From: ''Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians,"

The Notion that Asian-Americans are better educated than whites, African-Americans, or Latinos is somewhat common when thinking about levels of success in comparison to ethnicity.

Studies have shown that Asian-American women earn more than their white and black counterparts. And, anecdotally, in regions like Boston and Silicon Valley, Asian-Americans are prominent among the high-tech community's successful entrepreneurs and scientific innovators.

Facts such as these only feed stereotypes the white world holds of Asian-Americans as industrious, smart, assimilated.

A pressure to be the ''model" minority is where the difficulties often begin for Asian immigrants and Asian-Americans trying to advance in today's more diverse, yet still-evolving, workplaces.

Asian-Americans are of myriad origins and cultures: Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Hmong, and Filipino, to name a few. According to US Census figures, about 13.5 million people of Asian descent live in the United States, and they make up 5 percent of the US population.

They have often experienced being the only Asian in the room, and too often feel as if they represent every Asian in America.

NonAsian Colleagues may lump all Asian Americans ''into one big group."

Jane Hyun who wrote ''Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians," is a career consultant and diversity coach.

One thing the writer lacks is depth, if she had delved more into cultural differences among Asians in her book, which sometimes fails to get beyond the generic stereotypes. Also, given the accomplishments of the Asian community, she should have spent more time establishing, for example, their scarcity at the top echelons of corporate America, despite a lack of data. Or, to combat views that stem from higher pay rates for Asian-American women, Hyun might have pointed out they also have a higher poverty rate than white women.

The writer is at her best when conveying stories about workers' experiences, the pressures put on some Asian-Americans by their parents, or their hesitance to tap into networks or ask for assistance. They do, indeed, suffer from ''good" stereotypes laid on them.

One man was hired, for example, as an analyst because it was ''assumed he was good at math." He did not succeed in the job, and his hiring was harmful to employee and employer.

There is much the non-Asian world wouldn't understand. ''Mark Ly is a dot-com entrepreneur who is still trying to convince his parents that he is in a serious profession," said one case study. His parents view business as a profession filled with people who ''can't hack it in medicine, law, or engineering."


So guys tell us more about this? Only asian in the room? Choosing a proffession your parents wouldnt understand?

Are the good stereotypes pressure?

First of all, in my job I am the only asian worker there. There was a guy that was hired to do produce and cashier but for some reason he left. I noticed that many of the customers that come to our store in general are very positive towards me.

Here's another assumption which you probably noticed. As a filipino(born outside of the US) raised in america, I noticed that many filipinas(female) are working as nurses and in the healthcare field. I noticed that many caregivers are also filipinos as well. My mom used to work at a nursing home taking care of the elderly. I guess the reason why many filipinos take healthcare/caregiver positions is because there is a need out there because the baby boomer generation is reaching retirement or is in retirement as we speak. Also healthcare is really a stable job and high paying at times.

My mom's friends would always talk about their daughters taking nursing so I am sure these women are pressured also by family to go into nursing. My cousin took nursing school and she graduated. She had jobs off and on and from the last I heard from her, she is not working. I do believe that some asian families still classify what career choices are very important to them in terms of prestige, status and keeping up with the Joneses.

It is hard to break out of that mentality because many asian kids feel that they have to "go against" family wishes in order to find their true profession. I heard...only heresay that some disowned their kids for that too as well.

Overall, there is pressure because you can see it on people's faces. I don't want to be placed in a situation where I am forced to do a profession where I am not happy even if it means I am making tons of money.

__________________
Jag är en miljardären

Jag älskar varma kvinnor

Just a reminder

Those gals on my avatar are my girlfriends!!

My favorite one is on the left!!!

My parents wanted me to be a lawyer, doctor or engineer... I wanted to be a writer. But it eventually just became too much pressure for me to be in a profession that pays well, and defying asian parents can be problematic at best, so I just went ahead and got an electrical engineering degree. I certainly don't regret that choice, but I do think that after I sell my current business I am going to go back to school for a literature degree.

It's foolish to think that Asian Americans can assimilate into mainstream America like European immigrants did in the past. It's comparing apples to oranges. White European immigrants have a huge advantage being that they look phenotypically white. The struggles of Irish and Italian immigrants with that of Asian is really moot. Sure Irish and Italian immigrants had their struggles, faced racism and persecution and eventually were accepted and assimiliated and the big part of the reason is that Irish and Italian immigrants are phenotypically white whereas Asians obviously are not.

I always laugh when people compare the struggles of Asian immigration with that of European white immigration. It's a fallacy to think Asian immigrants can change and assimilate into mainstream society the way European immigrants did. The only people that I know of that believe this are white people.

This is why we have to bring more to the table in terms of what we can offer than our white counterparts in order to compete. Unfortunately it has been a double edged sword because we're now the poster child for the typical rags to riches immigrant story where America believes that every Asian that gets off the boat is destined to attend a top college or university and a white collared profession afterwards.

I dont think anything youve said has to do with the topic on hand. Stereotypics are there because people arent the same and people have to look for was to catagorize one another.

It has nothing to do with the Italian or Irish at all.

Of course it does. My response was to the bamboo ceiling which is the variation of the glass ceiling (a big reason of the bamboo ceiling phenomenon is the issue of assimilation) which was the article that you posted.

Yes and the question at the end wasnt answered in your post.

Actually I did. And I quote:

I did suggest the duality of the model minority stereotype or "good" stereotype there.

I was talking about these questions

So guys tell us more about this? Only asian in the room? Choosing a proffession your parents wouldnt understand? Are the good stereotypes pressure?