Asian problems part II: Education and economics

It’s easy to overlook grave problems the Asian American community faces when their stereotypes seem positive in comparison to other minorities. For example, the notion that Asians are overwhelmingly employed, studious and good at schooling might prevent people from believing that we have the worst economic divide of any race in the US, according to legal advocacy group, Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
When AAAJ say that Asians have the worst economic divide, they mean Asian Americans have plenty of well-off
individuals and many in poverty but very few in between.
While the US continually experiences a shrinking middle class, Asian Americans barely have a middle class at all. Education plays a large hand in this; while people with college degrees maintain their economic status, those with less education are not faring nearly as well and contribute to the growing population below the poverty line, according to the Pew Research Center.
Over 66,000 Asian Americans in Los Angeles alone are very low-income despite their abundance of Chinese restaurants, karaoke parlors, nail salons and other entertainments.
Many Asians in dense cities like Los Angeles, receive less educational attainment than their white counterparts. Overall, in the US, Chinese Americans are less likely to have high school or college diploma than whites, and Vietnamese Americans suffer from the lowest level of educational attainment than any other race in the US. This is perhaps the primary factor in Asian’s enormous economic divide.
“I’m going to be the first in my family to graduate college,” said Dana Nguyen, a Vietnamese American and first generation immigrant, “it’s a lot of pressure, but a lot of pride too.”
Similar to Nguyen, I’m currently enrolled in college. If I graduate, even with an associate degree, I will be the first person in all of my extended family to attain a degree.
Despite the idea that Asians excel academically and graduate in vast numbers, now we know the exact opposite is true for Asians in the US. While Asian Americans have higher rates of employment in comparison to whites, this is mostly due to the fact that once Asian immigrants have secured a business or guaranteed vein of income, they often hire their whole families, friends and other immigrants. That’s why restaurants, nail salons and dry cleaning businesses are highly racialized. There are not many other trades Asian immigrants can get into without job experience or speaking English fluently.
However, there are plenty of cities in Washington State bountiful in Asian representation; China Towns and Korea Towns are concentrated areas where Asian American jobs are the most diverse and welcoming of immigrants.
My grandmother, who barely speaks any English and certainly can’t read or write it, lives in Federal Way and fairs just fine. In fact, there are areas there where all the signs are in Korean and all the buildings employ few people who speak English fluently. This is a positive thing, of course, because people like my grandmother have a place where they feel welcome, especially now, when our current administration seems so adamantly anti-immigrant.
However, those areas tend to have a high rate of homelessness. Again, Asians are either thriving or practically dying out. If they can’t get a job in the previously mentioned businesses primarily owned by other immigrants, then they often can’t get any jobs at all.
The solution isn’t simple — so it goes with social issues — but the easiest course of action seems to be making education available and affordable to Asian American citizens and immigrants alike. This could be done with Asian-specific scholarships and dorm housing.
Hiring Asian immigrants will make a difference as well. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, employing immigrants is in the US’ best interest. Contrary to popular belief, hiring immigrants creates jobs rather than takes them away, because most are self-employed in salons, bars and restaurants and pay US-born employees to help maintain these businesses.
US citizens and whites benefit from putting immigrants through schooling and by hiring them and giving them work experience. So, at this point, what argument is there to refuse your support?