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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
AA KIDS ADVANTAGED OR HANDICAPPED?
sian American parents push their kids to get A's and enter top colleges. Kids grumble and moan but ultimately thank their folks as they graduate from top universities and prosper in fields like medicine, business and tech.
At least, that's the rosy picture painted by statistics and proud family anecdotes.
The nation's highest-ranked school districts and private academies look like magnet schools for Asian American students. The numbers get even better at the university level. In California Asians outnumber Whites at UC Berkeley (41%), UCLA (40%), UC Irvine (57%) and UC Riverside (48%). In other UC campuses and virtually all ivies Asians outnumber all other minorities combined, making up 17-35% of students.
Not bad for a minority comprising barely 4% of the U.S. population.
Academic success translates to overrepresentation in professional and managerial slots -- twice the rate of the general population, according to Census Bureau figures. But look beyond the raw numbers and the picture dims. Asians are virtual no-shows in the high profile worlds of media, entertainment, politics, arts and sports -- the fields that, for better or worse, dictate the worldview of Americans.
It's the old tree-falling-in-the-forest problem. If we aren't on prime time is our success real?
Our low visibility can be blamed on discrimination. But some of us question the blind pursuit of traditional avenues of success. If more parents would just let kids find their own paths, we'd soon see Asian American leaders, icons and superstars, they argue. We need to raise more big imaginations, big talents and big personalities, they contend, and fewer high-wattage drays. Play more, grind less, is their prescription. Others believe Asian parents are on the right track, that in a white-majority society the smart minority strategy is to shoot for quiet success.
Are we turning out too many heavy lifters and not enough heavyhitters? And are Asian American parents to blame? What's your prescription for a brighter future for the next generation of Asian Americans.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:00:25 PM)
I'm slightly confused if Asians only take up 4% of the USA population what's the point of us dictating the world view to Americans as this discussion suggest. AA views don't represent the other 96% of USA.
If that occurs it would be cultural elitism. You know oversea Chinese in Southeast Asia are known as "Jews of the Southeast." Because they go over to the adopted country and take over the upperclass of the society. History of Singapore and Indonesia will confirm this. I'm not even sure all AA want to that situation in the USA.
Asian in America I personally feel have done very well, thus far. Asian not gettting the highly visiable jobs, is more of a reflection that Asian do not have the infractures in American yet to compete for those jobs yet, since it is obvious personal merit of the individual is not in question.
As more 3rd and 4th generation US raised Asian remain in the USA, a greater population of AA will not merely be surviving and living paycheck to paycheck. You will see more asian taking up majors that are not highly marketable and spending time in society setting up supportive infrastructures for other Asians.
Getting a CEO/Starring role/Big Kahuna position is not all about the grades and ivy league schools. It is about convincing everyone around you that you deserve that position (Asians and non-Asians alike). And that requires a supportive infrastructure that is willing to promote that person.
I also don't buy into the "smart minotiry" BS for AA. Most AA are children of doctors, Professors, Engineers, professionals, or high-resourcefull illegal immigrants. Of course these AA offspring will have ambition and intellegence. However, as sebsequent waves of immigrants from same area in Asia arrive they will not be as resourceful or intelligent. When the first Jews, Irish, and Italian immigrants came to the country they also got positive comments on their intelligence and hard working nature. However, those groups did not really succeed until they settled for a few generations to establish their infrastructures in politics, business, sports and entertainment.
AC dropout
Sunday, October 21, 2001 at 12:49:52 (PDT)
Competitive via My Gene Pool,
You're pretty much on target. I think it has become 'uncool' for 2nd generation parents to avow professional desires so openly.
However, I think much of what you say also applies to whites (esp. WASPs) and probably Jews. Many whites who've attended Ivies want to continue sending their kids to Ivies. This is why you'll even have generation after generation of the same WASP family attending the same school. (The other name for it is preferential treatment for alums--kind of like affirmative action for whites.) Also, note how generation after generation of the same WASP family will also continue to pursue the same profession. The Kennedys and Bushes are perhaps the best cases in point!
Ambitious people are ambitious, regardless of race.
Asian Dominatrix
Wednesday, October 10, 2001 at 11:40:43 (PDT)
I've been reading many of the articles and I find that Asian American Culture is indeed very similiar to that of Australian Asian culture. If you guys think Asian American's aren't making enough of a noise, than it is a worse case downunder. We are all hypnotized by materialistic success here, and wouldn't even stop to think twice about pursuing a different path. I am not boasting about my own 'special-ness,' but I do believe I have made a more purposeful path in pursuing 'writng' rather than the usual socio-economic paths, obviously seen as a lot more auspicious.
The Asian Australian culture is even more submissive than the American one. Australians are naturally lot less go-getting and this trait is magnified when focused on Asians. Many of us are settling for careers in the fields of computering, accounting where the chances of succeeding through sheer hard work are probable. Even though Asians love to gamble, they don't gamble on careers. For god's sake we say, there needs to be a reliable source of income. This attitude obviously stems froma poverty-mentality inherent in our backgrond-countries so no-one is to blame here. I just wish more support would be given. But hey, I am at a point where I almost reject support. It is something I am not used to in my field. Any support seems phony, and I sometimes feel it takes away fromt the personal credit I have by struggling for so long.
Our survival first mentality is a deeply rooted psychological trait that will never be erased until a group of individuals decide to break all conformities and trust in the security of their personal dreams - whatever the cost. In the meantime, Asians will pack the Accounting halls and the humanity lectures will be devoid of them.
Vinny from Australia
Vinny
vinnyboy112@yahoo.com
Saturday, October 06, 2001 at 21:12:19 (PDT)
This is just based on the yuppie 2nd generation Korean American parents I've observed. They're not as pushy about high-status and big-salary success as their own 1st gen parents, but I can tell they're quietly hoping for their kids' shots at med/law/engineering/CEO/classical music/Ivy League fame. It's just that it's not cool to voice that wish. I don't totally buy it when any Asian American parent says, "Whatever my kid really wants to do when they're older, I'll support it." Apples don't fall too far from the tree!
Competitive via My Gene Pool
Wednesday, October 03, 2001 at 15:52:30 (PDT)
A lot of us--myself included on many occasions--have complained about the lack of Asians in high profile jobs like corporate management, law, and media in all of its forms. Like other Asians, I believe that many of these problems can indeed be attributed to racial discrimination.
But not ALL. As the case is, many people who eventually become C.E.O., senator, producer, etc. were arts and humanities students or at least have had a strong grounding in subjects like English, political science, history, religion, etc.: subjects which require strong logical and communication skills. (Or if nothing else, the ability to B.S. your way through a promotion, higher salary, etc.)Look at Carly Fiorino, Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, and the recent CEO of Xerox.
Now I'm not saying that all Asian parents should begin pushing their children into the humanities and arts. It all depends on the child's aptitude, especially since the arts and humanities are not gut subjects: I should add that many of my white friends who were math and science majors could not muster anything higher than a B- in English despite hard work! As such, if Asian children show a strong inclination to pursue what my own parents called 'loser majors', their parents ought to think twice before discouraging them.
They might just help change the world.
Asian Dominatrix
Wednesday, October 03, 2001 at 12:33:33 (PDT)
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