Despite our kids have great grades in school and are well liked by their teachers and some peers, they do experience problems at school. We, as parents, should not ignore their concern, we should actively acknowledge their struggles and help them.
I want to share this biographic essay written by an ABC, without any modification by anyone. I especially like the last sentence.. “I will not be diminished to fit into someone's idea of who I should be”.
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With just one glance at me, you can tell that I'm Asian. If you scan my list of activities, it becomes clear that I'm an Asian girl who serves as the concertmaster of several orchestras, competes as the captain of the Academic Team, and plans to pursue a future in medicine. This makes it uncomfortably easy for some to pigeonhole me without even getting to know me as a person.
One of the more visible aspects of who I am stems from my race. My experiences with race began on the playground in Kindergarten. I was romping around when a classmate tried to get my attention. "Hey, you!" I didn't hear her. This repeated a few times before finally she yelled "Chinky eyes!" I only turned around because the boy next to me was laughing, pulling the corners of his eyes until they were slits. This was only the beginning of my experiences with microaggressions. As someone who is a model minority, I didn't realize that "good" stereotypes, such as being talented in math and music, were oppressive. Once I recognized that the way I was feeling was valid, I identified the importance of having dialogues about this with other people who might be feeling the same way.
My childhood would not have been the same without the potluck celebrations put on by my town's Chinese community. Although I identify with Chinese culture, I never learned to speak Chinese. This never posed a problem until ladies at the Chinese parties would laugh at my American-accented versions of names of dishes. I didn't know what to think; here I was, too Asian to be fully American, yet too American to be fully Asian.
I've learned that there is no shame in being proud of who you are, and I know that no matter how impossible things may seem, if you are determined and not afraid to work hard, there is a solution. Sometimes that solution is found by forging your own path because there isn't one laid out for you. This problem identification and solving process is what draws me to being a physician; going from diagnosis to prescription reminds me of the process of trying to figure out how to maintain my schoolwork while money is tight. We can't afford to regulate the temperature in the house, which means that some nights can be uncomfortable. This resulted in my studying late at night when it's sweltering upstairs (alternating between sitting in front of a fan and bearing the heat because the fan disturbs the book pages) or my taking notes when it's extremely cold (punctuating my studying by getting up to lower the thermostat so that the heater would shut off before the bill got too high).
I am more than what is just on the surface. While I am an Asian violinist, I'm also someone who believes in the power of determination. I'm curious about the world around me, always wanting to learn more, whether that's learning about medical practices or learning about current events. I'm genuinely a people person; I want to help others get to their best selves, whether that's through encouraging words or prescribing treatment. Most of all, I am complex, and I will not be diminished to fit into someone's idea of who I should be.
