On Asian Stereotypes

Someone once told me, “You’re lucky, you’re Asian. Your stereotypes are all positive, like all Asians are smart, or all Asians are good at math.”

Do you know the problem with Asian stereotypes?

The problem is that when I get an A on a test, people say, “Oh, she’s Asian, of course she got an A”.

The problem is that when our badminton team won state, people said, “Oh, they’re Asian, of course they’re good at badminton”.

The problem is that when my sister got into MIT, I heard people saying, “Well, she’s Asian, so of course she got into MIT”.

When my friend wins a piano competition, people said he won because “all Asians are good at piano.”

But that’s not right.

I got an A on that test because I did my homework every day and studied for hours.

Our badminton team won state because we train 9 hours a week, all year round.

My sister got into MIT because she spent hours agonizing over her essays, because she stayed up ridiculously late doing homework and studying for tests.

Yes, I agree, a lot of the Asians I know are very smart, and many Asians excel in music and extracurriculars. Do you know why? It’s because of their parents, who yell at them when their grades drop, when they don’t practice enough. It’s the hours spent crying, the times you consider cheating because you don’t have time to study. It’s your bleeding fingers and aching shoulders, but you haven’t practiced enough.

Because when we don’t succeed, all we hear is countless people telling us, “You’re Asian, aren’t Asians supposed to be smart?” “Aren’t Asians supposed to be good at piano?” “Aren’t Asians supposed to succeed at everything without trying?”

Do not invalidate our hard work by saying our achievements are a result of our ethnicity.

More Posts from Believetimshel and Others

believetimshel

7 years ago

14.4.18 // studygram: alimastudies

📝 sociology methods in context notes

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believetimshel

9 years ago

Hello! I saw your last post and your clock was not fliqlo! I think it's really cute and neat <3 What is it called?

hi! it’s called the Padbury clock, and it only works on Mac computers!

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💜 anon asked

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believetimshel

9 years ago

Hello! I have a question: on this post /137022900341/011016-1132-am-ap-bio-time-and-coffee-too which is the app/clock/thing which I don't know the name you're using in your lapton? I think it's really cool! Good luck for your study :)

hi! it's a Padbury clock download. it's only available for Mac computers. thank you :)

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believetimshel

7 years ago

9.13.16 // Love my organic revisions.

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believetimshel

9 years ago

Welcome to the Studyblr Survey 2016!

As part of a community effort to learn more about ourselves, our interests, and our studying, I’m excited to release this community project!

The intent of the survey is to collect information about members of the studyblr community in order to better paint a true picture of its members. It uses multiple choice questions, ranging from demographics, to stationery interests, to subjects, and even to extracurriculars to understand people’s perception and interaction with the community.

Take the survey here!

The survey will remain open until June 19th, or roughly 2 months, and after that, all of the results will be posted onto my blog, intellectus (which is where I will also be posting updates/other info/opportunities to get involved). It’s meant to be as transparent and accessible as possible! All related posts will be tagged ‘studyblr survey 2016′.

Please reblog on here and share elsewhere so that this project can have the maximum possible audience!

The survey is also completely anonymous, and will be open for approximately a month before data is finalized.. No information such as URLs, names, or email address will be collected, and you can contact me, the creator of this survey, with any questions you happen to have here!

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they’re neat look at the previous responses afterwards

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believetimshel

9 years ago