Course description:
Chinese Americans have their own set of stereotypes when it comes to education. Asians are smart. Asians are hardworking. Asians are great at math. This course aims to discuss how Chinese culture play a role in Chinese American education and how Chinese culture might be seen to encapsulate the model minority stereotype. It will look at how the history of Chinese students in American educational systems as well as how filial piety based family structure effects how Chinese students are brought up. Is is where model minority stereotype comes from? The course aims to dissect this identity and discuss if this identity helps Chinese American students succeed or does it actually put them at a disadvantages and the ramifications of the “myth of Asian American success”
Week 1 Topic: The history of Chinese American education
- The Asian American Educational Experience: A Sourcebook for Teachers and Students/ Edited By Don T. Nakanishi and Tina Yamano Nishida 1995 “Yellow Peril, Book 1” By Charles M Wollenberg
This article discusses the early periods of Chinese American students being told they were not allowed to be educated along side American students for fear of “immorality and debauchery.” How did we “successfully” into the educational community?
- The Asian American Educational Experience: A Sourcebook for Teachers and Students/ Edited By Don T. Nakanishi and Tina Yamano Nishida 1995 “Lau v. Nichols ‘History of a Struggle for Equal and Quality Education”
Lau v. Nichols (1974), was a civil rights case that was brought by Chinese American students living in San Francisco, California who only speak limited English. The students claimed that they were not receiving special help in school due to their inability to speak English which was against their rights as based on educational discrimination on the basis of national origin. But more than that, this case opened the eyes on a national scale and gave voice to the whole of the Asian American Community.
- Leadership and Culture in Chinese Education By Tony Bush & Qiang Haiyan
This article discusses the leaders and the effect of culture in Chinese education. By exploring the history and culture of Chinese students we can develop an idea of how Chinese American students are influence by family and why education becomes a focal point in Chinese American families.
Week 2 Topic: What are model minorities and why is this important?
- The Asian American Educational Experience: A Sourcebook for Teachers and Students/ Edited By Don T. Nakanishi and Tina Yamano Nishida 1995 pg 113-133 “Education and Socialization of Asian Americans : A revisionist Analysis of the ‘Model Minority’ Thesis” By Bob H. Suzuki
- From model minorities to disposable models: the de-legitimization of educational success through discourses of authenticity. By Alice Bradbury
These two sources will discuss in depth about what the model minority identity consist of. We must dissect this identity if we are to discuss whether or not it is a disadvantage or advantage to Asian American students.
Week 3 Topic: What the advantages and disadvantages of this identity for Chinese
American students
- Beyond Black and White: The Model Minority Myth and the Invisibility of Asian American Students By Wing, Jean Yonemura. The Urban Review39.4 (Nov 2007): 455-487
We will use this short article that takes a case student on students of Berkeley High School and discuss how Yonemura takes apart a this case student and shows us how the model minority myth is deeply ingrained to a point where Asian American students were given less attention to because they were expected to succeed compared to Black or Latino students.
- The Asian American Educational Experience: A Sourcebook for Teachers and Students/ Edited By Don T. Nakanishi and Tina Yamano Nishida 1995 pg 95-113 “The Myth of Asia American Success and Its Educational Ramifications “ By Ki- Taek Chun
This source by Chun was combined with other journal articles written about the Asian American Experience and was placed closer to the beginning of the book for a good reason. The word “myth” has appeared several times in different articles and these authors believe that the myth of Asian American success can explain a lot about the education experience. Chun breaks down how teachers and students play into this identity and discusses the advantages and disadvantages.
Week 4 Topic: Chinese culture in American education
- Culture, family and Chinese and Korean American student achievement: An examination of student factors that affect student outcomes. BY Braxton, Richard J.
This study takes a in-depth look into of that western individualism and Chinese collectivism and these were considered in the discussion the ‘problems’ that face Chinese students– classroom silence and segregation – are often understood in cultural terms, and we describe cultural values that might influence such behavior. Popular perceptions of Chinese student engagement are sometimes over simplified and this article takes a case study to help explain how to make our analysis more complex.
