A recent study funded by the National Science Foundation, found that Black and Asian undergraduate college students are negatively affected by stereotypes and labels within their science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) academic environments.
Dr. Ebony O. McGee, author of the report, conducted interviews documenting the academic experiences of 61 Black and Asian STEM students from six universities and colleges across the United States. The report titled “‘Black Genius, Asian Fail:’ The Detriment of Stereotype Lift and Stereotype Threat in High-Achieving Asian and Black STEM Students,” was published in the American Education Research Association (AERA) Open Journal.
Originally, McGee planned on focusing solely on Black student’s experience in the STEM collegiate field. However, she found that Black and Asian students both compete with their own set of stereotypes, on opposite ends of the spectrum, to obtain success.
“They both feel like they have to work twice as hard,” said McGee, who is an associate professor of education of diversity and urban schooling at Vanderbilt University. “They both do things that challenge their mental and physical well-being. They both are mindful of how and the ways in which they study and a host of other good interactions they have with faculty members. So there are some similarities in terms of how they deal with being stereotyped even though the material outcomes are different.”
McGee found that Black students were stereotyped as being “intellectually inferior” to their peers. In her interviews with Black students, many revealed that they felt as though their classmates expected them to fail.
“I can’t win,” said participant ‘Chris’ in his interview with McGee. “If I don’t study, I’m just proving to the class that I shouldn’t be here. If I do study — and when we study, we succeed — I get the highest grade in the class and I’m either one of two things: a cheater or a genius. Nobody acknowledges my hard work and my right to be there, whether I get some good grades or fail.”
On the other hand, Asian students are facing an increased pressure to sustain the stereotype of being “intellectually superior” and the “model minority.” According to McGee’s interviews, many Asian students felt like failures if they did not uphold their high-achieving stereotype.
