As a future educator, I have begun to take note of of Social inequalities that exist in the school. Stereotypes foster false perceptions about students in schools. One of the most common stereotypes are based on race. For instance, many teachers many teachers view minority groups such as African Americans or Latinos as lazy and not working hard. They lower expectations. I think we have all talked about these stereotypes after going here at UW-Milwaukee. There are other types of stereotypes.
The Model Minority Stereotype is one that claims Asians are the model for how other minorities should act. Asians are viewed as highly educated hard working people who do not live in poverty. This is true of some Asians, but it is not true of all Asians. Lumping Asian Americans together is not fair because it silences the multiple voices of Asian Americans. This labels Asians as a homogeneous groups and deletes their culture, social class, ethnicity,religion, language, sexual and gender differences.
All of this leads to stereotypes that are not fact. For instance, Chinese Americans were viewed in a 1966 article as good citizens because the status quo viewed them as quiet people who did not challenge the system. After riots following the Rodney King trail, Korean Americans were viewed as "stand-ins" for white middle class Americans. There are plenty of other examples the books.
I think it is important for teacher to know about model minority syndrome because education can be used as a tool to eliminate stereotypes. The only way people will learn is through education. True multicultural educators hold the role of fighting stereotypes in an effort to promote equality. When teachers promote equality, it strives to create equal opportunities in the world.
Charlie
16 years ago
3 comments:
I agree with you, education can be sort of a silver bullet. You are right about how some Asian-Americans are "highly educated [,] hard working people." I think that the authors neglect to point out that there are some African-American's and Latinos that are wealthy. Just as there are certainly poor Asian-Americans and white people. All you have to do is turn on the television or read articles online about the Presidential election and they are constantly wondering how poorly educated, working class white people are going to cast their votes.
It is too bad that popular culture and the media do not fight harder to point out these stereotypes. This could help teachers get the support of not only political leaders, but also skeptical parents and taxpayers. We need to focus on the poor and uneducated, not specific minorities.
Yes this task of dispelling common stereotypes definitely falls into our hands as educators. Surely we can never examine any racial, ethnic, age or gender group and find that every member of that group shares the same qualities. Even when educated people do not necessarily believe in racial stereotypes, it can be easy to regress and fall into the trap at times. What matters is that one catches themself and those around them when this happens. And we have to always remember that as educators our job is to educate. One's personal bias' and opinions should never get in the way of the learning and achievement of another. Above all else, an educator should never assume what a student is capable of based on socio-economic or racial groupings.
It's really a shame that we label Asian-Americans as the model minority class yet most don't know the differences between Vietnamese-Americans, Korean-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, etc. We just label them into one big group and this gives the impression that all Asian-Americans are the same. These people have different cultures, beliefs, and languages.
What is even more interesting is that Asian-Americans are viewed as a model class but most look down on a growing aspect of that population: the Hmongs living in the U.S. Many people label Hmongs towards the lower echelons of society. Many Hmongs are recent immigrants to this country who escaped persecution in Laos and Cambodia. They came here to give their kids a chance at a better life through various means, one of which is education. These people are human beings like everyone else, so why should much of middle-class/upper-class white America look down upon them? It doesn't make sense to me at all.
All I know is all children are special and important regardless of their skin color. We need to look at all of them as vital, not just certain groups.
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