This title is taken from the McLean's article discussing the effect of students from asian backgrounds who study abroad at Canadian Universities. The article entitled "Too Asian", interviews students from Ontario to get a sense of the reputation of asian students in university. The article writes, "Asian students work harder is a fact born out by hard data. They tend to be strivers, high achievers and single-minded in their approach to university." This, the article argues, causes university students to feel like underachievers. Although the article boldly states that this is not a racial issue it is enforcing stereotypes onto a certain race, "'Too Asian' is not about racism', say students like Alexandra: 'many white students simply believe that competing with Asians—both Asian Canadians and international students—requires a sacrifice of time and freedom they’re not willing to make.'" The articles main argument is that international students, specifically Asian students, are too smart to be in university, out-schooling the original citizens of Canada.
This article reenforces asian stereotypes. Youtube star, DavidSoComedy, has developed video blogs that poke fun of asian stereotypes in America. His Vblog 11: Asian Stereotypes has received almost a million and a half views.
As an asian American himself, he makes light or stereotypes and makes some of the myths about asians. One of the comments he touches on in his blog is how asians are known as being good at math. Although he uses humour to convey his points, he argues that everybody outside the U.S. with a decent education is generally better at math than Americans. As an American himself, David portrays that his education in math was not great. He addresses many asian stereotypes such as how asians are bad drivers, asian girls are submissive, and how asians are cheap. These stereotypes are exactly that: stereotypes. Although he laughs about some of the truth behind these myths, others he puts to shame. Comedy can be a very truthful medium, while at the same time keeping the topic of racism light.
This article reenforces asian stereotypes. Youtube star, DavidSoComedy, has developed video blogs that poke fun of asian stereotypes in America. His Vblog 11: Asian Stereotypes has received almost a million and a half views.
As an asian American himself, he makes light or stereotypes and makes some of the myths about asians. One of the comments he touches on in his blog is how asians are known as being good at math. Although he uses humour to convey his points, he argues that everybody outside the U.S. with a decent education is generally better at math than Americans. As an American himself, David portrays that his education in math was not great. He addresses many asian stereotypes such as how asians are bad drivers, asian girls are submissive, and how asians are cheap. These stereotypes are exactly that: stereotypes. Although he laughs about some of the truth behind these myths, others he puts to shame. Comedy can be a very truthful medium, while at the same time keeping the topic of racism light.
The McLean article, on the other hand, addresses these stereotypes as truth, reinforcing them with interviews. An article studied in class entitled, Racism and Post-Secondary Education in Canada by Jeet Heer, took an inside look at the underlying racism in this response to the McLean article "Too Asian". The article responds to this racism by briefly reviewing Canadian education system in the past, describing how Canadian education was originally centred around assimilating minorities into European culture. The article continues to describe how there was once a tax on asian immigrants migrating to Canada. From these examples, it seems as though Canada's racism towards asians in our education system has improved. Yet it is still not perfect. In response to the McLean article, Heer agrues that this article gave simple representations to the ideas of race. Heer backs his statements up with statistics, one of them being that "racialized Canadians earn lower salaries than those designated white in Canada". From these statistics, it is clear asians and other minorities are still racialized in Canada, although we have come a long way. Although Canadian universities promote multi-culturalism and immigrants to come to the school, they are treated with stereotypes reinforced by years of prejudice and racism. Saint Mary's University in Halifax is an excellent example of a school that encourages immigrants and study abroad programs. Heer points out that while the ads for universities display multiple races all laughing and studying together, this sometimes is not the real image of university. Prejudices and stereotypes still run rapid in colleges, as asians in the Canadian education system are racialized.
Awesome post Victoria! I certainly agree that SMU plays a very active role in racializing international students in a attempt to appear more inclusive. I definitely think that the ways in which international students, and in this case, Asian international students are portrayed through the use of stereotype denies them the ability to fully share their culture with Canadians. I even once heard a woman who works at SMU in international development say how international students "have this great gift of coming to study in Canada."
ReplyDeleteIn addition to this, I once sat through a first year psychology class where the prof asked every single person of color where they are from. Something like this, I think is indicative of the racial knowledge that still continues, even in the all inclusive Canada.