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Summary Of The Harmful Myth Of Asian Superiority By Ronald Takaki

Decent Essays

There are always times when people stereotype others simply by the way they look at times it is unconscious. It could be thought that one minority group is better than another when in reality all minority groups are the same. “The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority,” by Ronald Takaki, he claims that the Asian Americans are not as successful as others claim. Even though Takaki gives enough evidence to support his claim, his argument is ineffective because of his undocumented sources, disorganization, and assumptions. In the essay Takaki, states that the Asian American community has not seen many changes. One reason that he provides is that most Asian Americans live in states like California, New York, and Hawaii, which are the states with higher living costs. Another reason he gives is that when comparing family incomes the number of workers is not considered. Takaki also mentions that because of the language barrier they are not able to compete for good paying jobs. For Takaki the good use of evidence helps with what he is trying to prove. For example, if he had simply gone on without providing evidence the readers …show more content…

At the beginning he sets out to prove the myth, but fails to explain what it is with details. He also does not only talk about African Americans and how they feel about this “myth” but also talks about Asian immigrants. Once he mentions the immigrants he loses focus on what the Asian Americans have done to become the “model minority.” For example, “Hmong and Mien refugees from Laos have unemployment rates that reach as high as 80 percent” (Takaki 125). These statistics are great to know but are not of great use for trying to show that the myth is not true. Takaki’s ideas are good but not all relate to what he was arguing which makes it unorganized. With all of what he talks about the reader also forgets what it was that he was trying to prove in his

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