We Need To Be Teaching Asian American and Pacific Islander History:
In May of 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill requiring the teaching of Asian American and Pacific Islander history in K-12 curriculums in Florida public schools. This came right on the heels of DeSantis barring public schools from participating in a pilot of the College Board’s course on African American Studies.
In response to the Florida Governor’s decisions, many activists were rightly outraged and spoke out in opposition to the educational and social-emotional harm this decision would have on Black students in Florida, not to mention the rippling effects it could have on local and state policies in other parts of the country.
While the pair of policies may appear contradictory to many observers, this would not be the first time unsavory political actors have attempted to pit Asian Americans against other minority groups in the US.
The model minority myth was invented and continues to be perpetuated to block those seeking to end the educational, economic, and social disparities facing marginalized communities and hurts everyone including Asian American students and community members.
Unfortunately, often lost in the intentionally drummed up outrage is space for conversations about the harm being used as political pawns has on Asian American communities, along with the near complete lack of Asian American History or Pacific Islander history being taught in public schools. Just 11 states require K-12 students to learn any AAPI history. Clearly, we have a real need for a thorough and accurate Asian American History and Pacific Islander Education in our schools.
What is the model minority myth?
First popularized amid the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, the model minority myth was created to define Asian Americans in opposition to other racial/ethnic minority groups.
Relying on stereotypes and out-of-context data, this myth paints Asian Americans collectively as financially well-off, hardworking, and socially and politically docile. The model minority myth creates a monolithic story of over 26 million Americans with family ties to nearly 50 countries, erasing the vastly different backgrounds, histories, and lived experiences of dozens of different communities.
How are we teaching Asian American History now?
Like many marginalized communities in the US, most of us could sum up what we learn about Asian Americans into a few pages in our US history textbooks— if we’re lucky. For most American public school students, that might look like a brief discussion of Japanese internment during WWII, the red scare and rise of communist China, a blip about the Vietnam war, and for current students and recent graduates, possibly a lesson on the War on Terror. That is, if they make it that far before the end of year exams.
In these limited conversations, the stories, contributions of, and impacts on Asian Americans are rarely mentioned, if at all. In all these historical moments, Asian Americans are painted as “the foreign other” to be suspicious of, never as fellow Americans. This serves to isolate Asian American students and educators in the classroom and Asian parents and families in the broader community.
Discussions of the histories of Pacific Islanders in the US are even rarer. Few students in the US learn anything about the histories of the state of Hawai’i, US territories of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, and millions of Americans with ancestry from the islands of the Pacific. These gaps in our textbooks end up disappearing the voices and contributions of Pacific Islander communities in the US.
The way we currently teach AAPI histories (when we do) leads to real world harm. When Asian American and Pacific Islander students see their community members exclusively painted as a threat when mentioned, and otherwise disappeared from the rest of their textbooks, that causes serious mental and emotional harm. And it has major impacts on these students’ social and educational outcomes.
Paired with the pressure of unattainable standards perpetuated by the model minority myth, Asian students report experiencing adverse mental health conditions, including alarmingly high reports of thoughts of or attempted self-harm. Pacific Islander communities similarly experience erasure of their histories from textbooks along with high rates of young people reporting mental health issues.
This also manifests into violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from people who have spent their whole lives being taught to distrust their peers and neighbors.
When we teach an inaccurate and incomplete American history and refuse to be honest about the ways that shapes the present, all students are harmed as they are robbed of a quality education and the opportunity to learn about the contribution of Asian American communities. And Asian American and Pacific Islander students take the brunt of this harm— mentally, socially, and academically.
What can we do?
1. Resist the Bait.
Politicians have long used Asian Americans and Pacific Islander as a wedge between communities of color looking to advance goals of equity and freedom. We must avoid allowing ourselves to be distracted by these attempts to separate those of us pushing for change, and instead form relationships and find spaces of shared struggle and solidarity with everyone in the fight for educational equity for all students.
2. Get Educated.
It is critical to educate ourselves and the people in our lives on the impacts Asian Americans have had on this country, issues facing Asian American and Pacific Islander students and communities today, and the need to join in the fight for safe, equitable education for every child.
3. Push for Change.
We have to continue to push for more opportunities for teaching Asian American and Pacific Islander history both in specialized classed but also as mandatory parts of a comprehensive US history and civics education.
What was your experience learning about Asian American and Pacific Islander History? Let us know in the comments below or by sharing your story here.
I feel like just like Hawaii and Pacific islander are a MAJOR PART OF THIS COUNTRY , SO IS THEIR CULTURE AND THEE HISTORY ABOUT IT. and honestly , although some Asians or asian Indians may not have been born here , some have but either way… who are we to be deemed worthy of deciding whether they as individuals or as an entirety if their contributions to our own country’s history is either of N0 SIGNIFICANCE or whether it’s of any importance or it’s not ? Everyone whose contributed to our country should be seen as important in one way or another whether they contributed as an individual themselves or their ancestors may have been thee ones to pay thee contributions well before their birthdates! Nobody , whatsoever should ever be viewed or looked upon as an insignificance or even looked upon as somebody whom is of a mere “indifferent” type of important individual. Especially when (either them or their parents, grandparent’s, great-grandparents , ancestors and etc.) could’ve played a more important or significant role in our present situation in our society/economic state/ and-or our country’s entire situation altogether as we live in it today than some of even 0UR 0WN families and/or ancestors may have! Especially considering as much as folks of whom which were N0T even close to being American natives have contributed so very much to our current economic , government , judicial , and so many other areas , etc. of this wonderful country as it stands before us today! So many people from so many DIFFERENT PLACES ON EARTH HAVE PLAYED SUCH MAJOR ROLES in such a vast majority of this country’s history well , well before us and even more-so in thee reality of how this beautiful country of ours stands strong before us TODAY! Let us NEVER FORGET what they’ve done for US , as we shall N0T EVER forget what we have also done for ourselves that has brought thee USA to where it is on this very day!