Great Expectations of Asian American Students � The Struggle between Cultural Identities

Paul M. Nguyen
University of Notre Dame � FYC Unit Two

As members of unique societies, we experience cultural identification with the unique and vibrant communities in which we live. It is easy to say that we identify with one culture � American for example. As Americans, we can adopt properties of our cultural identity such as the pride in pastime sports or our ambition towards opportunity and individual success. But what if we are members of two distinct cultures? Which identification do we follow? Is there room for both? As an Asian American student, I have faced the stereotype of a super intelligent over achiever who is destined to be in a successful career while being able to do community service and play a myriad of musical instruments. For years Asians have acquired these social stereotypes according to the crafting of their cultural identity during their history in America. The positive stereotypes of Asian American students as super achievers and hard working citizens are reflections of the inputs of each Asian American generation � from father to son. However, with their assimilation into American culture, the traditional expectations in Asian youths are fading away. Western philosophy and American dreams enter into their identity. It is clear that those Asian American students face a crack in the mold of their cultural identities. Instead of struggling with the �super achiever� identity of the Asian culture or the �individualist� identity of the American culture, it is important for Asian American students and society to understand that these students can be a part of both of their identities and utilize hard work to accomplish their personal passions in life.

The Cultural identity of Asian American students originates in the traditional roots of expectations � an emphasis on education and accomplishment as means of social status and stability. As immigrants, the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and more recently the Vietnamese, represent Asia as a part of foreign cultures who hoped for a place in America�s mosaic of different cultures and opportunities. �Immigrants attempt to exploit opportunities not available in their homelands, with the ultimate goal of upward social mobility by way of education� (Dandy 621). This emphasis on education can create negative stress factors when students overwork themselves in their studies. The younger � new generation � now carries the pressure to prioritize their studies in practical areas such as science and math in order to prepare for opportunities in socially notable jobs in science and technology. �This perception was particularly acute for first generation immigrants who are looking for stability in their lives and do not want to have to struggle as they may have back home� (Gordon 185). Much of this relates to the stereotype of Asian Americans in secure occupations such as medicine. These traits carry back to the idea of carrying security and social status.

June Gordon of the University of California, Santa Cruz researched the subject of preferable occupations with Asian students interested in pursuing a career in teaching in order to unravel the many properties of the Asian perspective that make occupations such as teaching a taboo. Expectations of becoming doctors or engineers were normally reinforced behind each Asian family creating an influential pressure among their young. These occupations have always seen as financially secure. In explaining the Asian culture, Gordon stated, �Within traditional cultures that value above all else family harmony and continuity, going against the grain can have consequences beyond one�s own good intentions� (185). This pressure of �going against the grain� can prevent students from pursuing goals in other fields of ambition. Not following family interests breaks Asian philosophy. But what about the Asian student who wishes to be a teacher or an actor? Would their individual dreams be cast aside because their wishes did not match the same expectations of financial security, high social status, and achievement as the wishes of their cultural identity? There are costs and sacrifices which Asian American students as individuals have to undergo in order to satisfy their identities, thus having to deal with a serious stress factor such as family pressure can hinder a student�s individual pursuits.

Individual identity can be defined as the driving force of personal ambitions. It is how we craft ourselves to be as individual members of society. A piece of my personal identity is writing. I have enjoyed writing short fictional stories and journalism pieces as a hobby. With this interest, it is possible for me to pursue a successful career in English or journalism. My fascination with stories reflects on my own personal identity � not acquired through my culture. They were traits I found within me after reading books, watching movies, and reviewing news articles. I craft this identity in my social sphere by publishing websites and sharing my interest with my peers. As much as this can be seen as my natural ambition, I had many forces to consider before I could make my choice of study. In front of me was an intriguing and ambitious career, but behind me stood a steady and controlled cultural environment of traditional values, security, and status.

As Vietnamese immigrants to this country, my parents experienced the crafting of the Asian American cultural identity first hand, and I became a part of the 1st generation in my family. While I was young, I fit in with many of the stereotypical aspects of the Asian American student. I was a natural achiever and placed work and studies as an important aspect of my life. The interdependency between my individual success and my cultural expectations defines the cycle that a typical Asian American student must undergo in order to satisfy all aspects of identity. Reinforcing this cultural identity was a pressure from my parents emphasizing education in order to later expand our opportunity here as a family. Exploring the factor of generations in America, Gordon states, �Parental influence [is] particularly definitive for first-generation Asian American students� (184). Being first-generation � I felt the bulk of the pressure to succeed here. My individual success in school has reinforced my individual identity as a scholar while satisfying my cultural identity. This cycle of reinforcement perplexes my situation considering I am crafting my Asian identity yet somewhere, I must find my individual identity as well.

In his article �On Reading a Video Text,� Robert Scholes references the cycle as �cultural reinforcement� � the practicing of the elements within your cultural identity. My culture has set high expectations, but by challenging myself to satisfy them academically, I reinforce their cultural standards. Shouldn�t the high success of Asian American students be something to be proud of? By being challenged, we open up multiple doors of opportunity in the myriad of occupational fields available in America. However the Asian culture has aimed its young towards specific doors such as science and technology. This is where our individual identity is restricted. Do we pursue one of the many occupational roads that we have opened for ourselves or do we follow the road most taken? When Asian American students continue to pursue cultural expectations, students who naturally pursue careers in science and technology become positive reinforcement, and students who rebel are seen as negative reinforcement. The challenge of upholding cultural expectation becomes a competition between those who satisfy both sides of their identity and those who are restricted to satisfying one.

A factor present in the Asian American stereotype is the assumption that all Asian Americans share the same levels of success and all aspire to pursue high-status careers. In an exposition about the barriers of Asian American students, Paul Von Slambrouck notes, �ethnic classifications are always hazardous and many Asian subgroups, whether Laotian or Vietnamese, don�t enjoy the same educational success rates as the Chinese� (1). However, Asian Americans are easily grouped together � linked by their universal identity as the Asian minority. These cultural peer groups, (made up of Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and/or various other possible mixtures of subgroups), form within their academic environments and interact to fortify the cultural identity as Asian American students. This creates a heavy influence among these peers as an unbalanced support system involving students of differing scholastic success rates. �When Asian Americans see many of their peers pursue careers in science and technology and very few pursuing careers in the humanities of the social science areas, they come to believe that Asian Americans should choose an occupation in science and technology� (Tang 131). This becomes a stressful situation when concerning students who do not naturally excel in those occupational fields, yet because it has become a part of their cultural identity; the students feel compelled to uphold the cultural standard and in effect may detriment themselves trying to keep up with the success rates of their peers.

Still, Asian Americans as a whole are exceptional achievers in school and come very close if not completely to following through with their assumptions concerning career choice (Von Slambrouck 1). This does not ignore the fact that while following their cultural expectations, they restrict the choices and possibilities that may be offered to them through their individual identity. It also creates a conflict when certain Asian American students find stronger talents in areas such as arts and humanities, a road less taken, and finds themselves able to succeed more strongly in those areas than remain in competition in areas such as science and technology. It becomes a struggle between their individual talents and their cultural values.

Asian American students continue to live in the balance of their cultural values � following their family�s wishes and influences and finding ways to incorporate their own passions. Most of them find the pressure of their influenced spheres of study as a challenge � stimulating while satisfying their family�s expectations. As mentioned before, it is not expected that every Asian American student is naturally adept into meeting these expectations. Revealing such vulnerabilities is difficult to present within an Asian family. The Asian family structure has a very rigid communication base. It is not always an easy place for transferring personal feelings if they might be controversial enough to injure traditional or family harmony (Gordon 185). Students will then give into their family�s demand in order to secure family harmony and follow cultural expectations with possible struggle and unhappiness. Recognizing the need for balance, parents reinforce the idea of the rewards and benefits of the student�s obedience to their influenced study.

To satisfy student�s individuality, Asian parents will often find incentives to balance the needs and expectations of their students. For example, students who grade well in school may be rewarded with gifts that reflect their personal ambitions such as a musical instrument, books, or even just money. This in a way reinforces the idea of money being linked to success. �Asians focus on money; it�s a cultural thing�; �Asians want prestige for their kids� (Gordon 184). This exchange or bribery satisfies individual needs � for the children will end up investing their rewards on what they enjoy as an individual � whether they ask for a tee-ball set or for piano lessons.

The breaking factor to the balance is that parents treat these individual factors as recreation or pastimes and not as successful careers. They respect their children for their passions, however the emphasis on hard work and study pressure their young students to vie for a more financially rewarding career as a doctor or an engineer. Asian parents may often reject the idea of their son being a professional baseball player or having their daughter as a lounge pianist. Although these occupations may hold personal value, it is doubtful that the insecure positions reflect the hard work and success of the family. The concept of parental influence as an obstacle is explored in Gordon�s comment, �In Asian families, respect for elders, parents, and family can have a constraining effect if it influences career decision making toward the elevation of family status at the expense of individual job satisfaction� (184). This traditional value of respect and Mei Teng notes that �parental preference may have an important influence on the career choices of their children. Simply empowering Asian American students to pursue a career that fits their aspirations and interests may jeopardize [their] relationship with their family� (133). This explains why the Asian American student stresses himself or herself in vigorous study as a med student and in the back of their minds think that this isn�t what they want to be doing for the rest of their lives. �The stereotype that Asian Americans excel in science and technology-related occupations makes young people mistakenly believe that they can only be successful in these areas� (Teng 131). Pursuing these influenced careers often lead to the self-sacrifice of a young Asian American student�s own personal ambitions in order to meet the expectations of their communities and their traditions.

The idea of self-sacrifice repeats itself throughout this entire issue � students are obedient because they believe their parent�s wisdom towards career influence to be true. The expectations held by Asian American families towards their students are demanding yet yield positive effects. Asian American students make up a large majority of college graduates � reaching numbers that exceed the graduation rates of Caucasian Americans. Many Asian American students succeed in their studies and move on to rewarding careers as pharmacists, science engineers, and corporate executives. It becomes an ideal situation where �listening to our parents was a good idea.� The parental influence in career choice comes from �financial concerns, issues regarding skill competency, or job market concerns� (Tang 131). �Survival and financial security were probably the most important concerns. Jobs in science and technology areas are relatively stable and secure and, therefore meet the needs of Asian American parents.� As a result of the influence, students are reflected with praise and recognition for their success in their studies and profit from it by opening up their opportunities towards distinguished universities and occupations. The self-sacrifice of the students is rewarded in the long run and the cultural family upholds its status and integrity as a hard working family.

Asian American students are proud of their status within their family, their schools, and their study programs. It is a reflection of cultural and personal achievement. It is only a matter of channeling this success into satisfying the individual ambitions of these talented students whether the occupational field is, by choice, biochemistry, education, or something entirely different. Both parents and students must come to the understanding that forced careers can injure the relationship of the family (Teng 133). Just as students tend to hold cultural expectations in high respect, parents need to be more willing to accept their children�s personal ambitions as possible honorable careers. In the long run, most Asian American parents will be proud of whatever their child pursues and Asian American students will be proud of utilizing their cultural values to achieve their individual pursuits.

It seems that the only median to the situation is the encouragement of balance between cultural values and individual ambitions. Asian American students as super achievers will exist as long as their culture reinforces their position on ambition and success. This is not a negative property. It must be understood, however, that personal achievement can exist in a multitude of situations. �Money isn�t everything.� It is very possible that an Asian American student who goes against the grain of his or her family�s demand to become a doctor can feel personally rewarded by their choice to become a public education teacher and play an integral part within the lives of young students who may face similar decision choices. Encouraging the cultural identity as a positive and achieving cultural society can lead to a balance of interest when placed under the consideration of individual satisfaction and expression of identity among career routes and other expectations. Talent and success exist in many dimensions and as the generations of Asian American continue to grow, the strict traditions and social pressures may ease off for Asian American students. Their culture of achievement shall always be celebrated, whether it is reflected in individualistic ambitions in science or art.

The relationship between cultural identity and individual identity must then be defined in a new light � one which both can be satisfied. Mei Tang in her study of the differences in occupational influence between Asian American, Caucasian American, and Chinese college students comprises an idea in which she terms as, �biculturalism.� The study of her focus groups revealed that �Asian American and Chinese students were more likely to compromise with their parents, whereas Caucasian Americans were more likely to insist on making their own choices. Furthermore, the Chinese students yielded to their parents� choice more often than Asian American and Caucasian American students.� If cultural identity in this case is defined as the Asian practice of following parental expectations and individual identity is defined as is the American or Western practice of occupation as a reflection of self-expression and individual preferences, then we can come to the conclusion that Asian Americans are practicing biculturalism � interacting with both cultures and blending them into a unique identity of Asian Americans. We are not Asians. We are not Americans. We are Asian Americans � a unique compromise between the two cultures in which we live.

As I study away from home and the direct pressures of my own parents, I wish to satisfy my expectations to fulfill a successful career and at the same time my expectations to satisfy my expressions as an individual. While stressing over the intensity of my science and math courses one day, my mother called me up and reminded me that even if I didn�t meet my father�s wish for me to become a pharmacist � she would support and be proud of whatever occupation I pursued � may it be a humble English teacher. She believed it to be an honorable job. Hearing her encouragement made me remember a lullaby she used to sing: �Que sera, sera � whatever you�ll be, you�ll be.� I am a hard working Vietnamese American student � strengthened by my cultural traditions and respected for my individual ambitions. That is my identity.

It is encouraging to know that if Asian American students and their parents can come to an understanding of cultural identities � both in the traditional world and in the new word � then together they can strengthen their social status as a family while celebrating the individual achievements of each member. This understanding holds the potential of ending personal struggles between family members and beginning a new tradition of upholding values, pursuing dreams, and living in cultural harmony.