the basis that good academic performance is a trait inherent in Asian American students.
Megan Chiu ’17 argues, “I don’t think that [Asian Americans] should be treated as minorities in society but not as minorities when it comes to affirmative action.”
As a minority, Asians, too, have faced historically legislated discrimination—such as through the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882—as well as the perpetual discrimination that seems to always be guaranteed with being a minority. Ironically, affirmative action programs regarding college acceptance and employment aim to compensate for past discrimination by accepting those previously discriminated races or ethnicities. But Asians don’t get that same benefit. Yes, disadvantaged minorities with traditionally lower socioeconomic standings should get a step up because of historical discrimination, but not at the detriment of other minorities such as Asians.