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Teaching For Social Justice: (Post-) Model Minority Moments, Candace J. Chow

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Much of the literature on model minority discourse focuses on impacts of this stereotype on students. Though the Asian American teacher population is small, it is useful to consider how this stereotype also affects the work of Asian American teachers, their identities, and their pedagogy. This article examines how two Southeast Asian American teachers envision teaching for social justice. Although it appears that these two teachers are products of the model minority stereotype because they have succeeded educationally, a closer examination of their educational pathways reveals that many obstacles, including poverty and a lack of English fluency, could have easily …