University to combat “model minority” myth

By Andrea Cheng

The “model minority” myth is the long-standing perception that all Asian-American students are performing well academically, especially in areas of engineering, math, and physical sciences, Sharon Lee, doctoral student, said.

“(Asian-American students) are really underrepresented in humanities, education, social work,” Lee said. “It’s important to understand how diverse the Asian-American student population really is.”

According to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, some Asian-American population subgroups, particularly Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander, did not meet the rates of educational attainment and average income compared to other subgroups, including Asian Indian, Korean and Chinese.

One of the University’s 12 goals for the next five years is to rethink underrepresentation by determining subgroup categories for students, according to the Chancellor’s Diversity Initiatives Committee Report published in June. This will attempt to eliminate a misleading picture of campus diversity. Even though the University may report national figures regarding which ethnic groups are represented, struggling underrepresented groups on campus are still unknown.

“What I would like the University to do is to disaggregate racial data so we can better track student groups by ethnicity and also within departments and colleges across campus,” said David Chih, director of the Asian American Cultural Center. “It should lead to greater diversity of students and employees all across campus.”

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The University does not break down minority students into separate groups, which makes it more difficult for administrators to understand students’ needs, Chih said. Once data are collected, administrators would be able to find how many Asian-American ethnic groups are underrepresented, as well as their achievements and graduation rates, he added.

Separating racial data by ethnicity will help counter the “model minority” myth, Lee said.

This myth is harmful to the Asian-American student population because those who are not molded to fit the stereotype or meet expectations are at a disadvantage, said Patrice Yao, graduate student. She added that students who do not fit the stereotype are not attaining the resources or attention they need in order to excel.

“There are minority groups within a minority population that are seen as well off and in reality, they’re not,” Yao said.

Disaggregating racial data would also benefit the Latino, black and Native American student populations, said Molly Springer, assistant director of Native American House. With so much diversity, it is not a good idea to group all students together, she added.

“The University is here to help all students, not just the majority of students,” Yao said. “A way to help them is first to collect the data.”