The perception of Asian American and Pacific Islanders as the “model minority” because of their exceptional educational achievement needs reevaluation, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are categorized as one big group, masking the challenges faced by students in some of the Asian subgroups, according to “Information Sharing Could Identify and Address Challenges That Some Asian American and Pacific Islander students Face.”
If Asian and Pacific Islander students were grouped into a more specific demographic categories — Indian, Chinese, Laotians, Hmong, Samoan, for example– the report suggests then educators would see that the needs of certain students are similar to that of Blacks and Hispanics.
Although they make up about 5 percent of the population, in 2005, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders age 25 and older had the highest number of college degrees at 48 percent, followed by Whites at 30 percent; Blacks at 17 percent and Hispanics at 12 percent.
However, looking at each of the different subgroups, only certain groups are educationally successful. For example, the largest degree holders in the subgroups were Asian Indians and Chinese.
