As I continued reading the debaters opinions on the issue, I saw a term that I have not seen and heard before which was "bamboo ceiling". I thought it was just a regular bamboo ceiling which sounds pretty self explanatory, but it turns out the term bamboo ceiling refers to exclude asians and asian-americans from executive positions. Even though I am still educating myself on this topic, there has been another term named "glass ceiling" to prevent women from advancing in any profession. In 2006, Buck Gee was one of the few asian-american vice presidents working in the Fortune 100 company. Suddenly he noticed there were very few asian executives and asian-americans had become over 30 percent of the employees in many companies. Gee reached out to his other asian-american executive friends to see if they noticed the same thing in their own companies and they agreed. That's when he concluded that there was a bamboo ceiling. Those two terms are still in affect and I thought mentioning this would bring some awareness.
All in all, these are some of the main effects towards asians and asian-americans, but I am sure these situations doesn't only apply to asians, it can apply to different race and ethnicities as well. As an asian living in America I wouldn't consider myself as a "model minority" because that something I haven't live up to. Other than that, do you label asians and asian-americans as a "model minority"? What are your opinions on the bamboo and glass ceiling? And this might be a personal question, you don't have to answer this but when it comes to grades, how is it like in your household?
Though it is nice to have many Asian role models to look up to, it is also extremely difficult to be yourself and be that ‘perfect’ Asian that people expect you to be. These expectations often stress or pressure the individual to achieve these incredibly difficult goals. Expecting this from someone can eventually develop into a stereotype of that particular race or culture. For example, many people believe that just because someone is Asian, they are born with the ability to get all A’s or automatically be good at math. Another danger these expectations bring is that when someone is applied to this stereotype and doesn’t live up to that expectation, toxicity will develop. Degrading someone's traits can also happen. In my personal life i have seen this happen; my friend (who is Asian) got a C on her math test, which might not seem bad for some, but for her it was the worst thing in the world. All our peers teased her and told her she’s not a ‘real’ Asian. This degradation of someone’s dignity and self-worth due to the higher expectations put onto them by a stereotype is completely and utterly unacceptable. We all should have the opportunity to pave our own paths despite our race or color.
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