The Asian American focus on test scores and reinforcing the bamboo ceiling

by doorhalfopen

I’m sure by now many of you have heard of the New York Magazine article by Wesley Yang, Paper Tigers: What happens to Asian-American overachievers once test-taking ends?. It’s very long and has drawn a lot of criticism. The writer is uncompromising in the points he makes, which is one reason why the article generated so much buzz. It’s not hard to see why, with passages like this:

But intrinsic intelligence, of course, is precisely what Asians don’t believe in. They believe—and have proved—that the constant practice of test-taking will improve the scores of whoever commits to it.

Did an Asian American just generalize Asian Americans? That seems to be a major problem with this article right off the bat. If the writer wasn’t Asian himself, there would be masses of people out for his blood. As a result, a lot of responses are aimed at what was wrong with his points.

The problems with his writing and point of view are thoroughly covered in the many responses to it, such as the ones I linked to above. Instead of that, I want to focus on the points he does make, the issues that he does shine light on. After all, he is taking what he sees around him and interpreting it, with a few assumptions and generalizations thrown in. Biased as it might be, it’s still based on observation and I think it’s worth exploring.

Something that I heard in the workplace recently got me thinking. I was speaking with a coworker about someone else in the office, who I have yet to meet. My coworker is Caucasian, and has always been respectful, especially when it comes to sensitive issues like sexual orientation or race. In describing this person, my coworker mentions “he speaks very authoritatively—for an Asian guy”. He did apologize immediately after, in case I took offense. I didn’t, because I was too busy thinking about who in my network I would call an authoritative Asian guy. I couldn’t come up with very many.

One of the criticisms against the article is that Wesley Yang is saying we should make ourselves more “white” in order to progress, to be more “American”, and are dismissing the article due to this. Let’s forget about him for a moment. I have a lot of Asian friends, and I am not always keeping track of the habits and behavior of each one. At least, not actively doing so. I went ahead and gave it a try.

My friends are not “faceless” or “nameless”, but are they generally less animated than those of other races when speaking? Do they seem more quiet and reserved? I can’t perform a study or anything, but looking back I am inclined to answer “yes”. Of course I am not insulting my friends, but is it not interesting to think about why these differences exist? And if we can somehow figure out the cause, is it something we should change? What effect would this have for Asian Americans in, say, the workplace?

Assertiveness, enthusiasm, and confidence are not “white” characteristics. One recurring theme on this blog is that our community should not work to break stereotypes, but respect diversity within our community. I don’t think our community is filled with faceless, nameless faces. However, from my own observation (which is inevitably subject to my own biases), there is a disproportionately large number of Asians who are quiet and reserved, who have a severe lack in self-confidence. From the conversation with my coworker, I also realized that I see very few Asian Americans who have, either developed or just inherent in their personality, the qualities that would make them great leaders.

It’s not really possible to write on a topic this broad without including lots of holes, so for the sake of discussion let’s assume the following are true. We can then focus on a very specific and (possibly) disproportionately large subsection of the Asian American community.

A leader must be assertive, distinguished, and passionate. These three things don’t make a leader, leaders have these characteristics.
A good portion (> 50%) of Asians get into their school due entirely to test scores and grades.
Asians focus on tests and grades at the heavy expense of everything else in their lives

The conclusion we can derive from this is simple. Because test scores got a majority of Asians into their schools, they are more likely to focus on classes and test scores. Because of the focus on tests and classes, which do not teach them to be assertive, distinguished, and passionate, they do not gain leadership skills. As a result, Asians do not become leaders. This is clearly an oversimplification, and simple overarching explanations like these are probably why Wesley Yang received received so much negative feedback. Of course there are a lot of people who don’t follow the second and third assumptions, but that’s not the point. We are talking about the people who do.Yang provides examples where schools that place heavy emphasis on test scores for admission end up accepting a very high percentage of Asian students. There is some empirical evidence of this in my own surroundings. I see this happening to schools in Cupertino, for example, so I am confident that it happens. Drawing a second conclusion based on my own experiences, if the focus on test taking doesn’t directly hinder Asian Americans’ ability to succeed in the real world, I believe it’s at least correlated.

There’s something called the bamboo ceiling in corporate America. Yang describes it well in his article.

The researcher was talking about what some refer to as the “Bamboo Ceiling”—an invisible barrier that maintains a pyramidal racial structure throughout corporate America, with lots of Asians at junior levels, quite a few in middle management, and virtually none in the higher reaches of leadership.

This isn’t something he made up. It’s something that every Asian I’ve met who has been in Silicon Valley for over twenty years is very familiar with. They were almost all immigrants when they started their career here, and there were probably many other factors at play–cultural differences, language barriers, etc. In a way the bamboo ceiling for people who grew up overseas, while not fair, is a little more understandable.What about their kids? Having spent their lives here, they speak English at a young age, are immersed in American culture, and grow up the same way non-Asian kids do. Therefore they should be fully integrated into our community, right? Not necessarily. After all, they are brought up under the roofs of these people. Many of these parents did not grow up going to American schools. As a result, they may be inclined to treat education for their children the same way they treated education themselves when they were younger.

From my limited knowledge of Hong Kong’s school system, it is developed in such a way that most schools look primarily at exam scores to determine admission. This isn’t just college; it includes middle schools and high schools as well. Many Asian countries follow a similar system. Naturally, the parents who had to pass these exams to get where they are now will pass it onto their kids. In addition, many of them came to the US to create a brighter future for their children, and one major step in achieving this is to make sure the next generation’s future is secure.

This is when the test taking comes in. Getting the kids into good schools will give them valuable degrees required to secure a great job and do the parents proud. Making sure the children admitted to a great school is not a preference; it’s a requirement. At least that’s how it might sound on paper.

And yet the numbers tell a different story. According to a recent study, Asian-Americans represent roughly 5 percent of the population but only 0.3 percent of corporate officers, less than 1 percent of corporate board members, and around 2 percent of college presidents. There are nine Asian-American CEOs in the Fortune 500. In specific fields where Asian-Americans are heavily represented, there is a similar asymmetry. A third of all software engineers in Silicon Valley are Asian, and yet they make up only 6 percent of board members and about 10 percent of corporate officers of the Bay Area’s 25 largest companies.

So what exactly is the problem here? Assuming that good test-taking will get people to good schools, and good schools will lead to success in the workplace, we should be seeing very different results. Somewhere along this process, an assumption has turned out to be false. The bamboo ceiling is affecting people who were born and raised in America, who understand the culture and speak perfect English. What the parents originally thought was holding them back, and made an effort to correct for their children, is not making the impact that they had hoped.This helps us narrow it down a little. In Yang’s article he writes that culture may still be playing an effect, but not as glaringly obvious. Instead of the superficial differences–manners, vocabulary, etc.–could it be that a fundamental piece of the individual’s behavior, shaped by Asian cultures, is limiting their success in the workplace? One example brought up in the article is the classic classroom scenario–Asian students do not speak up or ask questions in the presence of a group. Again there is no data to support a claim like this; it’s based on observations of my own as well as many of my peers (including my mom). Someone who does not speak up or ask questions is not someone that people generally associated with leadership.

“So let’s say I go to meetings with you and I notice you never say anything. And I ask myself, ‘Hmm, I wonder why you’re not saying anything. Maybe it’s because you don’t know what we’re talking about. That would be a good reason for not saying anything. Or maybe it’s because you’re not even interested in the subject matter. Or maybe you think the conversation is beneath you.’ So here I’m thinking, because you never say anything at meetings, that you’re either dumb, you don’t care, or you’re arrogant. When maybe it’s because you were taught when you were growing up that when the boss is talking, what are you supposed to be doing? Listening.”

The tendency not to speak up is an example, but too specific to be the culprit. It’s more of an indication of the cause, which I believe has to do with perspective. Attitudes that are frowned upon in Asian cultures may be a key to success in the US. Different cultures inevitably have different standards, and whether one is superior over another is up to debate. It is not necessary to abandon one culture entirely for another. If the objective of moving to the US is to find success here though, it important to understand which parts of the culture should be passed onto next generation of Asian Americans and which parts need revision. If all the data cited in Yang’s article is true, then a lot of these parents are focusing on the wrong thing. One part of the article that I liked in particular was his comparison between two Asian proverbs and a common saying in English:

“The loudest duck gets shot” is a Chinese proverb. “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down” is a Japanese one. Its Western correlative: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

Continuing with this metaphor, these parents are more focused on how to make the wheel look like the others, rather than what gets the other wheels grease. In America, you must be heard to be noticed, and you must be noticed in order to be truly successful. While the Asian American population continues to grow steadily, it looks to me like there is a steady stream of immigrant families who continue to be unaware of this. Ultimately, I feel like this contributes a lot–maybe even the most– to the bamboo ceiling we still see today. Racism is definitely still part of it, but it’s hard for me to believe it would continue to be so severe if these Asian parents spent a little less time concentrating on getting their kids into the best schools and a little more time thinking about how to help them integrate into society. This can include encouraging the kids to socialize with different racial groups, teaching them more about different cultures, or anything else that gives them an understanding of people in the US in general. Test scores are important too, but showing them that you care about things other than school can do a great deal in reducing the bamboo ceiling in the long run.

How to actually accomplish this is up to the parent of course, so I won’t get into that.

I had a lot of trouble planning out this blog entry because there is a lot to nitpick about. What if it’s better for society to accept different types of leaders instead of striving for the typical American archetype of a leader? What if there were classes that could teach anyone to be confident, social, and dominant? What if the proportion of Asian parents pushing for high test scores to this extreme is the same as any other race? Clearly I don’t have enough information to prove or disprove these (does anyone?). What I hoped to accomplish here is to look at more specific groups and to apply some of Wesley Yang’s points. Seeing it through this point of view, I believe he makes some good points. He didn’t inject as much personal opinion into the article as might have been suggested on the first page. He took a look at many different groups and individuals that each had different niches but ultimately just want things to be better for our community. He drew his conclusions based on what he saw and how he grew up.

That’s sort of what I do myself. From my own perspective, many Asian families haven’t been in the US long enough to know that great test scores only help bring success in the short run. This might not be creating a bamboo ceiling, but it is definitely making it harder to break. It is fine to agree or disagree. The most important thing that we should do, and perhaps the most positive outcome of the article, is create discussion about this topic. It seems like the only thing someone like me can do to help the community regarding this issue is to generate awareness. Once enough of us think about what else can be done to help our children break barriers like the bamboo ceiling (since the current solutions aren’t working), we will see results. Until then, keep arguing and discussing.

7 Comments to “The Asian American focus on test scores and reinforcing the bamboo ceiling”

Chris B says:

May 25, 2011 at 2:29 am

This was a really interesting entry! how much did your patents value good test scores while u were growing up?

- doorhalfopen says:
  
  May 26, 2011 at 1:19 am
  
  Thanks for asking Chris!
  
  My parents did value test scores, but they never made the scores a focus in my life. It was more of a matter of effort than results. I did take some SAT courses that they suggested, but it was not forced. It always started with “Would you be interested in this?”
  
  One thing I’m very grateful for is they always encouraged me to speak out whenever I was given the chance. One reason is because one of my parents isn’t very good at some things, such as speaking in public. They hoped that I would do better. In writing this reply I realize that they actually were doing what this blog entry was suggesting. At least in test-taking.
  
MW says:

May 26, 2011 at 1:02 am

Again, there is a lot of discussion I can go on about this topic, much like every time. Instead of going on and on about facts, statistics, and results, I would like to put in some personal experience this time, which of course could present bias, but nonetheless, it’s more of experience, not a definition. And as always, one does not represent all and all does not represent one. These are observation that I’ve seen in my life and do not apply to everyone, as matter of fact; it actually doesn’t apply to me personally too.

First of all, I found there are differences between immigrant Chinese students and American Born Chinese students. Again, I am only speaking about Chinese because of my own experience and I don’t know enough to say for “Asian” in general. Immigrant Chinese faces a difficult trying to learn a new culture (if not multiple cultures) under language barrier. In order to keep a social life while facing the on-going pressure of keeping up good test scores, they find people who they associate with, which are also other Chinese immigrant students. They all face the same culture differences in the new world, so they form their own group and isolate themselves with the other cultures. I agree that it is difficult and strange to interact with a new cultures, it required some out-going personalities and stepping out of comfort zone in order to break the culture border. As you mentioned, Chinese’s culture strongly suggest stay within group and behave with the social norm. As a Chinese saying stated: “Gun shoots the bird that stick its head out.” It is a protective mechanism, because it helps them to not get pick on, for both positive and negative reasons. Immigrant Chinese parents usually teach these values to the children for surviving in the “new world”. In contrast, American Born Chinese or a.k.a. ABC learns from their education and cultures from America, where they teach horses can be any color and you can become anything you want to be. Although, ABCs have no problem assimilating into the American culture, they struggle the culture differences at home if their parents first generation immigrant. Since Chinese immigrants students can be a bit socially awkward because they have problem fitting into the American culture, ABCs want to separate themselves from being identified as immigrant Chinese. Some ABCs would even go the miles and try their best seen as American rather than Chinese. With different cultures at home and in school, ABC and immigrant students search for identity confirmation from the two environments, and also have to interact with first generation immigrants parents.

“Go back to where you come from!” – That’s a common phrase expressed by ignorant American, but it doesn’t apply to all. For American born children, no matter of what races, they are from America. The best way to interpret by them is to go back to their hometown city. Second half of my life is in America and the first half is from another country, yet I don’t belong in either. I would consider myself an outgoing person and ready to try new things that doesn’t directly cause harm to me. I think you also mentioned something here about keeping both cultures, I agree but it is not difficult. Mastering two cultures make fluently speaking two different languages seems easy. As a 1.5 generation immigrant, I found it difficult to be accepted in both culture. In the Asian community, they see me as white wash or even American born, and the non-Asian communities automatically label me as Asian or Chinese. While there isn’t a problem being in either community but it becomes problematic when every community categorize me as another community, so it is difficult to find belonging.

Lastly, I just want to mention briefly about white privilege without going into a full on discussion. From my observation and discussion with other students, it is not something that everyone recognizes as a real thing, especially from Caucasian. In my opinion, I see situation can have better turn out if the person is Caucasian instead of Asian. I suggest that instead of just ignoring racism or pretending it doesn’t exist, people who identified themselves as Caucasian (dominant group in this case) should exercises ally behaviors and helps out the Asian immigrants (target group in this case) to assimilate into the American culture (note white culture). Asian immigrants should also learn to be more open to new ideas and cultures and take advantage of being part of a diverse country.

- doorhalfopen says:
  
  June 13, 2011 at 7:26 pm
  
  Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
  
  The focus of this blog entry was on first-generation immigrants who raise their children with hopes of them becoming wildly successful in the workplace. I’m glad you pointed out the difference between first-generation immigrant parents and those who grew up here themselves though. It’s precisely because of this misunderstanding of the culture that is causing some of these parents to focus on the wrong thing.
  
  It’s definitely important for more members of Asian American community to help each other out, especially when it comes to helping new immigrants find a place to fit in here. I plan on writing about the term ‘fobs’ at some point in the future and why a term like this hurts unity within our community and, as a result, leads to issues like what you brought up.
  
  I also want to bring up that I definitely understand what you mean when you say you don’t entirely fit into ‘either side’. One reason why I wanted to start Doorhalfopen was because I felt very in-between at times. I was hoping to use this unique perspective to write commentary that might not be common amongst those in our community.
  
  In the end, it will take a lot for us to see major changes happen that will result in the bamboo ceiling being eliminated. As the Asian American population grows it will be important that we can stick together and use our strength in numbers to accomplish this, bit by bit.
  
Value across generations « doorhalfopen says:

July 20, 2011 at 1:46 am

[…] they are hoping we can break it. I think they have done a good job of avoiding some of the mistakes of other parents in striving for this […]

the beta female says:

March 22, 2012 at 5:19 am

In school, the asian graduate students and post docs never attend seminars and journal club. The ones from India are a little better. It is mostly a Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc kind of thing. They work around the clock churning out data and do not participate in any of the intellectually enriching aspects of graduate school and research. I wish this were not true. I assume a lot of it has to do with not being comfortable speaking English and don’t like participating in large group activities.

However, the most overlooked reason for why Asians occupy so few positions of leadership in science because they tend to come here for their education and then return to their home country to work. They do not participate in journal club and seminars and other group activities for the joy of learning and discussion because they don’t care to assimilate into American culture. My coworker from Malaysia does not care about anything but getting her degree and going back home to the job that is waiting for her. She gave me a blank look when I asked her what made her want to study bird diseases. I don’t think she cares. She wants to get her PhD, get a teaching job in her home country, get married, and have a family. She works 12 hours a day, 7 days a week in the lab to get done.

Sometimes, I get angry that this collectivist, Confucian influence is perhaps ruining graduate schools in America. Advisors and bosses love students like this because they produce very precise results in large quantities very quickly. They are good under pressure. However, they are typically bad presenters and not very creative or passionate about what they do. I am the only American in my lab, and my boss frequently pulls her hair out over how bad her students are at giving talks. (I haven’t given a talk yet, because I’m new, but I tend to be pretty good at public speaking.) The bad presentations are not just a result of the language barrier. The asian students are more like to put a huge table full of numbers on a power point slide, so tiny they are not legible or digestible by the audience, and ramble on about very specific details of their project using terminology that they fail to define. The focus on discussions of the technical aspects of the project rather than the overarching questions and philosophical relevance of the problem. This would be impossible to understand with or without an accent.

I think what your post seems to say is, “There’s got to be a way to make everything fair and equal!!!” and there isn’t. Not everyone can win. You said in your article above that it would be nice if there was a class that could teach everyone to be dominant and confidant. That isn’t possible. Study the normal distribution and soon you will see that most people are mediocre on some scale. It has to be this way. Why would you want everyone to be a leader? Humans function best in small like minded tribes. We are not equipped to deal with the globalization of society. We think we are, but showing how frustrated we get with differences even with all the effort we put into being “racially sensitive” I don’t think we can handle it.

- doorhalfopen says:
  
  March 24, 2012 at 7:18 pm
  
  Thanks for the comment! It’s always interesting to read how real experiences might or might not support the argument. Good point that a lot of people come to the US with no intention of staying here. Since I generally focus on Asian American topics, I sometimes make the assumption that it’s clear I’m talking about groups who see themselves as, to some degree, Americans.
  
  With that in mind, I don’t mean to say that everyone should be a leader, that everything will be equal. I like equality, but it’ll never be fully obtainable. Situations change though, as do perspectives. I think it’s more of a directional goal of moving toward equality than to figuring out the perfect way to get there.
  
  In this post I wrote based on my own observations. The people pushing their kids so hard in my area tend not to be ones who expect their kids to move to Asia. They want the kids to be successful in America, and to build on that even more for their grand kids. From my own observations (and stereotypes, studies…), Asians in America are generally lacking the skills to attain that type of success. It’s not that every Asian should do so, but compared to how many Asian Americans there are in Silicon Valley, for example, it’s disproportionate enough that I think something can be done about it.
  
  edit: I also wanted to note, perhaps being in a Masters program gave you a slightly different perspective? I haven’t been in that environment, where I’m the only American. Interesting stuff.

doorhalfopen