SCIENTIFIC ORIGINS OF THE MODEL MINORITY MYTH

True or False? Historically, people have viewed US prosperity and Asian/American success as mutually exclusive and antagonistic forces, even when the latter pertained to academic achievements by Americans of Asian descent.

What is the model minority?

• Asian Americans with higher IQs (even eastern and southern Europeans)

• Asian American whiz kids (4.0 piano playing Beethovens)

• Healthy, wealthy, wise

• All of the these

What were some of the major changes during the Cold War era that led to the rise of the model minority myth?

• Dismantling racially restrictive covenants & residential mobility

• Socioeconomic mobility (students & skilled workers)

• Asian American participation in electoral politics

• All of these

What does table 8 (“A Comparison of IQs of Various Racial & National Groups”) on the Stanford-Binet data reveal about different racial groups?

• Japanese Americans are more intelligent than Chinese Americans, African Americans, and Italian Americans

• Northern Europeans have the highest IQ and thus the most intelligent

• Socioeconomic status; reveals assumptions of inherent mental deficiencies in racial groups

What is the estimated number of unauthorized immigrants from India?

• 1,000,000

• 5,100

• 469,000

• 92,500

According to the chart shown in class, who is the most underrepresented in politics?

• American Indians

• Asian Americans

• Latinas/os

• White people

Colorblindness is:

• Foundational to understanding the model minority

• The belief that we are now “post-racial”

• All of the these

• None of the aforementioned; this is a trick question

Which Asian American ethnic groups were lauded as the model minorities?

• Filipinos and Vietnamese Americans

• Indian Americans and Filipinos

• Chinese and Japanese Americans

• None of these

According to today’s lecture, when did the model minority originate?

• In the pre-WWII era, with psychometric/racial testing

• After WWII

• During 1960s social justice movements

• None of these

What impact did the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 have on Asian American communities?

• It significantly reduced immigration from Asia

• It had no significant impact on immigration patterns

• It led to a substantial increase in immigration from Asia

• It only affected immigration from Europe