I don't think Stereotype Threat has impacted my achievement, at least not academically. If anything, expectations have reverse hurt me. Why can't I get grades more like my cousins, my mom was oft to opine. Mom! I'm not a rocket surgeon, I said, but she doesn't listen. She and my dad were both teachers in Vietnam: she taught English, and he, Math. They wanted me ahead of the school curriculum here, so they had their own homework for me to do after I finished with the school's. In eight grade, this resulted in me being shuttled off everyday in a short, yellow bus to a nearby high school (with a rough rep) for math. That was probably terrifying. Luckily, I wasn't too terribly self-aware yet. See? The negative impacts of expectations. In all seriousness I'm lucky to have had high expectations pressed upon me that I couldn't meet rather than low ones undermining my potential.
For Asian Americans, there may be a different sort of Stereotype Threat. Much has been written of the lack of diversity in the tech industry, but little of it spotlights Asian Americans. While Asian Americans make up a large percentage of tech workforce, "when it comes to leadership roles, their demographic shrinks, along with those of other minorities": the so-called "bamboo-ceiling". Apparently, according to government statistics, Asian Americans have the lowest chance of ascending to management when compared with Blacks, Latinos, and Women in spite of having the highest educational attainment. Personally, I can't say I've ever experienced the "bamboo ceiling", but then I've never really been ambitious in that way.
But I have felt the invisible hand of stereotypes in some other ways. And I can tell you: it's one thing for a single person to doubt or exclude you-- this is pretty easy to shrug off-- but when it's some large, indistinct group that does, it can feel debilitating. However, I'm not one to dwell on such negative, corrosive things. I'm a fairly self-possessed person, so to me, this just increases my odds of surprising people (which is always fun).
What can I or others do to help those suffering under the specter of Stereotype Threat? First and fundamentally, I think one has to truly, deeply believe in everyone's potential. Otherwise, I feel like your thoughts and actions will betray even the best of intentions. Another obvious way to mitigate Stereotype Threat, I think, is to continually push and expect more achievement from a person no matter what they've accomplished. If low expectations undercut a person and sow seeds of doubt, high expectations will hopefully diminish and counteract those effects. Another approach I believe in-- and this may seem counter-intuitive-- is to withhold praise during work. (This is something I fail miserably at. Not only do I praise, but sometimes I gush.) The idea is not to link achievement with extrinsic things, like a teacher's approval, but to the intrinsic: like the joy of discovery or the pride of perseverance. My hope would be that internal motivation, self-desire, blunts the external ill effects of Stereotype Threat. (It should be noted, however, that research from Carol Dweck-- of the Fixed vs Growth Mindset-- showed that praise of intelligence is detrimental while praise of effort is actually beneficial.)
For recommendations on how to reduce Stereotype Threat based on actual research and not my ramblings, see this resource.
P.S. Shit. Reading over my post, it looks like I've basically recommended Tiger Mom strategies. Damn you, mom and dad. And thank you, mom and dad.
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