Asian Americans in the Classroom

About Me:

My name is Andrew Carr. I was born in Jeon-Ju City, South Korea. I was adopted at 6 months old to a fully white family. I went through public K-12 schooling and the district was primarily white, so I was one of the few minority students let alone Korean students in my school. There were aspects of schooling that made this difficult as not being able to fit into either social mold, but I still enjoyed my time in public school, but others I know were not as fortunate.

What it means to be Asian American

As many know, Asia is the largest continent in the world. There are over 40 countries in Asia. Asian Americans (AA) are any person(s) of Asian descent, so this descriptor could mean that they could've spent any amount of time in the USA. This further means that not all AA are the same and there needs to be an increase in awareness and education to ensure that all AA people don't feel discriminated against. In a classroom setting this is important to ensure that Asian American students don't feel like they're left out and so that AA staff don't feel like they have nothing to offer besides being a statistic.

The "Model Minority" Myth

Since WWII the AA population has been used as a way to greaten the racism against other minority groups by saying "Well if Asians can be successful everyone can" but in reality, because the AA umbrella is so large, there are many groups that do not prosper as well as many say they do. So just because there are some successful and well-educated AA individuals, does not mean that all AA are. It is important to ensure that all students recognize this and that the stereotyping that all Asians are smart is true and especially so that the AA students don't feel like they're failing simply because they don't have straight A's.

Greater Education

One way that Asian American (AA) students and staff may become more comfortable in the classroom would be by having students and staff become more educated on the history, past and present, of not only the positive things but also the negatives. By sharing more information about AA people, the increase in awareness surrounding issues in the AA community will also ensure that AA people in schools to feel better represented and thus more comfortable in their positions.

Safety for Asian Americans

One of the things that seems to have left the spotlight in the news and from "activism" is the support for the Asian American community. It wasn't long ago (2021) that the Asian American community experienced multiple tragedies and hate crimes. Many people were living in fear that this may spread. This fear combined with the constant remarks of the "China Virus" made by a former president created a very hostile environment for AA and there was no saying this would not have spread into schools. Again, by increasing

Closing Remarks

Asian American students and staff are just like any other people, but yet very underrepresented in the curriculums and society. There needs to be an increase in education about AA history, and the promotion of support for AA students and staff. As a community, there needs to be more work done to make this community more accepting of each other and having other groups be just as accepting.

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