Anyone know what STEM, UCLA and MIT stand for among many Asian Americans?
The first is a quartet of preferred fields of study, as far as many Asian parents are concerned: science, technology, engineering and math. The second is known as “United Caucasians Lost Among Asians,” and the third means “Made in Taiwan.”
These would be really funny jokes, and to some even a point of pride, were it not for the tragedies that sometimes happen among Asian Pacific Islander students in this country.
A few years ago, one of my students, working on a Master of Social Work, confided that he had studied accounting before switching to social work because his parents insisted that he gain some “practical” skill to make a living. So he obtained his B.S. in accounting, even as he hated dealing with numbers, and promptly enrolled in the MSW program. He is lucky.
A friend recently related the tragic story of a young man who had been pressured by his parents to study medicine, because they themselves were doctors and most of their peers’ children also pursued the medical profession. This young man got his M.D., to his parents’ pride and joy, and shortly afterward killed himself. AsianWeek reported on June 13 that Chinese high school students in San Francisco had the highest number of suicide attempts in 2007, according to a survey of over 2,500 students in 14 of the city’s public high schools.
There are no statistics on how many young APIs have been steered away from the careers of their real interest, but a new study by New York University, the College Board, and a commission of mostly Asian American educators and community leaders made a convincing case that API students are far more diverse in their studies than stereotypes would have us believe.
It is true that while APIs are only 5 percent of the population, API students make up at least 10 percent of the undergraduates at the most competitive colleges. At UCLA, for instance, the percentage of Asian and Filipino admission rose from 22 percent in 1985 to 41 percent in 2005, while the Latino rate remained unchanged and the white percentage decreased from 50 percent to 33 percent during the same period (thus the nickname about that school).
On the other hand, more API students are enrolled in community colleges than in four-year schools, and only a fraction of them will go on to earn a four-year degree. Most of the bachelor’s degrees awarded to APIs in 2003 were in business, management, social sciences or humanities rather than in the STEM fields.
So as we honored both mothers and fathers lately, it may be time to remind parents that, for the majority of API students in this country, the best choices for their careers would be to let them decide for themselves. You may indeed save their lives.
Vu-Duc Vuong is a teacher and writer in the Bay Area. vuduc.vuong@gmail.com