Lanh Thi Le

Asian Immigrants: Beneficial or a Threat to the United States?

            I am an immigrant from Vietnam; I qualify as being as Asian immigrant.  I came to the United States to escape a communistic society, and seek freedom, independence, and new opportunities.  One of the advantages, so far that I have experienced, is the opportunity to have an education.  Although it took me a long time to figure out my major and find the path that is right for me, I decided on being an educator.  I feel this opportunity and career choice will let me have the chance to give back to the community.  There have been many numerous amounts of Asian immigrants that have entered the United States.  They have made an impact on the United States socially and economically.  One of the biggest controversies that has been risen before are the many questions of how and why some Asian immigrants have become so successful and wealthy.  For this reason, I chose to research about the success and impact of Asian immigrants on the United States.  I will explain how I will use this topic in my college career, in my teaching, and in my personal development.

            Firstly, I will use this topic in my college career, because I see it as a goal for me to reach and achieve my goals, like other Asians have.  Many Asian immigrants see the United States as an opportunity to enhance their education, and go further in their lives and their futures.  As acknowledged by Srilata Bhattacharyya (2001),

“In this diverse climate, the emergence of Asian Americans as an ethnic minority group in the U.S., especially in education, has been a phenomenal one.  Researchers have been perplexed at the academic and professional success of the Asian Americans as compared to other ethnic minority groups.  The term ‘model minority’ has been affixed to the group, mainly on the basis of their educational attainments, which are resulting in the overwhelming perception that they are educationally and vocationally successful” (p. 3).

Many people perceive that Asian immigrants are naturally intellectual and successful, and many have different views, and I felt this quote to be a positive influence on me.  I see this quote as another goal for me to reach and overcome.  At the same time, it also puts a lot of pressure on me.  I have already graduated from a Junior College and have received an Associate’s Degree, but am just half way on the path to success.  I have come so far now, and five years later, I plan on finishing my college career and moving on to a hopeful and successful career.

            Secondly, I could use this topic in my future teaching.  I am an immigrant that has semi-assimilated towards the dominant culture of America, without losing my ethnic background and culture.  I could easily relate to this topic during my future teaching approach towards certain subjects in school.  There are endless ideas for teaching this topic to the students of tomorrow.  For instance, if I had the opportunity to teach a Literature or English course, I would have students research an immigrant from any Asian background and write a research paper about that one person.  For example, as acknowledged by Lydia Lum (2007), “Rapper apl.de.ap. of the Grammy Award winning hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas is one of the highest –profile Asian-American recording artists today.  Born and raised in the Philippines, he has incorporated his native Tagalog dialect into some of the group’s song lyrics.  Other rap artists popular among college students, Kiang says, include Cambodian-American Prach Ly and Vietnamese-Canadian Chuckie Akenz” (p. 18).  I think this future assignment would be fascinating and rewarding, because it will open the music world and the minds of the students to something new and unpredictable.  For a history course, I would give them a whole month on the history of immigrants, and then narrow it down to just Asian immigrants.  An interesting fact, also stated by Lum (2007), “since Asian immigrants didn’t begin to arrive in the United States in large numbers until after immigration laws eased in the mid-1960’s” (p. 18).  There are endless possibilities when it comes to teaching the future students of tomorrow, with any subject, the subject of immigration could be integrated into any school curriculum.

            Furthermore, this topic could aid me in improving my own personal development as a growing adult.  I am constantly finding ways to improve myself to the fullest extent.  I am always looking for a way to make myself a better sister, daughter, girlfriend, and especially and most importantly, student.  As noted by Carol Brydolf (2009), “Clearly, many Asian Americans have overcome tremendous obstacles in California and elsewhere to build successful lives in the Unites States” (p. 38).  This quote just gives me extra encouragement to reach my goals even more and push them to the limits, above and beyond; the sky is the limit for me.  As noted by Stephen Krashen (2005), “There have been some recent challenges to this generalization, however --- claims that some children, especially Asian immigrant children of Asian immigrants, so very well even though they come from high-poverty backgrounds.  Two such cases that have experienced such are the ‘Boat People’ of Vietnam, who arrived in the United States in 1978, and the Hmong” (p. 16).  I feel I have so much in common with this quote.  Entering the United States, my family was in poverty and was living in a one bedroom apartment, occupied by seven people and a baby on the way, my baby sister.  My Mom would tell me that when we were living in the one room house with one bathroom, we would have boiled chicken for dinner every night.  She told me that was the only thing we could afford for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Then for school, she would always pack a tuna fish sandwich for lunch, and bedtime would be at nine.  My parents were very strict.   My goal in life today is to do well in all of my classes, graduate, and go on to my career.  In the end, I want to have a successful life and be able to take care of my parents.

            To reiterate, I plan on using the topic of Asian immigrants throughout my college career, through my teaching, and my personal development. There was so much I wanted to learn about this topic, if I was able to write a thousand more pages just on this one topic, I would.  I find this topic to be so interesting and fascinating.  This knowledge has taken me to new heights and had made new goals for me to achieve and overcome.  I would like to learn everything else and everything new that originates from this topic.  This topic relates so much to our course not is conceited, but I loved it when we were learning about the Eastern Asian hemisphere.  It really caught my attention and made me want to learn more about different Asian immigrant writers.  Just the other day I found an article that caught my interest on Asian writers.  I am always reading around and exploring for the next Asian writer and their stories.  I plan on staying determined, and oriented so that I could graduate, and hopefully be successful in the future; I want to be a successful Asian immigrant as well.  

Works Cited

Bhattacharyya, S. (2001). From “yellow peril” to “model minority”: the transition of asian American. From “Yellow Peril” to “Model Minority,” 1-12.

Brydolf, C. (2009). Getting real about the model minority. Education Digest. www.eddigest.com. 37-44.

Krashen, S. (2005). The hard work hypothesis: is doing homework enough to overcome the effects of poverty? Multicultural Education: 12. 4. 16-19.

Lum, L. (2007). Carving out their own niche: african american cultural expression is one of the many influences fueling asian-american artistry. 24. 8. 18-20.