(Cathy Diep) From the Once Naïve 15 Year-Old Who Knew Nothing

When I was in ninth grade, I joined a culture club at my high school because everyone else did. Sometimes I believed the real reason why students join is to be part of a social connection that brought us all together. But, other times, I know that this social connection we are a part of comes down to one common goal: promoting better understanding and closer ties between and among various sub-components within the Asian culture.

Right now, I am a twenty year-old Asian American college student who knows very little of her past.

Have I ever thought about taking Asian-American Studies? Yes. Did I pursue it? Unfortunately, no.

My first exposure to Asian American Studies started my freshman year in high school when my culture club took a field trip the UCLA. We did the whole registration, name tags, and waiting in line.

Finally, we were welcomed by current UCLA students talking to us about admissions, required materials, college life, and financial aid. Later, we went to an Asian American Studies seminar where representatives from the department discussed what the major entailed to and its purpose.

Mind you, I was well taken to the major and began researching more and more about it when I got home from the field trip!

I wanted to learn Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc. I wanted to travel. I wanted to go to UCLA just for that major!

Then again, I was a naïve 15 year-old who joined a culture club because everyone else did. I did not have a purpose or a goal. Even though I knew little of my country and its past, the thought of it never crossed my mind. I can say without hesitation it was probably a fad I went through. For others, it is possible too. For some, maybe not at all.

Is it important to take Asian-American Studies? As an Asian American, I believe so though we don't necessarily have to pursue a degree in it. If I may recall, an introduction class in Asian-American Studies counts as a part your general education requirements. Something to think about!

If and when I decide to take the course, it has been said to feel uplifting to learn about the difficulties Asian Americans have faced and even more touching to learn about the difficulties they still encounter today.

Hopefully, we can walk away with our own sense of identity on what it means to be an Asian-American. Gender, race, sexuality, and culture have been defined, challenged, and thus, redefined.

Although I have not yet taken an Asian American Studies course, I feel it is not too far along the way until I will be taking one in a couple months.

Five years ago, I would have enrolled in this course for the sake of taking it. Now, there is an appreciation and drive for understanding the history and beautiful culture of Asians in the United States. I am not the 15 year-old I once was. Twenty is the new me!

(Lisa Leong) My People's History

Everything I learned about Asian Americans in my K-12 education can be summed up in one sentence: Chinese laborers built one half of the Transcontinental Railroad. I accepted that that was all there was. Here it was, my people’s greatest and sole contribution to the country: getting exploited.

I remember that the Chinese were good workers willing to risk their lives blowing up mountains to make way for train tracks. Some died from the dynamite blasts. They were well-behaved in contrast to the Irish workers who drank and gambled. Because of their diligence, the Chinese finished their half of the railroad before the Irish.

This is a pretty racist version of history to learn in the fourth grade. While the stereotyping of Irish people is obvious, the depiction of the Chinese laborers seems like a compliment. “Positive” stereotypes are deceptive like that. Good, diligent, and hard-working is the model minority stereotype about Asian Americans, which shades how elementary school kids learn Asian American history. Everyone who goes through the American education system gets the standardized version of U.S. history—from which Asian Americans are largely absent.

Asian American Studies gives the alternative to the standard curriculum. I re-learned about the Transcontinental Railroad in Asian American History class. I think my mouth fell open when the professor cited Ronald Takaki and told us that the Chinese railroad laborers organized a strike in 1867. They demanded the same wages and hours as the Irish laborers. What? I thought they sacrificed their lives setting off dynamite inside mountains so America would be the first to have a transcontinental railroad? Oh, this makes so much more sense.

Recovering this information reversed everything I knew about Asian Americans (my people!) from years of U.S. History—all one sentence of it. They weren’t entirely obedient. They contested their exploitation. The strike wasn’t successful, but they had fought back. I’m addicted to this empowering kind of information. I’ve been taking Asian American Studies for a year, and have had the privilege of getting five hundred thousand more sentences about Asian Americans (rough estimate).

The impact of Asian American Studies can be measured in much more than sentences, though. The Chinese railroad workers’ strike is just one example of how “forgotten” information can change our perceptions. Along with history, Asian American Studies covers literature, art, gender studies, politics, economics, everything we experience. It’s a way of learning about the world and my connection to it. In many ways, I’m learning how to be comfortable in my own skin, and I sense that my classmates feel the same way. There’s a feel-good buzz in Asian American Studies classes.

So when I heard about Harvard’s lack of Asian American Studies, it was kind of a buzzkill. I thought of all the Asian American students at Harvard who don’t get access to a source of empowerment. The students are protesting, rekindling the spirit of the 1980s movement, and asking the university to expand its scope of education. As the classic college institution, Harvard gets the newspaper headline, but Asian American Studies needs to grow everywhere. Half of all Asian American Studies undergraduate programs are in California and there are only two graduate degree programs (San Francisco State University and UCLA). Beyond the university system, I think that Asian American Studies should be more integrated with K-12 education.