The Albany Times recently reported a 50 percent increase in the Asian American population in the Capital Region in New York. The piece considers all Asian immigrants as one homogeneous group following educational opportunities, and ignores the inter- and intra-group differences within Asian-American populations.
The article quotes Lining He, himself an economist and president of the Chinese Community Center of the Capital District, saying “[m]ost Chinese people in this area are very well educated and are working as researchers and engineers.” He’s numbers are technically correct, but they also hide a substantial percentage of Chinese immigrants that do not even graduate high school. According to the US Census Bureau, 48.1% of Chinese immigrants 25 and older have at least a bachelor’s degree. This is what the media likes to highlight, but we don’t often hear about the 23% of Chinese who have not graduated high school or the 13.5% who are living in poverty. Both percentages are higher than national averages.
Inter-group differences mask even greater disparities. While 44.1% of all Asian immigrants hold a bachelor’s degree (including 48% of Chinese and 63.9% of Asian Indians), only 9.2% of Cambodians and 7.7% of Laotians own a college degree. 53.3% of Cambodians and 49.6% of Laotians do not hold even a high school diploma. These rates are lower than those of Hispanics and African Americans.
Policymakers, educators, and journalists should keep these inter- and intra-group differences in mind. Otherwise, we end up with journalistic pieces like the one quoted above, which neglects to consider the challenges schools face in educating such disparate groups. In the end, all it does is perpetuate the model minority stereotype and report the 10,000 foot-view of demographic changes.
- Posted by Rhea Acuña
1 comment:
Right, but unlike certain other minorities one could mention, Chinese have strong families and good values even when they're poor and uneducated, leading to mobility over time and generations, as opposed to single dropout mothers and cycles of dependency.
Let's hear from
Arthur Hu as quoted by Steve Sailer:
"Northeast Asians have the lowest illegitimacy rate among Americans, with both Chinese and Japanese being under ten percent in 2000, the latest year for which data on Asians are available.
"Arthur Hu, who maintains one of the largest Web pages of statistical profiles of Asian Americans notes that the low rates of Asian single births may be one of the most important "secrets" to the so-called myth of the model minority.
'"These figures also correlated with higher rates of marriage and living as extended families, low rates of divorce, births delayed until after careers are established, low rates of infant mortality, and low rates of drug, alcohol or tobacco use while pregnant, even among the poor," Hu said.
Post a Comment