Gary Mar 
Philosophical Issues in Asian American Studies 

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• Subtext

                1980         1990 
APAs    $22,075   $42,250 
Whites  $20,840    $36,920 

Can you think of why these statistics are seriously misleading? 

All Asians are lumped together-- American Borns, older immigrants, 1.5 generation immigrants, and refugees displaced by social chaos. 
 

The "Model Minority" thesis is used to justify fiscal cutbacks. 
 

SAT Scores 1992 

The Washington Post (June 1992) publishes "Myth of Model Minority Haunts Asian Americans: Stereotype Eclipses Group's Problems." 

Murray and Herrnstein publish The Bell Curve (1994) which argues that Asian Americans and Jews are genetically superior to African Americans. 

The "Model Minority" myth is exposed as a social construct that denies many Asian Americans access to much needed social services. 

The "Model Minority" thesis is grounded biologically or genetically ("ethnic essentialism") and is used to rationaize racism in standardized intelleigence tests

. . . . 

       Based on the 1970 census President Reagan's statistics about the median income of Asian Americans could be misleading because the 1970 census data was over generalized and inaccurate.  Many factors were overseen and left out, and the data was not studied greatly in depth.  The data concerning the median income of Asian American families were clearly misleading, due to three factors.  What was discovered was that, although the median income of Asian American families was higher than that of white families, the median income of individuals was found to be lower for Asians than for whites.  These three factors were excised from the equation in the 1970 census, and they are as follows: 

• There was a larger proportion of Asian families in which both spouses worked than among white families.
• Asian children remained with their families longer and thereby contributed longer to family income.
• Asian families were larger on the average and, therefore, had more earners contributing to family income.

          . . .Asian Americans actually tend to be under compensated in terms of the number of years that they have invested in their education. 

          More importantly, Asian Americans are a heterogeneous group.  The median income does not give information about the spread of incomes around the mean.  Suppose, for example, that the distribution of incomes is bimodal.  How would the average median income be misleading? 

           For those of you who want a good laugh, ask Grace Hsu to look at her solution.