Model Minority Myth Analysis

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Throughout history and in the status quo, it has been a social norm to adopt the model minority myth as a means of classification. This myth is often cast upon people of Asian-American origin, in the form of a stereotype portraying those people as generally more successful in all facets of society, which translates mainly to the academic, economic, and social sectors (Yoo). The belief of this myth is a complex issue that permeates American society, and the consequences of that pervasive nature are problematic, in because of their impact on Asian Americans throughout the temporal periods of their lives. Thus, additional awareness and education about these problems are required, so the purpose can be directed toward interrogating that myth, …show more content…
Once that is done, then racial classification in this manner through a means of predictive postulation will be an unnecessary methodology to explain the characterized success of such minorities.
The model minority myth originated in the area of labor, in which protest against discrimination was institutionally rejected. This manifested itself on a nationwide scale, as Asian Americans were not federally protected as a minority to start with and were seen as capable of managing their lives by themselves, serving as a justification
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The usual methods are standardized testing and conventional(Sue and Zane 1985; Hirschman and Wong 1986; Xu et al. 1993). Several studies have indicated that the outstanding academic performance of Asian American students might be attributed to their cultural and family values (Sue and Okazaki 1990; Fejgin 1995; Pang 1991; Reglin and Adams 1990). Sue and Okazaki (1990) questioned the validity of the two hypotheses that were often used to account for Asian American academic success-hereditary differences in intelligence and Asian cultural values. Based on their in-depth examination of the cultural values of diverse ethnic groups, such as the Jewish middleclass values emphasizing thrift, sobriety, and ambition and the Chinese as well as Japanese values emphasizing hard work, family cohesion, patience, and group solidarity, they theorized that education was increasingly functional as a means for social mobility when other avenues were blocked, particularly with groups that were culturally oriented toward education. They rejected the hereditary intelligence hypothesis and critiqued the inadequacy of the cultural value hypothesis, since not all cultural elements can be considered as predictors of educational performance. Instead, they conceptualized the study by using the notion of relative functionalism