The theme of this year鈥檚 Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month was succinct enough to serve as its Twitter hashtag: "#IAMBEYOND.鈥� It represents 鈥渉ow Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent have always sought to excel beyond the challenges of our time.鈥� Like other ethnic-heritage months in the United States, this one aimed both to highlight the accomplishments of a specific group and to challenge misleading stereotypes.
Since AAPI Heritage Month, which fell in May, I鈥檝e noticed how these dual goals can be at odds. They raise an interesting dilemma in the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community, as the dominant stereotype of this large and diverse group is simultaneously positive and detrimental. Particularly when it comes to educational achievement, the misconception of AAPIs as the 鈥渕odel minority鈥� creates the risk of underestimating the needs of many students within this demographic who are struggling and falling behind.
When we look more closely at the numbers, they suggest that the notion of AAPIs as a monolith of model students couldn鈥檛 be further from the truth. There may be no other major race group with such varying academic performance within its student populations.
As an Asian-American who also happens to be an education policy analyst, the statistics don鈥檛 surprise me, based on my own experience as a kid growing up in Chicago鈥擨鈥檒l elaborate on that in a bit.
But first, the numbers: Beginning in 2011, my colleagues here at ACT began disaggregating data about academic performance for Pacific Islanders from the Asian-American demographic in an annual report that uses data collected from students taking the ACT college-entrance exam. To the surprise of few familiar with this demographic鈥檚 diversity, the contrast in academic achievement between these two groups of students was鈥攁nd remains鈥攕tark.
From 2011 to 2013, on average, ACT鈥檚 annual reports found that 17 percent of Pacific Islanders met all four of ACT鈥檚 college- and career-readiness benchmarks, compared with 42 percent of Asian-American students. Compare those figures with data from 2010 and before, when the wide achievement gap between these two groups was masked by promising statistics showing that 39 percent of Asian-Americans who took the ACT met all four benchmarks.
These benchmarks indicate a very high likelihood of postsecondary academic success, and Asian-American students have consistently had the highest achievement levels of any group for which data are disaggregated.
While Pacific Islanders are just a small slice of the overall Asian-American student population, the ACT data suggest a need to further disaggregate data for various Asian ethnicities, as there is likely much more variance in academic performance within this large group than had been previously thought.
U.S. Census information shows large gaps in educational attainment among different AAPI subgroups. Among adults of Southeast Asian descent (Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, Vietnamese ethnicity), , with nearly 66 percent of Cambodian-Americans in this category. Compare those numbers to those of Asian Indian, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean groups, in which fewer than 30 percent of adults have not attended college.
These trends are likely to be further magnified in the future, as AAPIs experienced the largest growth of any major race group in the country, Much of this increase has come from first-generation immigrants, representing more than 30 countries. Furthermore, the AAPI population is , to an estimated 35.8 million.
Numbers like the ones above can be enlightening, but personal narratives always hit closer to home. Which brings me back to Chicago in the 1980s, when my parents both worked 12-hour days, and when, beginning in 3rd grade, I was home after school unattended by anyone except my 5-year-old sister. Any questions about why my mom and dad couldn鈥檛 be around more were met with the consistent and honest response 鈥淭his is the only way,鈥� because bills needed to be paid.
There may be no other major race group with such varying academic performance within its student populations."
Though my parents couldn鈥檛 be on call to help with homework, and their income was limited, my sister and I grew up to fulfill the model-minority narrative, making them proud by getting jobs that involved working with our heads, not our hands.
The picture, however, was not as rosy for my friend Hui. When I was in 6th grade, his family moved to my neighborhood, and as two 11-year-old boys, we became fast friends. While we lived on the same block, our paths in school were headed in almost opposite directions.
Teachers and administrators thought Hui would just naturally catch up academically, like the other Asian-American students in my class. To be fair, it was an easy miscalculation since the handful of us (myself included) needed little extra attention; we adjusted swiftly and excelled academically.
It was easy to believe Hui鈥檚 trajectory wouldn鈥檛 be any different, but by the time it became clear that he wasn鈥檛 going to just catch up, he had fallen too far behind鈥攕truggling through middle school, then dreading high school, and eventually dropping out before ever finishing.
Maybe next year鈥檚 theme for Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month should be: 鈥淎 growing number of us are in need of more educational supports.鈥� It鈥檚 too long for a hashtag, but certainly more apt.
