Hung+Nguyen

= = flat =Oriental Stereotypes: Truth or Myth? = Asian stereotypes have evolved dramatically through the past century, especially in the media and our everyday lives. The social category that I would be most familiar with is Asian-Americans. Encountering many of the Asian stereotypes, I can understand why the elements of the characterization are proclaimed. Jerry LaVigne, an African American comedian who used Asian stereotypes as jokes in one of his videos, Ask Asians, said things like, “Why are ya’ll (Asians) constantly embarrassing us in math class? Everytime I see an Asian, ya’ll are like Toyko Drifters. And I don’t wanna see none of ya’ll in the streets ‘cause ya’ll be kicking people in the faces and shit.” So, using these specific stereotypes, doing well in math, and being skillful in martial arts are good, which benefits us, while some of the others like driving crazily is bad.

 Everyone can assume and say that Asians are academically intelligent, specifically in the math subject, but is it true? Of course it’s true! However, there’s a reason for this assumption. Most parents or guardians would never want their child to fail at anything, especially school work. Therefore, Asian parents are strictly forcing and encouraging their child to put his or her heart into school. Parents have to constantly remind the child to try to get a better education for a successful future. This boost produces confidence for the child to work harder and become better at things he or she is studying in.

 The characterization of Asians being good at math does benefit us. Math is used in our work life. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to create ideas nor solve problems. For example, if you want to be a architect, you would need math to create a building. If you want to be a dancer, you still need to do math to create a choreography that fits the beat in the music. Therefore, who wouldn’t want to do well at math? Work, school, and life itself would progress much easier and become more productive.

 Other than solving math problems, fighting and martial arts is also a talent for the Asian people. The characterization of Asians and natural martial arts has grown dramatically throughout the past century by using media like television shows or movies. Bruce Lee, for example, brought martial arts into Hollywood and made a breakthrough movie called Enter the Dragon. Using this method, the artist captured the viewers’ eyes, making the piece extremely appealing. It was unique and different, in which became a Hollywood blockbuster film. After Bruce Lee, you continue to see other Asian martial artists follow his steps, such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

 However, stereotyping that “all Asians can fight” is not true, but it is definitely a benefit. Knowing that Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li can kick some ass in their movies, people assume that any Asian person can fight. Jerry LaVigne Jr. jokes in one of his videos, “You can’t fight Asians, you can’t. Only Asians fight Asians.” Apparently, this is a benefit whether an Asian can fight or not. It’s obvious that a person that can fight always has that confidence of defending himself or herself. And when you can’t fight, it’s really hard to show that image that you know how. So being Asian, you have a dependable amount of confidence that you can be compared to any well-known Asian martial artist. Therefore, some Asians know Kung Fu, and some have the ability to “Kung Fool.”

 “Asians can’t drive, I swear! They just gotta stay out of the streets,” one of my friend’s joked when we encountered an Asian man in his late 50s, driving about 25 miles per hour at a 40 miles per hour limit zone. I believe this stereotype is somewhat true, but somewhat not. Our generation of Asian-Americans are much better drivers, in my opinion, compared to the older ones. There must be a reason why Asians are bad drivers, though.

 It’s unbelievable how the Asian culture is so different compared to our daily American lives. For example, from the appearance of the car, to the rules of the streets. If you look at your steering wheel, it is located to the left of the car. Yet when looking at foreign cars, it’s located to the right, while the streets are constructed much differently compared to American streets. In addition, the American laws of driving are more strict and cautious about safety, while in some Asian countries the laws of driving are more free and dangerous. Driving freely and dangerously can be a normal thing to the Asian community. For example, in Vietnam, when people see a red light, they still go until one person is nice enough to stop for all the other people on the other side to go. These lack of rules makes it much more difficult for the older generation to get used to the American way of driving.

 Driving crazily does not benefit us at all. I mean, if you can’t drive crazily, and that means not following the rules, then it’ll be really hard for yourself and other drivers to reach a specific destination. I’ve actually seen some people slowing down because they see an Asian on the road. That must be so bad to have someone slow down because they’re so scared of you. Being bad at driving means that it’ll be really dangerous for the driver, and other drivers in the streets. You can put peoples’ lives at stake as well as your own.

 I know every social category has its ups and downs but if you take a look at any characterization, you can turn it into a positive and make yourself feel confident. For example, by being really good at math, all your classmates would want to have your grade and tutor them, in a way, making you more superior in that subject. Being really good at martial arts, the bullies and jocks will never pick on you. Lastly by being bad at driving, everyone can give you your own space on the street. In other words, stereotypes can also be a good thing. It makes you who you are.

=Catholic Mass Aggravates Students at University =   At the University of New Mexico, there are a lot of religious groups and associations such as Christian groups, Catholic groups, and even Buddhist groups. These religious groups hold their educational lessons, their mass or any other ceremony usually within a holy area to worship God, gods, or a teacher. However, on August 26th, 2011, a Catholic group, the Aquinas Newman Center, held a mass at the duck pond area of the University of New Mexico. The group planned to “’kick off’ the school year by enforcing a mass in the public” (Erven). However, students were not really satisfied and said that this act was “a violation of the separation of church and state” (Erven).

 The University of New Mexico is a public university and is open for everyone, even religious and political groups. Brother Gabriel Dault, also the Aquinas Newman Center’s director, doesn’t think there is a problem with this event because it promotes the Catholic group. This is also the third year that the group has performed its public mass. Some participants in the even say that they perform to conform any curiosity of the students or attendees of the University about the religion. Dault did also mention asking the University for permission to have this mass:

 “According to the University, we (Newman Center) went through all the correct procedures to have our own event and it was approved by the University,” Dault said. “The University in no way sponsors the event, and it’s the same as letting polical groups on campus.” (Erven)

 Dault explained that he already had asked permission to use the public area of the University to carry out the event.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Most of the protesters against this event are the students of the university. Students say that it’s not right because everyone is not considered to be Catholic so they wouldn’t want school to get involved with their religious life. Peter Lundman, a professor and student from CNM, writes to the governor of New Mexico, Susana Martinez, the UNM Board of Regents, the Freedom of Religion Foundation, and others to try to put a stop to this event (Erevn).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Lundman compares Hindu rituals to Catholoc rituals and says it’s a violation of separation of church and state (Lundman). However, this analogy may be wrong, considering that there is a difference between rituals of Hindu groups and Catholic groups. Therefore, Lundman’s explanation is not fully analyzed.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> However, some students at the University decided to compare this situation with an old case, Good News Club vs. Milford Central School. A New York public school, Milford Central School, had adopted a new policy, to allow school attendees to “[hold] social, civic and recreational meetings and entertainment events and other uses pertaining to the welfare of he community, provided that such uses shall be nonexclusive and shall be open to general public" (Cline). With this new policy, Good News Club, a “community-based Christian youth organization”, wanted to be more active like the other groups at school (Cline) . Like the Aquinas Newman Center, Good News Club wanted to show students their activities and lessons, publicly. The youth group decided to write a letter to request the activities, but then eventually got turned down by the Superintendent and counselor of Milford Central School, McGruder, also who argues that:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> “…the kinds of activities proposed to be engaged in by the Good News Club are not a discussion of secular subjects such as child rearing, development of character and development of morals from a religious perspective, but were in fact the equivalent of religious instruction itself.”(quoted by McGruder in Cline)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> After the ruling of the court, it was said that the school connot exclude any groups because of their viewpoints (Cline).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Even though it can be offensive to other students, the Aquinas Newman Center still has the right to perform its events just like any other group can, especially when they got permission from the school. I can understand that the students can take it the wrong way, because having some simlarities to these protesters, I'm not Catholic. This can be a huge problem to the school, but I can understand both viewpoints of the religious group and the protesters. From the Catholic group's perspective, I can see clearly that they want to show the public their group activities, as well as comforming any questions to the students' curiosity. Overall, the Newman Center wants to expand their youth association and perform any even that would be important to their moral or religious beliefs. On the other hand, the protesters believe that it's not right to perform these particular activities (religious masses or ceremonies), because some students do not want their religious and moral beliefs to interfere with their school life.

=<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; text-align: left;">Physical Punishment: Acceptable or Not? = <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 35.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Parents or guardians have their own way to punish and teach their child discipline. In the case of the narrator of Gish Jen’s //Who’s Irish//, we understand that her way of teaching her granddaughter discipline is physical punishment, such as spanking. When we refer spanking to Asian culture, we see that it is evident that the parents use it. Looking grandmother’s perspective, she believes that her way of teaching leads to a successful life. She also believes that if one doesn’t use physical punishment, children will be disrespectful and will not listen. Due to the fact that I’ve been physically disciplined in my childhood before, I believe that Sophie’s grandma’s treatment to Sophie’s behavior was acceptable, especially when the child is young and needs to learn respect for her elders. However, there are some circumstances when parents perform cruel punishment on their child. All in all, physical punishment should be acceptable, where some actions may cause problems to the child while some may guide the child to success.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Physical punishment can be a way of teaching a child discipline, but it can also be abuse as well. Abuse is defined as a corrupted practice, and or physical maltreatment. We can see that this practice is wrong, especially when a child is being physically and mentally damaged for no reason. So the only physical punishment that should be <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> unnecessary would be child abuse and neglect. The difference between child abuse and physical discipline is that one has negative output, while the other results positively. The way a child builds his or her personality is due to his or her parents, and how they treat the child. The mistreatment puts the child into emotional and/or physical pain, which can inflect on his or her future growth. According to the //Childhelp's National Child Abuse Statistics//, "about 80% of 21 year olds that were abuse as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder." We can clearly see that this type of physical punishment does not result in a positive impact for the child. Subsequently, this abusive manner towards can harm the child mentally and physically, causing the child to develop a negative behavior.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Physical punishment doesn't always result in abuse and neglect but can also be considered as discipline. Physical discipline or corporal punishment is the act of inflicting physical pain (spanking) to a child for his or her wrongdoings, and to teach the child to change his or her behavior. In Chinese culture, we see that corporal punishment is necessary. By spanking a child, the child will learn from right and wrong. Also, this method may teach the child to stay on task and perform well academically. Chinese system of parenting was predicted to result in poor work and bad grades in school, while the Chinese students are actually performing well (Chao). In the story of //Who’s Irish//?, we see that the grandmother is a very strict and fierce woman that uses spanking as a method of teaching her children discipline. Referring back to the grandmother’s perspective, she believes that if physical punishment is used to the younger ones, they will result in a better future. She supports this theory by comparing her daughter, Natalie, and Natalie’s husband. Natalie was disciplined in a Chinese system of parenting at a young age. Later on in life, she becomes successful, having a job as a vice-president at a bank. However, Natalie’s husband is Irish, and was raised in a European-American system of parenting as one of four brothers. He and his brothers now do not have a job (Jen).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> According to Ruth K. Chao’s article, Immigrant Chinese and European-American mothers were administered and observed to compare which type of parental style can result in success for the child. After administering and measuring the “training” styles, it is found the Chinese mothers’ score substantially higher than the Euro-American mothers in school work of their children. The training style of the Chinese mother might be a little strict and harsh, but it could also give a child determination to make his or her parents proud. The child’s parents give him or her reason for trying harder. Overall, when a parent uses physical punishment to teach the child discipline, it should prepare the child for the real-word in his or her near future.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Overall, we see that physical punishment can result negatively and positively. The act of abuse and neglect is not acceptable and is unnecessary. This action towards the child is not defined as a method of training, but more of a cause to create a substantial problem to the child’s life. We can see that it produces a negative impact on the child’s life and the chance of causing him or her to have a psychological disorder. However, when we look at physical punishment such as corporal punishment or physical discipline, we can define this as a method of training the child. In Gish Jen’s story, the grandmother uses spanking as a method and believes that it works. It is necessary to spank a child for his or her wrongdoings to teach them what is right and wrong to do to help them succeed in life. Comparing the Chinese method of parenting to the European-American’s, we can conclude that even if Chinese parents are most strict and physical, they can induce and encourage their children to perform better in school work, and can put them in a better lifestyle. Therefore, physical discipline is necessary because it creates a guidance for the child to prepare for the ambiguous journey ahead of them.

= References =
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Ask Asians//. YouTube. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU6RKs07PWM&ob=av3e>.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Cline, Austin. "Court Decision - Good News Club v. Milford Central School." About.com: Agnosticism / Atheism - Skepticism & Atheism for Atheists & Agnostics. About.com. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. <@http://atheism.about.com/library/decisions/religion/bl_l_GoodNewsMilford.htm>.
 * 3) Chao, Ruth K. "Beyond Parental Control and Authoritarian Parenting Style: Understanding Chinese Parenting Through the Cultural Notion of Training." Print. Rpt. in Child Development. 4th ed. Vol. 65. Blackwell, 1994. Print.
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Erven, Chelsea. "New Mexico Daily Lobo: Catholic Mass Draws Protests." New Mexico Daily Lobo : The Independent Voice of University of New Mexico since 1895. Daily Lobo, 26 Aug. 2011. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. <<span class="wiki_link_ext">@http://www.dailylobo.com/index.php/article/2011/08/catholic_mass_draws_protests >.
 * 5) Jen, Gish. Who's Irish?: Stories. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1999. Print
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">"National Child Abuse Statistics | Childhelp." Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse | Childhelp. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. <@http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics>.
 * 7) Photograph. Web. <@http://static.pokato.net/2010-11-16-11-13-151672840364.jpg>.
 * 8) Photograph. Web. <@http://www.budomate.com/images/martial-arts-images/2011/10/bruce-lee-action-museum.jpg>.
 * 9) Photograph. Web. <<span class="wiki_link_ext">@http://http://www.cefmaryland.org/CMSFiles/Image/Good-News-Club/children%20praying.jpg >.