A MODEL MINORITY
People from Asian countries who live in the United States are known as Asian Americans. They began settling here around 1965, mostly coming from China, Korea, Indochina, and similar countries. When they first arrived, many of them could not even hold a simple conversation in English.
Today, however, according to a report in Reader’s Digest, they have become the best students in America’s best English-language schools. Although they make up only 2 percent of the overall population, they have managed to secure as much as 20 percent of positions in various American institutions. Wherever they go, they prove to be more capable—sometimes even overqualified.
This situation has forced American thinkers to reflect. As a result, formal research was carried out, and the findings were published in several American as well as international journals. Some references are as follows:
1. New York Times, New York, August 3, 1986
2. Why Asian Americans are doing so well, Times Magazine, New York, August 31,1987
3. Why Asian American students excel, Reader’s Digest, August 1987
4. Why Asian succeed in America, Span monthly, December 1987
5. Among the top 6 science students of the United States, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, August 30, 1987.
Why are Asian Americans ahead of ordinary American youth in almost every field of education? The reason is simple: they put in more effort than American youth. Jerome Kagan, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, was once asked why Asian American students tend to be more successful than American students. According to a Time report, his answer was straightforward:
To put it plainly, they work harder.
For them, education is a “ticket to success.” And in fact, the American education system has proven to be just that—a sure ticket to success. The price they paid for this ticket can be summed up in one word: excellence.
Through this effort, they earned the reputation of being a “model minority” in America. But the road was not open and easy for them. They faced racial prejudice and degrading treatment. American youth mocked them, calling them the “yellow peril,” and at times even resorted to physical violence. Yet Asian Americans did not respond with anger or retaliation. They avoided complaint and protest entirely. Their only answer was to work even harder. Parents protected their children from reacting emotionally and instead channeled their energy into greater effort. In Asian families, education became almost an obsession. At home, if a son scored 80 percent, he would be asked why he didn’t get 85. If he scored 85, his father would remind him that 90 was possible.
When a community faces problems, there are generally two ways to try to solve them. One way, as seen in India, is to demand and protest. This approach creates two problems at once. First, the original issue becomes even more complicated instead of being resolved. In this world, everything is achieved through action, not demands. Trying to get something through demands, when it is otherwise gained through effort, only pushes it further away. Second, such a group loses respect in the eyes of others. To demand and protest is to shift the burden of one’s problems onto others, and whoever does that ends up being looked down upon.
The opposite example is that of Asian Americans in the United States. They chose to solve their problems by accepting full responsibility themselves. Despite provocation, they refused to get provoked. While staying completely peaceful, they worked harder than others. Their experience shows that this approach not only solved their problems fully but also allowed them to gain a share in society greater than their numbers.
Taking a negative approach means pushing the burden of one’s problems onto others, while a positive approach means accepting responsibility oneself. The added advantage of a positive approach is that such people do not create complications in society. Thus, when Asian Americans adopted a positive way to solve their problems, they also brought further benefits to American society.
The first benefit was that they created a spirit of competition among American youth. Many young Americans, feeling secure, had begun to slack off. But they now realized that if they wanted to survive and progress, they too would have to work harder like the Asians.
According to Time magazine, even American intellectuals acknowledged that Asian Americans had overcome American youth’s indifference and revitalized their spirit. They admitted that “Their presence is going to be a great blessing for society.” (p. 53).
A Span magazine report (December 1987) quoted a middle-aged New Yorker as saying: Thank God for the Asians. They are bringing back standards to our schools (p. 32).
Asian Americans gained another advantage when they achieved economic respectability: their culture also began to be viewed with honour. Their national traditions started to be respected by Americans. These Asian Americans regard Confucius as their spiritual leader. When one admirable quality of Asian Americans became clear to Americans, they associated that trait with their national sage, Confucius. The exemplary conduct of Asian Americans brought attention to their religion and culture within American society. According to a Span magazine report, the president of New York University stated that:
“When I look at our Asian-American students, I am certain that much of their success is due to Confucianism.” (p.32)
In direct competition with ordinary Americans, Asian immigrants often proved to be overqualified. In this way, they became a challenge and a motivation for Americans. They inspired a new spirit of hard work among American youth. Because Asian immigrants solved their own problems in a positive way, they ended up helping American society solve its problems too.
In just one generation, Asian immigrants achieved the success that usually takes three generations. Their extraordinary progress gave rise to a new phrase in America: Asian work ethic. Now it is said that if you want real advancement, adopt the Asian work ethic.
The same door is wide open for Indian Muslims as well. If Muslims let go of the communal disputes into which their shallow leaders have needlessly dragged them, and instead start building their lives on the eternal principles of Islam, they too could become a force for change in this country. In doing so, Muslims would not only solve their own problems but also give the nation a new standard—something that could be summed up as the Muslim work ethic. When that happens, Muslims will become an asset to the country, instead of being a liability as they are today.
So far, Muslims in India have remained busy running demand-based movements in search of a “cultural identity.” In my view, all such efforts are completely useless, because cultural identity is established through inner strength—it cannot be gained by making demands.
The more correct approach is for Muslims to aim for moral identity. They should make the adoption of Islamic ethics their mark of distinction. If Muslims are able to establish their identity on moral grounds, then they will naturally gain the cultural identity they are seeking—without wasting energy on demand-based campaigns.The news report is given below.
Ticket To Success
No matter what their route, young Asian Americans, largely those with Chinese, Korean and Indochinese backgrounds, are setting the educational pace for the rest of America and cutting a dazzling figure at the country’s finest schools.
Trying to explain why so many Asian American students are super achievers, Harvard Psychology Professor Jerome Kagan comes up with this simple answer: “To put it plainly, they work harder.” “Even with the problems (of restriction and discrimination), many Asian-American students are making the U.S. education system work better for them than it has for any other immigrant group since the arrival of the East European Jews began in the 1880s. Like the Asians, the Jews viewed education as the ticket to success. Both groups feel an obligation to excel intellectually,” says News York University Mathematician Sylvain Cappell, who, as a Jewish immigrant, feels a kinship with his Asian-American students. The two groups share a powerful belief in the value of hard work and a zealous regard for the role of the family. Such achievements are reflected in the nation’s best universities, where math, science and engineering departments have taken on a decidedly Asian character. At the University of Washington 20% of all engineering students are of Asian descent; at Berkeley the figure is 40%. To win these places Asian-American students make the SAT seem as easy as taking a driving test. The average math score of Asian American high school seniors in 1985 was 518 (of a possible 800), 43 points higher than the general average.
A telling measure of parental attention is homework. A 1984 study of San Francisco-area schools by Stanford Sociologist Sanford Dornbusch found that Asian-American students put in an average of eleven hours a week, compared with seven hours by other students. Some Asian Americans may be pushing their children too hard. Says a Chinese-American high schools in New York City; “When you get an 80, they say, ‘Why not an 85? If you get an 85, it’s ‘Why not a 90?’ ‘Years ago,’ complains Virginia Kee, a high school teacher in New York’s Chinatown, “they used to think you were Fu Manchu or Charlie Chan. Then they thought you must own a laundry or restaurant. Now they think all we know how to do is sit in front of a computer.” The image of Asian Americans is as relentless bookworms. “If you are weak in math or science and find yourself assigned to a class with a majority of Asian Kids, the only thing to do is transfer to a different section,” says a Yale sophomore.
The performance of Asian Americans also triggers resentment and tension. “Anti-Asian activity in the form of violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation continues to occur across the nation,” the U.S. Civil Rights Commission declared last year. Young immigrant Asians complain that they are constantly threatened. To some Asian Americans, being only “very good” is tantamount to failure. “It seems to me that having people like this renews our own striving for excellence,” observes Emmy Werner, professor of human development at the University of California at Davis. “We shouldn’t be threatened but challenged.” Mathematician Cappell is thrilled by the new inheritors. “Their presence.’’ he says, “is going to be a great blessing for society.”
