Analysis of Takaki's Essay

A Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority
Ronald Takaki

After reading Ronald Takaki's essay of The Harmful Myth of Asain Superiority, I believe the thesis statement is, "Asian Americans have increasingly come to be viewed as a "model minority" which has caused reality to become obscured. Takaki mentions how some of the statistics are misleading, which makes Asian Americans as a group seem more successful than they really are.

Some evidence that Takaki uses for his argument on why reality is obscured for Asian Americans is that figures on the their high earnings relative to Caucasians are "misleading because most Asian Americans live in California, Hawaii, and New York. These states have higher incomes because of the higher cost of living." (101). He also mentions how the comparable income of Japanese Americans to Caucasians is misleading because the "Japanese Americans only made as much money from more education and working more hours. " (101). Takaki goes on to say that comparing family incomes is also deceptive because there are more people in a family, which leads to more workers per family. Some more evidence points out that while the small population of successful Asian Americans is congradulated, their differences are hidden. "While thousands of Vietnamese American young people attend universities, others are on the streets. 25 percent of the people in Chinatown lived below poverty level compared with 17 percent of the city's population." (101). The people living in these conditions can't go outside their confined area in Chinatown because of language barrier. Finally, he mentions that many
"Koreans came to America with a college education and occupations of teachers, engineers and administrators only to find themselves as shopkeepers after they arrived, which is a step downward in status because most shopkeepers only earn $17,000 to $35,000 a year." (101).

I find Takaki's argument convincing. While some of his argument seems like an opinon, he gives very convincing evidence and statistics which helps to sway an audience. I hear a lot about how Asians are very smart and very successful. They go to America's most prestigous universities, which lead to very good jobs after school. However, I never really hear any of those unfortunate statistics of the other side of the Asian American population. I believe this is why they are considered the model minority. Also, since Takaki is Asian, it makes his argument seem a little more credible.

When looking at Takaki's view on if Asian Americans are more successful compared to Caucasians than the African Americans are, I would say that he doesn't think Asian Americans are more successful. He states that the comparisons of African Americans to Asian Americans cause problems between the two groups and "makes African American workers become superfluous." (100). He also mentions how the "celebration of Asian Americans being a model minority perpetuates their inequality and exacerbates relations between them and African Americans." (102). From these statements he makes it sound like Asian Americans should not be considered the only model minority, because in reality, the success of Asian Americans is misleading and only causes problems between them and other minority groups.

Brittany Lake