Since the nineteenth century, Asian Americans have played an integral part in the development of the United States. Chinese people, for example, constituted 20 percent of California’s labor force by 1870, and contributed heavily to the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad as contract laborers. White
workers, according to the writers of the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project, “were reluctant to do such backbreaking, hazardous work,” and as a result, the need for immigrant laborers skyrocketed. Industrialist Leland Stanford wrote to Congress in 1865 that the completion of the railroad would have been impossible without the Chinese immigrants, and since then, Asian people have been seen as hardworking, subservient perfectionists.
Although their contributions to the development of the American West were crucial, the 1876 depression, as well as increasing nativist sentiments, eventually led to the idea that immigrants were taking jobs away from white Americans—dangerous jobs that they were unwilling to do in the first place. Despite their contributions, as immigrants, Chinese people suffered from deceit and discrimination in employment, starting with the contracts they signed, and ultimately ending with federally mandated discrimination in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.The law, which banned Chinese immigrants from entering the US, accompanied an influx of immigrants from other countries such as Japan and Korea. Like the Chinese immigrants who had come before them, they too suffered from prejudice and xenophobia. Against all odds, these immigrants worked diligently under these conditions, eventually earning citizenship and the title of the “model minority.”
The term “model minority” refers to minority groups that have reached a high level of success in society. Though its name has a deceptively positive connotation, being a part of a model minority sets harsh expectations, breeds
intense competition, and provides justification for the injustices Asians still face today. Success is expected from this group; being Asian simply means being twice as good as others. Being perfect is an expectation—it is the standard for Asian Americans. By accepting the idea that Asians are naturally “academically superior”
with “unbeatable talent,” society equalizes their hard work and achievements to lower performances from other races.
For example, in the book No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal, two Princeton sociologists revealed how well one needed to score on their SATs to have an equal chance of college admission as someone of a different race. Black students
who scored a 1000 were proven to have equal chances of admission as a white student who scored 1310 or an Asian-American student who scored a 1450. White students were also shown to be three times as likely to be admitted
into elite universities as Asian students with similar scores and merit.
Affirmative action exists to encourage diversity at schools, but Asians have suffered from this system and continue to suffer from policies meant to help minorities. The idea that receiving any grade lower than an A+ makes an Asian student “un-Asian” reveals the problem of racial inequality that persists today. Asian students have a distinct disadvantage in getting accepted into colleges because good grades and backbreaking work are simply expected from them; they must simply be “twice as good” as others just to be labeled as normal.
The culture around the term “model minority” also sets the idea that Asians are docile and subservient due to their lack of visible activism against inequality. One unfortunate result of this is that Asian students feel afraid of seeking help from teachers in areas that they struggle in, leading to poorer academic performance. Because they are expected to be so perfect, they feel unable to do anything that proves otherwise. This label also places pressure on Asian Americans to ignore and brush off racial harassment, as they were depicted as the group that doesn’t complain or cause problems. It makes them uncomfortable to act out against stereotypes and injustice. Throughout history, Asian Americans have been called derogatory names like “chinks” or “dog-eaters,” and many of them have learned to laugh it off and have been forced to desensitize themselves to harassment to avoid conflict or rejection from their peers. This creates even more problems, as they are viewed as tolerant and subservient beings who aren’t fit to be leaders, and as the race that can’t fight back
As an Asian American, throughout my experience in school and the outside world, I have realized how my race came to define me and the other Asian students around me. I took rigorous and demanding classes to keep up my reputation
as an “Asian” despite knowing how unprepared and stressed I would be. People expected me to be a perfectionist and overachiever before they even got to know me. People expected me to take all honors or rigorous AP classes. People
expected me to be a prodigy after I told them I played the violin. Soon, I started to feel pressured to meet these standards, and eventually expected myself to be the person others wanted me to be
When I didn’t get the grades others thought were high enough, or if I didn’t sound as good on my instrument as I thought others would expect from me, I felt utterly disappointed in myself to the extent that I was embarrassed to
be Asian. It was at this point where I gave in. I realized that I didn’t care how I felt about myself, only about what others thought of me. I didn’t care about enjoying what I did or finding my identity, because all that mattered was fitting into society’s definition of being Asian. After these years of self-deprecating tendencies and pessimism, I realized that trying to fit into the category of the model minority had made me lose myself. I am Asian American, and my race shouldn’t define who I am.
Countless minority groups, Asian or not, have suffered from this problem living under cookie cutter conditions—strict standards created by society to prevent an upturn in their social hierarchy. Afterall, the very foundation
of this society has been founded on providing freedom and citizenship for the white majority through the suppression of “inferior” races. This brings the idea of freedom and citizenship that our nation promises into question: What
exactly is freedom, and who are the citizens who have the right to it? What does it mean to have a citizen with equal rights in a setting that’s been built up on prejudice? Perhaps there is no answer to this question. Or perhaps we could create one. Since these barriers have been made by people from our society, they can be reformed by the people who live in it.
We, as Americans, regardless of our ethnicity, have the responsibility of redefining freedom and equality. The only way to break free from the standards we have created is to act upon them ourselves. Perhaps we can start off by educating future generations about these social issues, or simply treat one another with undivided respect. Just by taking these small steps, you can make a change. Our future depends on you.