EDUCATIONAL HISTORY OF ASIAN STUDENTS

Renata Jordan
Educ 355
Dr. Diaz
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY OF CHINESE STUDENTS
Asian Americans experienced the racism that African American endured living in the United States the only difference they were never called slaves but was treated just as unfairly. In 1885, almost seventy years before the Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, Mary Tape a Chinese American sued the San Francisco School District. On the site National women history museum I found the story about Mary who took her daughter Mammie to school and the principal Jennie Hurley stood in the front of the door and denied her entry. Tape v. Hurley was one of the most important civil rights decisions in American history. During this ground breaking case, Superior Court Judge James Maguire ruled that Chinese children must have access to public education: “To deny a child, born of Chinese parents in this state, entrance to the public schools would be a violation of the law of the state and the Constitution of the United States. The day Mammie went back to school they denied her entry and said she had not received her vaccinations in time. This made Mary Tape take matter into her own hands and she wrote the Alta California newspaper, expressing her anger at this injustice. Mary was a pioneer on expressing the prejudice of the education system and fighting for the right of her daughter and other Chinese children. This is one the cases that helped Brown v. Board of Education.
According to historical records, the first sailboat from China arrived in New York Harbor on July 10, 1847. Among the passengers aboard was Yung Wing. He was the first Chinese student ever to enroll in an American school, and graduated from Yale University in 1854. Next came the group of Chinese boys students sent by the Imperial Government of China, they were the very first students abroad. Between 1872 and 1875, the government sent 4 groups, in total 120 students, to America. Their average age was only 12. In the shortest time possible, they overcame the language barriers and soon prevailed in academic achievement. Meanwhile, they rapidly adjusted themselves to the foreign culture and soon took off their long robes. The students were accepted into Harvard, Yale, Columbia, MIT; they were once cordially received by the American President Grant. I believe listening to how easy the students learned English and did well in the Ivy League school is one of the incidents that set the stereotype that all Asians are smart.
For instance, the “model minority” myth loves to assert that all Asian Americans are highly educated, financially well-off individuals. In reality, a lot of Asian American adults occupied two very different ends of the educational spectrum in 2000. According to the Coalition for Asian American Children and Family (CACF) out of New York City’s Asian adult population was (586,460), 31 percent (178,967) never finished high school and do not have a high school diploma and 20 percent (117,920) had less than ninth-grade education. These rates were higher than the overall New York City rates of 28 percent and 15 percent, respectively. At the other end of the scale, 50 percent (295,963) of Asians had some form of post-secondary education, compared with 48 percent of the general city population. So this shows you that model minority is a myth not everyone is a brain.
` The population from the census in 2010 states there are 1,433,875 Asians in New York and out of that 597,754 are Chinese. Only 33% Chinese has less than a high school diploma but 66% are high school graduate or higher compared to African Americans and Latinos who are about 40%.
Most Asian Americans are enrolled in community colleges and the SAT scores are not high across the board; rather, they connect with the income and education level of the student’s family. In 2003, more Asian Americans graduated with an undergraduate degree in the humanities, business, and engineering than the often stereotyped Asian American math or science majors. Regardless of the “model minority” myth, the diversity of Asian American ethnicities should prevent sweeping generalizations from being made.
The students at San Francisco State University strike in 1968 to demand establishment of ethnic studies programs. In 1969 students at the University of California, Berkeley, strike for establishment of ethnic studies programs. This is still a problem that still exist today at most public schools. They briefly touch Asian history which makes the students feel as if they do not exist. History and statics show that Asian Americans are great test takers is it because they are smarter, no is it because of their Chinese culture, where the parents set high expectations they believe in humility and hard work.
Even with all their hard work you still have to work harder to compete with white person. A White with 4 more years of education (equivalent to a college degree) can expect to earn $2088 per year in salary. In contrast, a return on each additional year of education for a Japanese American is only $438. For a Chinese American, it's $320. For Blacks, it's even worse at only $284. What this means is that basically, a typical Asian American has to get more years of education just to make the same amount of money that a typical White makes with less education.
There was one school in 1909 Chinese immigrants started to maintain their culture, the school started with 20 students and today currently have 3,000. The school is called the New York Chinese School. This school allows many families to keep their culture and traditions alive while getting an education. Children who started public school in the fifth and sixth grade have a harder time learning the English language compared to those who started from kindergarten or first they tend to assimilate quickly.
In the end all minority groups are still struggling wanting the best for their children and the students have opposing tension caused by the promise of social and economic progress with the goal to maintain an ethnic identity. Education proves to be more than purely an academic process; it is a transformative experience that alters not only political and social structures but the self as well.

The Coalition for Asians American Children and Family Fact Sheet http://www.cacf.org
Le, C.N. 2012. "The Model Minority Image." Asian-Nation. <http://www.asian-nation.org/model-minority.shtml> (April 23, 2012).
A History of Resilience and Resistance. (2012). Retrieved from National womens History Museum: www.nwhm.org
Source: 2009 American Community Survey <http://factfinder.census.gov>