Meets General Education Composition II & Non-Western and American Minority Culture Requirements

Course Description

This course considers ways in which historical and political factors in the United States have led to the development of an "Asian American" identity. Anti-immigration laws, barriers to citizenship, and racialized zoning of cities have served as gatekeeping forces to curtail opportunities for participatory democracy amongst Asian immigrants since the late 1800s. In the context of schooling, specific anti-Asian measures in San Francisco and Honolulu promulgated the belief that Asians were "unassimilable" and negative influences on native, White students. "English-Only" movements as well as various school segregation efforts were some of the ways in which larger, societal forces influenced the education of Asian American youth. Other locations, such as Seattle and Los Angeles, sought to acculturate Asian and ethnic minority students into the mainstream through various progressive Americanization and citizenship programs. To be sure, the means of educating Asian Americans occurred along a continuum. To that end, we will be examining particular historical case studies, as well as delving into contemporary issues affecting Asian Americans ? through class, gender, and sexual orientation ? to help us understand various educational policy directives affecting Asian American students.

Concurrently, this course also takes a critical look at what it means to be an "Asian American." Are there some essential, identifying factors that makes one "Asian?" How have we come to conceptualize the "Other," the "Oriental" in the development of western colonialism? What role does schooling have in perpetuating "otherness" within the model minority stereotype (especially since Asian American educational experiences have been idealized and popularized in the US as a successful progression toward the American dream of hard work, merit, reward for effort, and a culture predisposed to learning)? Does the history of Asian Americans in the U.S. have any relevance in the lives of students today? It is hoped that by the end of the semester, you come away with more critical, reflective questions than answers or solutions to the questions posed.

The intensive, multi-stage, writing requirement is designed to assist in your critical reflection, analysis and synthesis of the readings and class discussions. The sequential writing process is meant for you to critically engage with the issues at hand, to begin to develop a level of mastery in understanding the complex subject area in Asian American education.
 

Required Readings

Sucheng Chang, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (Boston: Twayne, 1991).

Stacey Lee, Unraveling the Model Minority Stereotype: Listening to Asian American Youth (Teachers College Press, 1996).

Don T. Nakanishi and Tina Yamano Nishida, Editors, The Asian American Educational Experience: A Source Book for Teachers and Students (New York: Routledge, 1995).

Valerie Ooka Pang and Li-Rong Lilly Cheng, Editors, Struggling to be Heard : The Unmet Needs of Asian Pacific American Children (Albany : State University of New York Press, 1998).

Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York : Vintage Books, 1979).

Eileen Tamura, Americanization, Acculturation, and Ethnic Identity: the Nisei Generation in Hawaii (Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1994).

Meyer Weinberg, Asian-American Education: Historical Background and Current Realities (Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997).
 

Supplemental References

Rey Chow Writing Diaspora: Tactics of Intervention in Contemporary Cultural Studies (Indiana University Press, 1993).

Yen Le Espiritu, Asian American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities (Temple University, 1992)

Gary Okihiro, Margins and Mainstream: Asians in American History and Culture (University of Washington Press, 1994).

Stanley Rothstein, Editor, Serving Asian American Children in School: An Ecological Perspective (Greenwood Press, 1995).

Dana Takagi, The Retreat From Race: Asian American Admissions and Racial Politics (Rutgers University Press, 1992).

Henry Trueba, Li Rong, Lilly Cheng & Kenji Ima, Myth or Reality: Adaptive Educational Strategies of Asian Americans in California (The Falmer Press, 1993).

Lavina Dhingra Shankar and Rajini Srikanth, Editors, A Part, Yet Apart: South Asians in Asian America (Temple University Press, 1998).
 

Course Requirements

There are a total of four writing assignments for this course. You are required to submit drafts of your assignments prior to the deadline dates. Email drafts are acceptable (attachments via Word 98 for Macintosh or RTF format for PC-based computers preferred). You are strongly encouraged to resubmit your assignments, with appropriate revisions, for a higher grade.

• Two Critical Essay Reviews of Course Readings

• Compilation of Asian American Education Resources ? Literature Review

 

 

(6-8 pages, 20 points)

For this assignment, utilize the ERIC database (class time will be devoted to discussing how to access ERIC) to locate at least 10-15 sources related to Asian American education. The sources you choose must NOT be a reading from this course list. Provide the full citation of your source and, in your own words, provide a two-paragraph summary and critique of the findings. This exercise is meant to familiarize you with the range of research related to Asian American education and to locate the places where there is need for further research. In addition, this writing exercise is meant for you to synthesize and analyze the readings in a concise fashion. At the instructor’s discretion, a number of sources will be selected and compiled on the EPS 300 web site on Asian American education.
 
 

• Term Paper ? Research on Asian American Education


(12-15 pages, 30 points)

For the term paper, you will be required to do a research project on some aspect of Asian American experience in the schools or higher education. Some of you may want to examine research on the "model minority myth" and Asian Americans. Others may want to explore the affirmative action debate and the position(s) of Asian Americans. Other topics to explore include: investigating the issue of the dearth of Asian American teachers and professionals in the field of education; educational histories of particular Asian American groups through interviews with older Asian Americans and college and high school age Asian Americans ? as well as finding historical documentation on these histories; interviewing Asian American students here at the University of Illinois to explore their views on their educational experiences as students, particularly as it relates to various academic majors. Some class time will be devoted to assist in your development of your paper idea as well as sharing of drafts. You will be required to present your research findings in front of the class.

The four assignments are worth 80% of your grade. The final paper presentation is worth 10 points (10% of total grade). The remaining 10 points will be allocated for class attendance and participation (see following section for further explanation). The grades will be based on the following scale:
 
 

It is expected that all students come prepared to each class session having read the assigned materials, hand in their assignments on time and attend class regularly and contribute to classroom discussion, including regular email discussion (see following paragraph for further explanation).
 

Class "Participation"

"Participation" is placed in quotes as there are multiple ways of participating and communicating in a classroom environment. Verbal communication is one of the most common modes of self-expression; and I hope that everyone in the class feels free to engage in dialogue and discussion on a regular basis. However, there are those of us who may feel reticent to speak up and prefer to be "silent." As much as I respect individual preferences, I cannot stress too much the importance of sharing one's ideas and thoughts in a public sphere. With that, we challenge the class participants to be aware of one another's participation level and be conscious to defer or take the initiative as needed. In other words, let's respect each other's "voice."

Course Schedule
 
 

Week 1:	Introduction and examination of U.S. Census data on educational attainment-status of Asian Americans. What does it mean to be "Asian American"?
Week 2:	Asian American Histories, Part I Discuss historical concepts of "Oriental"
Week 3:	Asian American Histories, Part II Overview of Asian immigrant history, immigration policies [Draft of Critical Review Essay #1 Due]
Week 4:	Historical case studies of Asian Americans in the US school contexts, Part I
Week 5:	Historical case studies of Asian Americans in the US school contexts, Part II [Critical Review Essay #1 Due]
Week 6:	Historical case studies of Asian Americans in the US school contexts, Part III
Week 7:	Historical and contemporary stereotypes of Asian Americans in the media [Draft of Literature Review Due]
Week 8:	Popular images and stereotypes and the education of Asian American students, Part I
Week 9:	Popular images and stereotypes and the education of Asian American students, Part II [Literature Review Assignment Due]
Week 10:	Policies on Affirmative Action and race in higher education
Week 11:	Invited Speakers from the university and local Urbana-Champaign communities to address issues related to Asian American education
Week 12:	New possibilities for identity formation as Asian Americans ? historical and contemporary examples of active resistance [Share final paper ideas in outline form]
Week 13:	Begin class presentations [Draft of Final Paper]
Week 14:	Class Presentations
Week 15:	Course summary and class presentations
Week 16:	Final paper due