Name: 【TEDx】亞洲人不是從A開始的。 (【TEDx】Asian Doesn't Start with A)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T07:07:47.000Z
Duration: 8 min 13 s
Description: 【看影片學英語】數萬部 YouTube 影片，搭配英漢字典即點即查，輕鬆掌握單字發音與用法，長久累積看電影不必再看字幕。

And in middle school, I had perfect grades.

This is no surprise to any of you, of course.

After all, Asian-Americans are  stereotyped as the model minority,

which means we're thought to achieve a higher degree of success

We're good at math, we play instruments, we treat a B+ as an F.

These stereotypes seem like a good thing.

to be stereotyped as hardworking and successful?

I started thinking about these questions  a couple of years ago,

and I found that the model minority stereotype

permeates the lives of Asian-American students far beyond the surface level.

I remember vividly this one time I had to play at a piano recital.

and I remember just feeling absolutely terrible.

It was only just enough to be noticed, but it seemed like the end of the world.

The problem was that my standards were too high.

I've been conditioned to accept for myself nothing less than perfection.

This is a common experience shared by so many of my Asian-American peers.

I've seen friends crumble under the pressures

of not doing well on a test, at a math competition, in a class.

Our standards for ourselves are set so incredibly high,

merely as a result of the model minority stereotype.

Living up to the highest standards that come with being Asian,

And students suffer psychological, emotional and even academic costs.

We learn to correlate our self-worth with quantitative measurements.

Beating ourselves up over anything less than the A range.

We normalize self-sacrifice such as studying harder and longer

that the worse you do, the less valid you are.

Since education occurs during the developmental years,

these attitudes leave a deep psychological imprint.

One of my good friends recently competed  in a state level math competition,

and was expected to qualify for nationals.

He told me about how pressured he felt to do well,

He said that on the harder problems, he panicked and forgot how to solve them.

And he questioned his every pencil stroke.

He ended up missing the qualifications  for nationals by just one point.

Afterwards, he spent hours and hours sitting on his bed,

mulling over how it could have gone differently.

Our emotional well being really does  suffer under this burden of expectation.

However, the model minority stereotype  creates a false illusion

that Asian-Americans are perfect kids at school,

and the needs of these students are often neglected or ignored.

This creates an environment of emotional isolation and hopelessness.

As a result, according to the National Center for Health statistics,

Asian-American girls between ages 15 and 24

And according to the American Psychological Association,

Asian-American students are significantly more likely than their white counterparts

In addition, the model minority stereotype fails to let schools and teachers

recognize the needs of Asian-American students.

When I was in third grade, during every math class,

my teacher would give all the Asians in the class a packet of advanced math,

and told us to sit outside in the hallway to do it.

that although I understood the material being taught in class,

I was a third grader, not some  magic learning machine

that could automatically understand math concepts.

Failing to meet the standards of academic achievement

can lead to feelings of shame and inadequacy.

When Asian-American students don't achieve stellar grades,

people are often surprised, and may even  take glory in being better than you.

I have even heard people say to me that I'm a bad Asian.

And when Asian-American students need help,

they can be reluctant to seek assistance.

For the longest time, I never asked teachers for help,

because to me it seemed like admitting failure.

I thought that I wasn't supposed to need help.

This is an incredibly toxic mindset, but it doesn't have to be this way.

In order to help alleviate these pressures on Asian-American students,

Just like the problems of any other racial group,

we must speak up about the dangers of the model minority stereotype.

Our voices must no longer be silenced by complacency.

Next, we must turn to the media and demand more representation

of Asian-Americans in film, TV and literature

We must create support networks for each other, so we can talk

You are not your grades, or your scores, or your awards.

I know we've all heard it before, but it's time we truly believe it.

It's certainly not going to happen overnight.

But if we start now, one day our grandchildren, or even our children