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Misconception of Asian Americans: Growth and Diversity

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Please explain the misconception that these statements. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are a model minority. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders belong to a single "Asian American" culture. do most americans believe these misconceptions why or not?

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This solution debates the misconception that these statements. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are a model minority. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders belong to a single "Asian American" culture. It also discusses if most Americans believe these misconceptions, including why or not. Research and statistics provided.

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RESPONSE:

1. Please explain the misconception that these statements.

A. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are a model minority.

Fact: Asian-American and Pacific Islanders immigrants to the U.S. have been highly self-selected.

This is a misconception based on the idea that Asian immigrants to the U.S. tend to be already highly educated and from the middle or upper class, for a number of reasons. Thus, they get a completely different start in life in the U.S. compared to other minorities. Although Asians achieve a much greater degree of success in the U.S., the "model minority" stereotype is a myth because Asian-Americans still bump into the glass ceiling, receive lower pay even with the same qualifications, and have higher poverty rates. The image of boat people escaping the ravages of war and communism to take full advantage of American opportunities is also a myth, in that Southeast Asians actually have the lowest success rate of all Asians. (http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-aamodel.htm) So, although it is true that an unusually high percentage of Asian-Americans have enjoyed success in the United States, large parts of the "model minority" stereotype are a myth. We should first note that Asian-Americans form one of our smallest minorities: White (74%), Blacks (12%), Hispanics (10.0%) and Asian (3.2%) (http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-aamodel.htm).

People believe the "model minority" myth and cite many statistics in their favor. For example, among college-bound seniors in 1989, Asian-Americans had a high school grade point average of 3.25, compared to 3.08 for all other students. A study of 7,836 high school students in the San Francisco area found that Asian-Americans spent 40 percent more time doing homework than non-Asians, a fairly common finding. (1) Asian-Americans also have higher levels of education and income:
Educational attainment by ethnic group (1990) (2)

Completed 4 years or more of:
-----------------------------
Ethnic group* High School College
-------------------------------------
Asian 80.4% 39.9%
White 79.1 22.0
Black 66.2 11.3
Hispanic 50.8 9.2

Median family income, by ethnic group (1993) (3)

Asian $44,456
White 39,300
Hispanic 23,654
Black 21,542
("Asian" includes Pacific Islanders, and "Hispanic" includes Spanish, Cuban, Puerto-Rican and Mexican Americans.)

Based on the above income chart, it ...

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