Life can be funny sometimes.
For various reasons many Asian-Americans will cringe when being called a "model minority". Chief amongst those reasons is the notion that supposed Asian-American academic achievement and economic success are often held up by some white commentators as the model for other minorities of colour to imitate in order to pull themselves out of poverty. Many minorities (Asians and non-Asians alike) view this as a strategy for excusing white discriminatory practices and placing responsibility firmly on the shoulders of minorities themselves for whatever backward social conditions they might face. The general principle is that if Asians can succeed, then why can't other minorities do the same? Many minority commentators point to this idea as being divisive and has set minorities groups against one another, increasing suspicion and mutual hostility.
Yet, as this article proves, white people should be careful what they wish for. Here's an excerpt............
In Silicon Valley, two high schools with outstanding academic reputations are losing white students as Asian students move in. Why?.........Whites aren't quitting the schools because the schools are failing academically. Quite the contrary: Many white parents say they're leaving because the schools are too academically driven and too narrowly invested in subjects such as math and science at the expense of liberal arts and extracurriculars like sports and other personal interests.....The white exodus clearly involves race-based presumptions, not all of which are positive. One example: Asian parents are too competitive. "My sense is that at Monta Vista you're competing against the child beside you," [parent, Ms. Doherty] says...........At Cupertino's top schools, administrators, parents and students say white students end up in the stereotyped role often applied to other minority groups: the underachievers.
As you may have read, many white people are refusing to play their own game and are leaving - taking their marbles home with them.
No doubt, the model minority stereotype will lose its appeal for white commentators and will quietly disappear from the dialogue.
Overbearing Asian parents, emphasis on test taking and information regurgitation rarely produces a well rounded human being Ben. There's definitely exceptions, but the overall picture is not a very good one. I don't think white parents shy away from the school because of the Asian presence per se. It's a "culture" of myopic focus on one aspect of schooling that they shy away from. Let me ask you one question ben, can you think of any Great Asian Leaders in recent memory? In large parts, Asian parents and asian culture fail to raise truly exceptional leaders who are strong willed, thoughtful, rational and can inspire men to follow them. This will not change in the foreseeable future. Sorry to be such a downer.
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ReplyDeleteHi blueronin44
ReplyDeleteWelcome and thank you for commenting.
You have raised some interesting points. The thing about stereotyping is that they work both ways - that is they create myths about the target group and (perhaps most importantly) they create myths about the stereotypers that reinforce their own self-belief about whatever qualities they choose to assign to themselves.
Is it true that expanding the scope of learning to include sports and liberal arts will produce a well-rounded human being? I don't really see the evidence for it. White teens are more likely to commit suicide, have underage pregnancies, have Attention Deficit Disorder, binge drink, and abuse drugs than Asian teens. That doesn't seem to support the notion that more variety of subjects makes people more rounded human beings.
In fact, all it means is that there are a greater variety of subjects to stress over. Certainly, this type of approach might give individuals a more rounded knowledge base but I don't really see how it can be claimed that giving kids more variety of stress helps them to be more rounded. That seems like an unfounded claim.
I think that it's always dangerous to make generalized statements about what white parents do or don't do. Just because white parents choose variety doesn't mean that they don't push their kids hard. One of the complaints that I've heard is that some white parents are so busy giving their kids a well-rounded childhood - by sending them to ballet, soccer, swimming, dance, theatre etc - that the kids actually end up being parented by their dance instructors and soccer coaches and not by their parents.
So, whilst I agree that some Asian parents could be accused of pushing their kids too hard to succeed academically and might need to change their parenting model, I don't necessarily believe that the white model is the one to emulate.
As for the leadership question, I think that you'll have to define "great" for me. I can't really think of any great white leaders in recent memory either.
If you define "great" as being "strong willed, thoughtful, rational and can inspire men to follow them", then you would have to say that Ho Chi Minh, Mao, and perhaps even Pol Pot were great leaders.
"Asian parents and asian culture fail to raise truly exceptional leaders who are strong willed, thoughtful, rational and can inspire men to follow them. This will not change in the foreseeable future. Sorry to be such a downer."
ReplyDeleteYes, because China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore are led by infants to become first world nations in record time WITHOUT the typical war mongering, raping, slaughtering and theft of white degeneracy.
Sony, LG, Huawei, Foxconn, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, etc took over multiple industries half a a world away because of pure luck and their robotic natures.
Meanwhile, in well-rounded america, you have a failed drug war, welfare riders, psychiatric/pharma fraud, a nation of religious hypocrites, an nsa surveillance dragnet that exposes the super hypocrisy of "american freedom and justice" aroused the hate of the entire world over your war criminal "presidents".