There were several interesting sections in Chapter 14. I thought the concept of the “model minority” was quite funny. Because Asian-americans went from having this image of a yellow peril to being an example to other nationalities. It was interesting how they were suddenly praising the Asian population for achieving the American dream without any help. We still have this image of Asians today. They are seen as having traits of obedience, neatness, self-discipline and high achievement motivation. It was sad to see that even though Asian-Americans were able to do well in school, they did not receive incomes that matched their educational achievement. Their incomes were lower than a white male. Their status in society were limited even though they have reached a high level in education. In previous chapters, they stressed about the importance of education and how school predicted one’s future. However, the level of performance of Asian-Americans in school did not reflect their future because they were limited by the effects of racism.
Asian-Americans also were bullied by their peers and struggled to keep up in school because of the language barrier. The chapter talked about how they were removed from their regular classes to receive English education. And then they were required to attend regular classes that were taught only in English. I remember when I was in elementary school, I saw other kids being pulled out of class to learn English. I always thought about how hard it must have been for them. For one, they are being pulled out of regular classes, so they would miss material and lectures during that time. And two, they probably were struggling to keep up because of the language barrier. However, even though I think it is a good idea to have a bilingual teacher and having the class in another language, I think having a teacher who just speaks English is beneficial as well. It is because the child will be forced to learn English and hear directions/text in English. I know a friend who moved from Korea when we were in 6th grade. She couldn’t speak English, however, being in the class and hearing the language, interacting with her peers, she was able to learn the language very quickly. I think of it as going to a different country and being forced to interact and listen to a different language. Yes, it may be hard and you might be out of your comfort zone, however, people who continuously listen to a new language usually learns that language fairly quickly.
Do you feel like it is a better idea to have bilingual teachers and have teachers who would teach school material in their native language? Or do you feel like it will be more beneficial in the long run to be forced to be taught in English? Which do you think is more effective in learning the language?
Also, another section of the book that I thought was interesting was “The Coloring of Textbook Town”. I mentioned this a couple of times in my previous blogs. Textbooks usually left out important history to make America look good. Textbooks back then left out black history and the history of slavery. I think that it is dangerous to omit this “dark” history out of the textbooks. Even though it is something that America is not proud of , it is crucial to have this in the textbooks because history can always repeat itself. We need to learn from the mistakes from the past and analyze this part of history.
Do you think high school history textbooks now are still a slightly bias ? I know my textbook in high school was bit bias toward Americans. Do you feel like it is better to omit some of the history so that Americans can develop a nationalist feeling? Or do you feel like it is dangerous to omit some part of history in the textbook and push for nationalism?