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

Demystifying Model Minority Encounter: Concerns and Challenges in School Counseling with Asian AmericansThe Asian American population grew more than four times faster than total U.S. population from 2000-2010; although not largest ethnic minority, group is fastest growing single race (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). They averaged highest percentage of individuals with a bachelor's/higher degree and highest average household incomes among U.S. ethnic groups (Ramakrishnan & Ahmad, 2014). Nicholas Kristof (2015) in New York Times named phenomenon The Asian Advantage. Due to their educational and economic attainments, group has been stereotyped as a minority whose members cannot possibly be troubled or need assistance.However, 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 2016 Academy Awards (Oscars) ceremony, African-American host Chris Rock criticized exclusively White racial makeup of nominees, yet at 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 Academy. This model-minority stereotypical joke, among others, does harm to 60% of global audience that are Asians (Barnes, & Associates, 2016; Feinberg, 2016; Garcia, 2016). 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. study further showed that Latinos/Latinas were 63.1 times more likely than Asian Americans to be referred for service (Guo et al., 2014, p. 33). Based on 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 underservice to 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 prime personnel responsible for answering their counseling needs (Shen, 2002).In fact, American School Counselor Association [ASCA] (2012), requires counselors to competently serve students with diverse features. In protesting Chris Rock's Asian jokes at 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 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 needs, and among them, which have challenged counselors? If not, counselors may not deserve blame for underservice. Scientific research is necessary to identify (a) needs of youth in fast-growing Asian American population and (b) challenges posed for school counselors. Hence, this study examines reports of counselors who had actual experience with Asian American students. …