The term model minority refers to a stereotype about a minority group that is apparently unusually successful in the country they are in.

Contents

1 As applied in the United States 2 Critique of the concept as applied in the United States 3 Cultural references 4 External links

As applied in the United States

In the United States, the term is a racial stereotype for Asian Americans. This stereotype began in the 1960s when American news media began reporting on the success of some Asian Americans. The news media stated that Asian American students were scoring very high on tests and earning high marks in school. It was also reported that Asian Americans were winning national spelling bees. Asian Americans were also perceived as being admitted to universities at higher rates than other racial groups. One such example is the University of California system. For instance, at the University of California, Berkeley, Asians account for 41% of the undergraduate student body as of 2003.

Many wondered how the success of Asian Americans was possible because they had been severely discriminated against in the previous century. Prior to the 1950s, Asian Americans were stereotyped as cheap, lazy, and obtuse labourers, and Americans of European descent feared that the western part of the US would be overrun by the Yellow Peril. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese from immigrating to the United States. Later, under the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907, in exchange for the end of discrimination against Japanese in the California education system, the Japanese government eliminated Japanese immigration by refusing to issue passports to Japanese wishing to come the U.S.

In addition, numerous Asian Americans were recent immigrants or their offspring, since immigration laws had limited Asian immigration prior to the mid 1960's. The 1965 Immigration Act removed national origin based quotas.

As large numbers of people were puzzled by the success rate of Asian Americans, compared to other racial minorities in the United States, some people began to form the notion in their minds that Asian Americans were succeeding because of favourable genetics. Asian Americans became synonymous with working hard, intelligent, and overachieving. The Yellow Peril stereotype was replaced by the Model Minority stereotype.

Critique of the concept as applied in the United States

Because Asian Americans in general are stereotyped as intelligent, those with learning disabilities are oftentimes, and perhaps conveniently, ignored and do not receive the much needed special attention which they require. Asian Americans are also stereotyped as being studious, affluent, meek, and docile. Thereby the presence of Asian gangs and criminal behaviour in several cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, as well as in the State of Hawaii are often ignored. One infamous criminal act, that occurred in 1996, was The Han Twins Murder Conspiracy.

The strongest attack on the "model minority" stereotype is as follows: Although it is true that an unusually high percentage of Asian Americans appear to be "overachievers", this is only because they reflect a tiny self-selected elite of a very large segment of the human population. That is, most Asians in the US appear to be smart only because most of the "dumb" or "mediocre" Asians have remained in Asia.

For example, there are only 2 million Chinese-Americans in the US, and worldwide the total amount of overseas Chinese is about 43 million. The size of the Chinese population, however, is almost 1.3 billion, of which 92% (or over 1.1 billion) are of the dominant Han ethnic group. Furthermore, during the course of almost all of China's history, until the Communist regime began liberalising its economic policies in 1978, over 90% of China's people lived in horribly impoverished conditions.

Although poverty certainly is a valid reason to leave, emigration to the US has always been strictly limited by factors such as the high cost of trans-Pacific transportation, language and cultural barriers, unsparing racial prejudice against Asians which did not wane until the early 1970s, now-repealed state laws that prohibited Chinese from working most jobs or owning land and, of course, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which limited Chinese immigration to about 100 individuals per year from 1882 through 1943. Even today, the current quota of about 25,000 per year is still small in comparison to the millions of Chinese who would like to emigrate to the US. Keeping all these elements in mind, chances are that Asians who make or have made it into the US despite these obstacles are likely, but not guaranteed, to be smarter, richer, better-connected, or simply more persistent than the average Asian in their native countries.

While the model minority notion is superficially complimentary to Asian Americans, its ultimate effect may be to de-emphasize the problems Asian Americans and others continue to face from racial discrimination. By characterizing Asian American success as proof that America provides equal opportunities for those who conform and work hard, it may excuse American society from careful scrutiny on issues of race in general, and on the persistence of racism against Asian Americans in particular.

Cultural references

The film Better Luck Tomorrow played on the model minority stereotype by depicting a group of Asian American teenagers who use their academic achievements to cover up their criminal activities.

In Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold is faced with the stereotype of the intelligent and nerdy Asian guy.

External links

The following sites are critical of the "model minority" notion:

• Model Minority.com: A Guide to Asian American Empowerment (http://www.modelminority.com)
• Are Asian-Americans a model minority? (http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-aamodel.htm)