When you think of being a model student or a model worker, you probably perceive those labels with positive connotations. Those ideas mean you do well with your studies, are intelligent and are a person who everyone else is supposed to look up to, wish they were or even envy. Being the model, the baseline example, is what Asian Americans are deemed all the time.
Now, some may argue that it isn’t a bad thing, as mentioned before. Being the model is supposed to be a positive image that others try to strive for, but when "high achieving" and "continuously perfect" becomes associated with your identity, one’s whole mindset can be negatively impacted.
If you’re unfamiliar with the model minority myth, it’s based upon stereotypes that feed into the idea that Asian Americans are passive and rule-following people who strive to be better than the rest of the general population. The way they presumably achieve that is through natural gifts and hard work that comes from being a part of an immigrant background. Along with that goes the slight exaggeration of Asian American parents forcing their kids to work harder and be better than everyone else.
The main question that people wonder about the myth is, “Why is it so bad to be seen as a part of a group that’s deemed smart and successful?” For me, it goes back to the idea that my achievements are seen as just a given because of my ethnicity. I don’t want my accomplishments to be discredited and chalked up to it being because of my identity as an Asian American.
Everyone struggles and has to work hard in order to achieve what they want, but assuming that a whole group of people will automatically rise to the top erases the differences that those in that community have. It also invalidates those who don’t fit into the category of being academically or musically inclined that are associated with the Asian American model minority.
Connecting the myth to college life, Asian American students have higher rates of attempted suicide than those from other groups. The pressure to live up to the high achieving status of the model minority is negatively impacting the mental health of Asian Americans, as it isolates individuals who measure their self worth to society’s standards of what they believe Asian Americans should be and how they should act.
The model minority also plays into the perpetual foreigner role. Asian Americans have the stigma that they don’t fit into the standard identity of being American, but they also aren’t exactly viewed as being a part of their ethnic country’s identity, either. They fall into a category of their own where we have the American experience but don’t “look the part” of being white Americans that the U.S. is known for.
Even back in 2020, a Washington School District said Asians weren’t “students of color.” That in part was due to the narrow gap of achievement difference between Asian students and white students. That idea of Asian Americans not being deemed as people of color plays into the concept that POCs are not meant to be successful in American culture because, if that wasn’t the case, there would be no need to lump Asians with whites. Shifting the groups together to fall under the “white student” category allows for statistics to be in non-POCs’ favor.
By combining Asian Americans and white people, there is an erasure of struggle and different experiences that people of color have in the U.S. While Asian Americans may be known as smart and capable minorities, that does not change the color of our skin and alienation that some of us have endured due to the Euro-centric mindset that America was founded on.
So even though Asian Americans will be labeled as the ideal, model student and worker, we still face the struggles and hardships that come with success. And some of us will falter, and that’s OK. No one should be burdened with the expectations others expect out of you, and no one should invalidate your accomplishments just because of one’s race and genes.
Mimi Calhoun is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Email Mimi at mc300120@ohio.edu or tweet her @mimi_calhoun.
