Demystifying the "Model Minority" Encounter: Concerns and Challenges in School Counseling with Asian Americans.

Demystifying the "Model Minority" Encounter: Concerns and Challenges in School Counseling with Asian AmericansThe Asian American population grew more than four times faster than the total U.S. population from 2000-2010; although not the largest ethnic minority, the group is the fastest growing single race (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). They averaged the highest percentage of individuals with a bachelor's/higher degree and the highest average household incomes among U.S. ethnic groups (Ramakrishnan & Ahmad, 2014). Nicholas Kristof (2015) in The New York Times named the phenomenon "The Asian Advantage. " Due to their educational and economic attainments, the group has been stereotyped as a "model minority" whose members cannot possibly be troubled or need assistance.However, the model-minority image often increases other groups' anti-Asian discrimination and racism because it arouses envy and fear (Hartlep, 2013), thus adding mental health distress for many of Asian descent (McAuliffe & Associates, 2013). At the 2016 Academy Awards (Oscars) ceremony, African-American host Chris Rock criticized the exclusively White racial makeup of the nominees, yet at the same time introduced racist jokes: One made fun of children of Asian descent while labeling them as "the most dedicated, accurate, and hardworking accountants for the Academy. " This model-minority stereotypical joke, among others, does harm to the 60% of the global audience that are Asians (Barnes, & Associates, 2016; Feinberg, 2016; Garcia, 2016). The stereotyped image further partitions Asian Americans from other groups for many public services (Ishimatsu, 2013; Ng, Lee, & Pak, 2007). In postsecondary settings, Asian American students have reported less educational benefit, support, and satisfaction than White students (Ng et al., 2007). Comparing 936 Asian Americans and 865 Latinos/Latinas in PreK-12 settings, Guo, Kataoka, Bear, and Lau (2014) found that positive school performance may create barriers for high-achieving Asian Americans to access mental health services. The study further showed that Latinos/Latinas "were 63.1 times more likely than Asian Americans to be referred for the service" (Guo et al., 2014, p. 33). Based on the striking disparity and other research, Guo et al. (2014) concluded school personnel may have particular difficulties to identify Asian American students' needs. Scholars have also attributed the underservice to the inadequate or incompetent services of helping professionals (Zhou, Siu, & Xin, 2009). Among various school personnel, school counselors-the most accessible, trained, helping professionals in youngsters' daily learning environment-are often the prime personnel responsible for answering their counseling needs (Shen, 2002). In fact, the American School Counselor Association [ASCA] (2012), requires counselors to competently serve students with diverse features. In protesting Chris Rock's Asian jokes at the Oscars, Star Trek's George Takei said, "Diversity means inclusion of a pluralism. " In other words, we must move past White-and-Black or White-and-Hispanic complicity. Research shows that Asian Americans, including youth, continually underuse mental health and counseling services (Anyon, Ong, & Whitaker, 2014; Singh, 2009). On one hand, one may wonder if school counselors have really given Asian American children deserved attention. On the other hand, before demanding more from counselors, it is only fair to examine empirically whether these stereotyped "model" children do have counseling needs. If so, what are the needs, and among them, which have challenged the counselors? If not, the counselors may not deserve the blame for the underservice. Scientific research is necessary to identify (a) the needs of youth in the fast-growing Asian American population and (b) the challenges posed for school counselors. Hence, this study examines the reports of counselors who had actual experience with Asian American students. …