I am a three year member of the Facebook group “Crappy Asians”. Our idols are Harold and Kumar. According to the group’s description, one can gain membership if she is Asian and “has no work ethic; does not play the violin; doesn’t play Starcraft, doesn’t play DDR, [or] has a GPA below 3.9”.

But the members of Facebook’s “Crappy Asians” are not Asian outliers, but a part of a highly diverse and complex demographic. A new report (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: Facts not Fiction) released by the College Board, New York University and a commission of Asian Americans educators takes aim at the Asian model minority stereotype, according to the New York Times. The report uses federal immigration, census and education data to dispel stereotypes held toward Asian Americans. It also makes the conclusion that the model minority stereotype is not only inaccurate, but detrimental—“in falsely assuming universal academic strength among Asians, teachers and counselors often do not extend help to their AAPI students inthe same way they do to other students”.

Factoids from the report:

• The SAT scores of Asian Americans, like those of other Americans, tend to correlate with the income and educational level of their parents.
• More Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders were enrolled in community colleges than in either public or private four-year colleges.
• Asian Americans’ educational backgrounds vary widely: While most of the nation’s Hmong and Cambodian adults have never finished high school, most Pakistanis and Indians have at least a bachelor’s degree.
• Contrary to stereotype, most of the bachelor’s degrees that Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders received in 2003 were in business, management, social sciences or humanities, not inthe STEM fields: science, technology, engineering or math. And while Asians earned 32 percent of the nation’s STEM doctorates that year, within that 32 percent more than four of five degree recipients were international students fromAsia, not Asian-Americans.
• Only 33 of the nation’s college presidents, fewer than 1 percent, are Asian-Americans or Pacific Islanders.

The Model Minority: Can a good stereotype be bad?
The report quotes W.E.B Du Bois’s “The Souls of Black Folk”-”How does it feel to be a problem?” And says that for Asian Americans, who are seen as the “good minority that seeks advancement through quiet diligence”, the question is, “How does it feel to be a solution?” The model-minority myth—in its peculiarities—generates a range of conflicting attitude and reactions. Some find it offensive; some find it less objectionable than other racial stereotypes; and some consider it to be a tribute to Asian Americans. The model minority stereotype often raisesthe question, Can a good stereotype be bad?

Like all stereotypes, the model minority label may hold part truths. But its oversimplifications ultimately obscure the truth, and have contributed to a widespread lack of understanding and awareness about Asian Americans. So prolific is the model minority stereotype that U.C.L.A functions as an acronym for both the University of California, Los Angeles and ‘United Caucasians Lost Among Asians’; and M.I.T for both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ‘Made in Taiwan’. The stereotype has led to the creation of a widely held homogenous image of Asian Americans as financially and professionally successful and brainy overachievers. Whether this is flattering or not for Asians, it’s not true; and according tothe report, it’s harmful. The report explains that homogenization is troublesome because it masks the widespread poverty and academic difficulties that afflict some subgroups.

“In reality, there is no single AAPI composite,” according to Robert Teranishi, associate professor of education at NYU and one of the main authors of the report. “A single story does not represent the AAPI experience.”

Where did the model minority come from?
The model minority stereotype is historically rooted in an effort to pit Asian Americans against other minority groups. Un-coincidentally, the stereotype arose in the 1960s during a highly active period of the civil rights movement, and during a time of high racial tensions and unrest. At the time, the media began printing articles with headlines such as “Success Story: Japanese American Style” and “Success Story of one Minority inAmerica”. The articles praised Asian Americans for their inherently good work ethic, grounded sense of duty and ability to succeed by themselves—aka without government assistance. But far from flattering,the sudden influx of praise toward Asian Americans was being used politically and socially against African Americans. Perhaps the model minority stereotype was not praise for Asians as much as it was an insult and warning to any minority who chooses to raise her voice, and demand fair treatment and respect; rather than to obediently sit in submission and quietly bear out injustices.

Looking forward
So long as educators still hold onto stereotypes and fictions about Asian Americans, the oppurtunity to fully engage and develop them as students will be missed. The report closes with policy recommendations directed toward the education system. But first andd foremost, it emphasizes the importance of differentiating facts from fictions.