Perception Assignment #2

“Asians Destroy the Grading Curve”

            In the United States Asian students has been given the title of being the smartest race. On Answer.com people have taken the time to ask, “Why are Asians so smart,”

Also, TV shows even use the generalization that all Asian students are the smartest as depicted in this link.

Even memes, such as this one, use humor to metaphorically portray an Asian student being smarter than a calculator.

These artifacts illustrate that the stereotypes of Asian students are so commonplace in our culture that it is acceptable for TV shows and memes to poke fun at this idea. In fact, so many Americans are convinced that this is true that website pages, such as Ask.com, are dedicated to asking and finding out why. Due to America being irresponsible, these artifacts lead many people to believe that Asians are the smartest race. The message the artifacts are portraying is that regardless of one’s efforts, the Asian students will always be smarter. To state that an, “Asian ruined the grading curve”, as shown in the video, is just shifting the blame and responsibility for failing to study hard on Asian students. In fact, even the United States Government perpetuates this problem in the education system by comparing our citizen’s test scores to the Asian countries. 

            There are many problems with these artifacts produced by the United States about Asian students. First, not all Asian students are the highest scoring students in classes. To generalize this belief is not only misleading, but it also places pressure on Asian American students who may not live up to this stereotype. Second, Asian students may in some, but not all, instances score higher but this is not due to the fact they are Asian. There are many reasons as to why they may score higher, one being that their parents are immigrants who worked hard to come to the United States. This hard work ethic and dedication are traits passed from Asian parents to their children, but this is just one of many possibilities.  However, hard work and not being Asian will lead to better scores, just as much as being Asian will. Not only does this create social pressure on Asian students, but it also gives American students an excuse to blame laziness and no preparation for tests on this race.

           Asian students have been given the title of being the smartest students, which is why thousands of memes, videos, and even questions are posed as to why this is. However, the fact that a person is Asian is not a proper cause effect analysis.  Asian students do not “ruin the curve”.  Rather, the better answer is that general laziness and apathy is to blame. As a result, regardless of race, all students can obtain knowledge just as equally.  They just need to work hard at it. Asian students do not ruin the curve because they are the smartest race, but perhaps raise the bar because of their hard work and dedication.