Model Minority Myth

Throughout American history, Asian immigrants, like most minorities of color, have been cast in negative terms (e.g., inassimilable, yellow peril, opium addicts, coolies) and faced discrimination. However, this trend began to change in 1960, when sociologist William Peterson coined the term Asian model minority in an article in the New York Times Magazine. Similar sentiments began to appear in other news magazines during the 1960s. To bolster this argument, Asian Americans were shown to have higher educational attainment, higher-status occupations, rising median incomes, and lower rates of family instability, mental illness, and community crime. Asian family values such as academic achievement, hard work, discipline, and respect for authority were touted as leading to this success.

This characterization is problematic for several reasons. First, Asians are not a monolithic group; indeed, they represent an extraordinarily diverse range of 29 different ethnicities separated by geography, with sharply distinct differences in language, culture, religion, and politics. For example, among Southeast Asians such as Vietnamese, Cambodians, Hmong, and Laotians, educational attainment is quite low.

Second, Asian Americans tend to live in larger households with more working adults contributing to household income than do Caucasian families; when adjusted, Asians' individual income is lower than that of Caucasians. Poverty rates for some groups are extremely high–for example, as many as 40% of Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian families receive public assistance. In addition, more than half of all Asian Americans live in five major U.S. cities (including Los Angeles and New York City) with high costs of living.

Third, data that showed greater Asian movement into higher-status occupations have been discredited; new data show a glass ceiling effect that prevents many Asian Americans with equal education and experience from being promoted to higher executive or managerial positions.

This myth has spawned a number of negative outcomes. For example, some have alleged that highly selective colleges are now intentionally decreasing the admission of Asian American students. There have been reports of increased racial incidents targeting Asian American students on campuses. College student affairs officials report greater campus resistance to offering specialized counseling services for Asian American students. Special poverty support programs for Asians in some cities have been eliminated. Finally, invoking the Asian model minority has become a new political tool for showing that racism does not exist– that America is indeed a color-blind meritocracy. Indeed, the model minority myth has been used as an argument for eliminating affirmative action altogether.

More recent data and analyses of the origins of the Asian model minority concept reveal that it is inaccurate and exaggerated and leads to a false, monolithic perception of Asians in America. Unfortunately, the perpetuation of this myth still appears to be accepted uncritically by the mainstream public, resulting in continued misunderstanding.