#alternate alternate Confronting Asian-American Stereotypes (BUTTON) (BUTTON) Sections (BUTTON) SEARCH Skip to contentSkip to site index U.S. Today’s Paper U.S.|Confronting Asian-American Stereotypes https://nyti.ms/2Ijl0fr * * * * * (BUTTON) * Advertisement Continue reading the main story Supported by Continue reading the main story Confronting Asian-American Stereotypes In this week’s Race/Related newsletter: a conversation with experts, plus a personal essay about discrimination. * * * * * (BUTTON) * * June 23, 2018 Image Harvard University was accused in a lawsuit of giving lower personal ratings to Asian-American applicants. Harvard University was accused in a lawsuit of giving lower personal ratings to Asian-American applicants.Credit...Hadley Green for The New York Times This is the web version of our Race/Related newsletter. Please sign up here to have it delivered weekly to your inbox. By Adeel Hassan We explored discrimination against Asian-Americans with Jennifer Lee, a professor of sociology at Columbia University and the author of “The Asian-American Achievement Paradox” and Karthick Ramakrishnan, a professor of public policy and political science at University of California, Riverside, and director of the National Asian-American Survey. Harvard has been accused of giving lower personality ratings to Asian-American applicants. The news reminded many Asian-Americans of some painful stereotypes, that they’re industrious but don’t have interpersonal skills and charm. Where did these stereotypes come from? JL: While the current stereotype of Asian-Americans is that they are smart, competent and hard-working, a century ago, Asian-Americans were perceived as illiterate, undesirable, full of “filth and disease” and unassimilable. They were perceived as “marginal members of the human race,” were denied the right to become naturalized U.S. citizens, and segregated to ethnic enclaves. But the change in U.S. immigration law in 1965 — which gave preference to highly educated and highly skilled applicants — ushered in a new wave of Asian immigrants. Not only are they more likely to have graduated than those who did not immigrate from their countries of origin, but they are more likely to have graduated from college than the U.S. mean — what we refer to as “hyper-selectivity”. For example, Chinese immigrants in the United States are 12 times as likely to have graduated from college than Chinese who did not immigrate. They are also almost twice as likely to have a college degree than the average American. The hyper-selectivity has resulted in the stereotype that Chinese-Americans (and Asian-Americans more broadly) are smart, competent and hard-working. But they are also vilified for being too smart, too focused on academics, one-dimensional and lacking personal skills. KR: It is also important to acknowledge that stereotypes of Asians can also vary by national origin. The 2016 Post-Election National Asian-American Survey shows that South Asians and Southeast Asians are less likely to be perceived as intelligent when compared with East Asians, and we know from reports of hate crimes and qualitative studies of the Asian-American population that South Asians are more likely to fall victim to stereotypes about terrorism. These stereotypes about South Asians stem from news coverage and entertainment depictions. Now these stereotypes might have no bearing on college admissions, but they certainly play a role in how different Asian-American groups experience discrimination in society. How do those stereotypes come into play after college? (A new study concluded that Asian-Americans are the least likely to be promoted to management.) KR: Part of why Asian-Americans seem to have a disproportionately high level of interest in getting into an elite college is that they believe that the prestige of the institution will shield them from discrimination in the workplace. But stereotypes of Asians as technically competent, diligent and quiet continue to hold sway after college, and this makes Asians less likely to be promoted into management and leadership positions. JL: A recent report on leadership diversity at top technology companies found that Asian-Americans are the racial group least likely to be promoted into managerial and executive ranks. White men and women are twice as likely as Asians to hold executive positions. And while white women are breaking through the glass ceiling, Asian women are not. Asian-Americans are the forgotten minority in the conversation about the glass ceiling. Asian-Americans also fall behind in earnings. College-educated, U.S.-born Asian men earn 8 percent less than white men. Although Asian-American women are likely to earn as much as white women, they are less likely to be in a management role. What perpetuates these stereotypes? What can be done to change the thinking? KR: Part of the solution is to give Asian-Americans more opportunities to prove themselves as leaders. So, instead of just seeing an employee as someone who is technically competent, managers can give them more chances to lead projects and be comfortable taking small risks in providing them with those initial opportunities. At the same time, Asian-American employees can also do more to signal that they are “leadership material.” They can build up a portfolio of leadership opportunities outside of work through charitable and philanthropic activities, and they can also do more to start challenging the stereotype of Asians as quiet by questioning decisions more, and offering constructive criticism on managerial and executive decisions. JL: Karthick and I think a little differently on this issue. I agree that managers should give more opportunities to Asian-Americans to exhibit their leadership skills, but I also believe that we need to think more broadly and critically about the qualities that make a good leader. We tend to assume that leaders should be bold, brash and vocal, but this assumption privileges men, and, in particular, white men, who are more likely to cultivate and exhibit these characteristics. But a look at some of the country’s top chief executives, we find that they are described as listeners first. They are also described as team players who are empathetic, thoughtful, steady and measured rather than bold and brash. Thinking more broadly about the qualities that make a good leader and recognizing that different leadership models may be just as effective (if not more so) than traditional ones will broaden leadership opportunities for not only Asian-Americans, but also women, and other minorities. It would also benefit the members of the organization, who may respond more positively and work more effectively by seeing more diverse leaders at the helm. And how do these stereotypes affect Asian-American candidates in politics? It seems like it would be a high hurdle for any candidate to overcome. KR: Well, some kinds of stereotypes can actually help Asian-American candidates. So, for example, the model-minority stereotype of being technically competent or being quiet listeners can help candidates where those traits are valued. It’s remarkable, for example, how well Asian-American candidates have done in California’s elections for state treasurer and controller. John Chiang kicked off the trend in 2006, and today Betty Yee is the state controller and Fiona Ma will very likely be the next state treasurer. Even so, there are important limitations. First, it’s problematic if these model-minority stereotypes are used to contrast Asian-American candidates with negative stereotypes of opponents from other racial groups. In fact, many would argue that, even in isolation, model-minority stereotypes give an unfair advantage to candidates who should be judged on their records and not on stereotypes about them. Finally, the stereotype of being calm and technically competent can hurt candidates when they run for other types of offices, as John Chiang found out when he failed to make a name for himself and capture the excitement of primary voters in the California governor’s race. Democrats’ preference for affirmative action is well established. Will this support affect Asian-American voting patterns? KR: The Republican Party has been trying to see if affirmative action can be an effective wedge issue for Asian-Americans for a few years now. And results from different opinion surveys indicate that it might be working among the Chinese-American population, where support for affirmative action has plummeted in just four years. But the affirmative action wedge doesn’t seem to have worked as well among other Asian-American groups and, even among Chinese Americans, support for issues like education spending and health care access has meant that the Democratic Party still has an advantage among Chinese-Americans. Here in New York, the mayor recently recommended changing the admissions criteria for elite public schools, where Asian-Americans are vastly overrepresented. The number of spots for Asian-Americans would most likely be cut. Your thoughts? KR: Underlying the debate about changing the admissions criteria for New York City’s elite public schools and the debate about Harvard’s admissions process is the issue of how we define merit. For New York’s elite public schools, merit is defined solely by a student’s performance on a single test called the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. Our colleagues have written extensively about this. They show a more complicated story about why black and Latino enrollment in these elite public schools have declined so much, including doing away with tracking in racially segregated middle schools and the rise of test prep programs. And they suggest that overhauling and investing in selective schools that are more racially diverse might be more effective in improving racial diversity. JL: The mayor’s proposal is not as radical as it may seem to New Yorkers. The University of Texas adopted a “Top 10 Percent rule” two decades ago, which gives those who graduated from the top 10 percent of any Texas high school a spot at any public university in the state, with the exception of University of Texas at Austin, where students must now graduate in the top six percent. But even that flagship campus has witnessed dramatic changes in the student population, with the largest increase in the Hispanic population, which reflects the state’s changing demographics. The white student population has declined, while the black and Asian populations have remained stable. Given the sharp decline in the white student population, it comes as little surprise that Texas senators are mulling the elimination of the Top 10 Percent rule. There are many ways to define merit, but we need to admit to ourselves that not every student has the same chance to show how meritorious she is because some metrics favor some groups over others. __________________________________________________________________ When Society Takes Your Personality Test Image Credit...David Grossman/Alamy By Laura Kim “Normally, Asian women keep their heads down and stay very quiet.” Those words have been branded into my brain for life by a former boss. I was a budding producer on a national news program, and I had just diplomatically expressed my strong desire to be promoted in the future. “I’m surprised,” he told me. “Why?” I asked. “You’re so good at what you do. I thought you wanted to stay in your position forever ... I’m also not used to hearing you speak up like that.” And then, he uttered those words that stopped me from breathing. He spoke so matter-of-factly. Though I was stunned, I gave him a weak smile and went back to work, as if validating that pernicious stereotype. I knew he violated some kind of rule but my younger, naïve self didn’t know how to fight back. I left the network months later with bigger dreams. The pain of that moment early in my career flooded back when I got the news alert last week: “Harvard Rated Asian-American Applicants Lower on Personality Traits, Suit Says.” I’m not taking sides on the case. I recognize the value of evaluating the wholeness of an applicant apart from hard data, like G.P.A. and test scores. Though we should also acknowledge that any measurement of something subjective, like personality, risks implicit bias. My former boss clearly made presumptions about my own personality. This renewed national debate surfaces stereotypes that many of us have confronted over the years: We’re worker bees who get the job done. We don’t have the personality it takes to manage people. We’re just duds, who keep our “heads down and stay very quiet.” But we can’t be neatly contained within the model minority myth. We are not a monolithic group. Many of us have our heads and hands up high, asking for a seat at the table. Now I know what to do when confronted with egregious stereotypes: Look directly into their eyes and flatly demand an apology. The problem is, not all people reveal their own biases, or even know about them at all. Laura Kim is an editor for digital storytelling and training at The Times. __________________________________________________________________ Connect With Us. Do you or does someone you know have information from inside immigration detention centers, such as photos, videos, or audio? If so, please contact us at tips@nytimes.com. If you prefer to share anonymously, please do so by visiting nytimes.com/tips. Join us at 9 p.m. Eastern on Wednesdays as we examine topics related to race and culture on The Times’s Facebook page. This week we discussed the history of racist immigration policies in the U.S. [Watch] If you have experienced, witnessed or read about a hate crime or incident of bias or harassment, you can use this form to send information about the incident to Race/Related and other partners in the Documenting Hate project. __________________________________________________________________ Around the Web Here are some of the stories that we’re talking about, beyond The Times. 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Dealing With Impostor Syndrome When You’re Treated as an Impostor Impostor syndrome is not a unique feeling, but some researchers believe it hits minority groups harder. Police Killings Have Harmed Mental Health in Black Communities Killings of unarmed blacks were associated with measurable emotional distress among other African-Americans, researchers reported. Frances Walker-Slocum, 94, Pioneering Pianist and Teacher, Dies The first black woman granted tenure at Oberlin, she was a champion of black composers as well as a celebrated concert performer. __________________________________________________________________ For more coverage of race, see our archive and sign up here to have our Race/Related newsletter delivered weekly to your inbox. 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