“Taking a Chance with Words”
By Carol A. Tateishi
A fourth-generation Japanese American high school aged boy says that he was brought up to believe it was a sign of strength to solve his own problems and not to impose them on others. This is evidently why it’s hard for him to ask questions about what he doesn’t understand in class and have others help him to find the answers. As teachers, if we have Japanese American students, we must be aware that they may find it hard to ask questions when they have a lack of understanding. Jeff and Dan, who are also a high school aged students say that they were brought up to believe that students who are outspoken could cause disrespect and harsh feelings and that being outspoken is viewed negatively in their families. In addition, several Asian girls who were interviewed say that in their families, women aren’t supposed to speak unless spoken to and that girls aren’t supposed to speak at the dinner table. As teachers, we must be aware that for some Asian students, speaking up in class can be very difficult. The Asian students had several ideas to help them feel more comfortable speaking up in class. They said that their hesitations may be left behind when asked to speak and when the rules for speaking were clear. In addition, the article had some recommendations for teachers to help their Asian students, which include: becoming aware and knowledgeable of the cultural barriers some students face in attempting to participate in classroom talk; teaching effective classroom talk; modeling strong and weak discussion groups; building trustful classroom communities; and helping students understand the dynamics of classroom talk.
“You’re Asian, How Could You Fail Math”
By Benji Chang and Wayne Au
This article talks about how Asian-Americans have been dubbed the model minority. Model minority means that they are supposed to be devoted, obedient to authority, respectful, smart, good students (especially in science and math) hard working, etc. According to the article, this racist myth has to be unmasked because it contributes to race and class inequality in schools and in society. First, calling a group of over four billion people from over 50 countries “Asian” is in itself problematic. Second, the myth is used as a social and political wedge against blacks, Latina/os and other racial groups in the United States. If Asian Americans are successful due to particular cultural or racial strengths, then lower test scores, lower GPAs and lower graduation rates of other minorities can be attributed to their cultural or racial weaknesses. The article says that the myth can be unmasked through recruiting more educators from Asian-American backgrounds, promoting multilingual communication in instruction and parent involvement and developing relationships between parents, community groups and schools. The article highlights numerous ways that educators can help dispel the model minority myth. First, we should avoid assuming that our Asian-American students are good or bad students and get to know them as individuals. In addition, educators should rethink how we perceive the silence of Asian-American students. We can also teach about unsung Asian-American heroes. Before reading this article, part of me thought it was okay to speak about a whole cultural group as having particular positive attributes. However, I now understand how this does nothing but promote racism. In the future, I will definitely be careful about what I think and say about my Asian-American students and simply get to know them as individuals.
