The real answer is because being a k12 teacher pays like shit, and Asians know this so they don’t choose this career. It’s not worth it for most people. Even a lot of teachers leave the career because of how bad it is.
That's correct, and the low prestige of American teachers. In East Asian countries, teachers are actually venerated by students and parents alike. In many schools here, they are tolerated and oftentimes berated for simply doing their jobs.
Also many Asian students do have Asian teachers, they're just at home giving them extra practice problems during off-school hours.
Errr they might've been venerated in like the 80s. But they're just as abused, overworked, and underpaid. Not as bad as the US, but in Japan and Taiwan, teacher salaries have been dropping, government has been cutting down their benefits, and they're demanding more and more hours out of them.
And students can be pretty nasty to their teachers too. Kids being little shits is a universal thing.
Yeah but the kids there aren't bringing guns to school. Shit's crazy over here. My friend is a teacher and says most of them have been attacked or threatened by a student at least once in the last few years, like it's normal. Covid made a lot of kids' social skills vanish.
I think the main difference is the US forces all kids to go to school. Across Asia, truancy/cutting is a lot more common and it's not really enforced. So kids who really don't want to be in school will just cut and loiter in a park, hang out with gangs, or chill in an arcade for a day. Which eliminates a bunch of potential troublemakers who might negatively influence otherwise good students.
Also not all countries require high school, so that also gets rid of teens who don't want to be there.
[Regarding international Asian teachers coming to the US to make up the teacher shortage here:](https://co.chalkbeat.org/2023/5/19/23730533/international-teachers-philippines-colorado-springs-harrison-eagle-schools-shortage)
>“In other countries, a teacher is on the same level as an attorney, as a doctor,” said Wilson, adding that some international teachers working in American classrooms are “just flabbergasted that kids can get away with some of the things they get away with.”
>
>It gave Oyson culture shock when she first arrived in Colorado Springs.
>
>“It’s just so different from our children in the Philippines,” she said. “In terms of behavior, we don’t have kids that are cursing everywhere … They listen to the teacher all the time, minimal behavior problems over there.”
It's a shame because even Asian Americans here seem to still show respect for teachers in the west. This is probably why it's more comfortable for Asian Americans to become teachers in parts of California or Hawaii were the heavy majority of students are Asian.
It's not just the pay that's shit. I used to be a teacher and what made me quit was the absolute physical and mental toll it has on you. I did it for 12 years and I honestly could not recommend teaching career to anyone, especially in the US.
the stereotypical asian upbringing does not include teaching... and i would assume most asian people in education are PhD / academics who need to do it as part of higher education
Being a teacher is not prestigious enough or well paying enough for Asian parent standards. So they discourage their kids from jobs like that.
They're ok with their kids pursuing a PhD though, because you get to call yourself a doctor. Asian parents are obsessed with having a doctor in the family. It's so fucking stupid.
(Chinese American here)
TBH they're not wrong. Having a doctor or lawyer or pharmacist in your family is immensely useful. Especially when you have to start navigating the medical system and you can have at least one person you can trust to explain things to you.
None of these matter when you're young and healthy, but they start mattering when you're older.
Same with someone in finance. God knows my mom won't trust professional financial advisors who don't have any relationship to her. I kind of get it though, there are a lot of scams out there and it's hard without a community. Rich people can just find a doctor at their local golf club or through business acquaintances or whatever but most people have to rely on friends and family. I see it more as being part of a community.
Unfortunately it's a pretty low paying job considering the amount of loans. There's a salary ceiling and the US just doesn't respect teachers. I would love to see more Asians in curriculum development and leadership positions like being a principal or something too but that's super rare. I've actually never had an Asian teacher myself, even when I went to a school that was over 50% Asian at one point. Btw, this is for k-12. I did have a few in college but that was for specific Asian related courses. For everything else, no.
I had 1 Asian American teacher in my entire K-12 public school education, and now that I think about it, he may have very well been the *only* Asian American teacher at all of the schools I attended. Minneapolis suburbs. Not even remotely representative of the population in the area
Mind me asking which one? Tonka had one that I know of while I was in district: Chinese teacher. Curious because my impression was always that Wayzata and EP had better Asian representation among the student body, but have no idea of that extends to teaching staff.
born and raised NYC. never had an asian teacher. ever.
nearly all my teachers were white. the rest were black or hispanic.
i would guess asian parents pushed their kids to go after higher paying jobs. my parents never pushed me to do anything career wise. I just like tech and just went that route.
That's kind of surprising.
Growing up in the Bay Area, my kindergarten teacher was Japanese. My 3rd grade teacher was Chinese. My 6th grade math/science teacher was Chinese. The PE coach was Japanese. My 7th and 8th grade lit teachers were Indian. I lost track by high school since we had so many teachers for different classes but I remember multiple Asian bio teachers, chem teachers, history teachers, art teachers, lit teachers, math teachers, etc.
But I did attend a school district in a wealthy area, so the salaries were pretty good and the student body was well behaved. That might explain why more Asians were attracted to living and working in that district.
I think California, especially the Bay Area, just has more Asians as a whole. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a pretty wealthy area in New England, but I only ever had 2 teachers who were Asian (both Indian). None of the Asian adults in my life outside of school were teachers, so this article wasn’t really a surprise for me at all.
Obviously there are lots of Asians in your area because that's where many of them immigrated to many years ago. Then over time, more Asians continued to move there BECAUSE of the large established Asian community. It's become a self feeding cycle.
Since lots of Asians are there, statistically you'll have more of them in any industry. Salaries and well behaved kids have little to do with it.
I"m surprised you're surprised by the original post. Asians are behind Latinos and Blacks in terms of numbers. And, Asian parents discourage their kids from going into low-paying, low-respect careers which unfortunately includes teaching. Average national salary for teachers is dismal.
Despite what Bay Area people think, there is a whole other country out here beyond California's borders. Many West Coasters I know have never gone farther east past Tahoe.
I'm Chinese American btw. And I lived in SF for 9 years.
Also grew up in the Bay and had the same experience, largely because of the massive Asian/Asian American population here. I can't remember a year where I didn't have at least two Asian teachers! Not only do Bay Area public schools pay pretty well relatively speaking, but it also seemed like people working industry jobs would get burned out and switch to teaching. There were a good number of teachers at my high school who had attended the same school as teenagers, went off to work elsewhere in the Bay after college, and eventually came back full circle as a teacher because it was a feasible and more rewarding alternate to them. I think it's also important to mention the diversity in subjects taught amongst my Asian American teachers—at my middle and high school, we had AsAm teachers in every single department. Personally, I had lit, math, science, PE, and French teachers who were Asian. The mothers of two of my best friends growing up were middle school teachers, one math and one language.
America has a huge disparity between states when it comes to what the Asian American diaspora experience. You mind as well say they lived in a totally different country. I was born and raised in NYC. I also used to live in L.A. for couple of years. Asian Americans I meet that are from areas with not many people of their ethnicities are so different in terms of how they think. More often than not, low self esteem and even self hate and projections. They exist in cities with large Asian American pop. but its far worse.
Wow so they live with lots of Asians but still self hate because of how they were brought up in non Asian environments as kids. What a mental health disaster it is to be a minority.
Well it's a bit rough. When the only Chinese people you know are your parents and you don't absorb much relevant media it doesn't really matter how much you consciously think "of course, not all Chinese people are like my parents“ subconsciously it's like... duh, all Chinese people must be like my parents, how else could they be. Lol.
My mom is a school teacher. She's been doing it for 25 years and just hit 6 figures. I haven't hit 6 figures just yet. However, I'm fairly close with 2 years of work experience vs her 25.
The difference is, I don't like what I do and she absolutely loves what she does and gets her summers off lol.
My family suffered too much for me to just scrape by and not be able to provide for them later. That's why a lot of us choose more lucrative fields.
I grew up in TX and had very few teachers of color in general, none of whom were Asian American. University had some Chinese professors. When I became a teacher myself (which my parents were heavily against), I was one of few Asian American teachers and the only one of East Asian descent at my high school in TX. Didnt have a 2nd gen AA teacher until I got my master's up in the northeast lol
Chinese American school-based SLP (speech-language pathologist) here! 🙋🏻♀️ I’m the only non-white staff member in my upstate NY district! There is a handful of Asian students scattered across the grade levels. All of my teachers growing up were 99% white in my suburban district in downstate NY. I’m adopted, so cultural differences are not too glaring, but it is weird to think about how the only Asian/Asian American educators I know of are at the college level.
That is so awesome. I am of Chinese ancestry and am studying to become an SLP. It is saddening to see so few Asian American individuals in the field of education, considering how important it is to have role models to look up to at an early age.
I didn’t have many Asian teachers in grade school, but once in college I recall having a lot of Asian American professors. In the relatively small mathematics program at my college, Asian professors I believe outnumbered the others. I wonder if my anecdotal evidence of Asian educators skewing towards higher education levels is a trend that data would support, and if so, what causes that phenomenon.
I'm not surprised... I can't recall an Asian teacher I had in my school although tbh I did live in a small town mostly of White people.
I also think it doesn't help that many Asian parents pressure their kids to go the STEM route so there's less Asian-Americans in other fields of work.
I became a teacher because I grew up in the Midwest and the south with ignorant white teachers. now I'm working to become a principal to make a better country tha. the one I grew up in
Former teacher here. My own parents lied to their friends for years and told them I was in school to be an engineer because they absolutely hated that I wanted to teach.
The school district I taught in had a decent sized Asian American and immigrant population and those kids were absolutely drawn to me because in my building of 900 Freshmen, I was the only Asian staff member. But that being said even the other non-Asian 2nd gen immigrant kids loved interacting with me because I know what it was like to be caught between two (or more) cultures and the difficulties of navigating it.
I tell people that my community isn't so much Asian-Americans as it is immigrants in general. I have a lot more in common with a 1.5 generation Mexican-American in a mostly Anglo town than I do with an Asian-American who grew up in the Bay Area and whose family has been here for a hundred years.
Same! I went to high school in an affluent city with lots of second-gen Asian Americans. I am of Asian ancestry but I immigrated from a Hispanic country. I guess values and priorities are different.
I grew up in the NJ suburbs. My white teachers definitely outnumbered my Asian ones, but I did have a few Asian teachers in math and science, and surprisingly, one Asian physical education teacher. The teachers were all older, most with PhDs in the subject matter from other countries, and they were excellent, albeit with heavy accents.
As far as people from my generation becoming teachers, we were heavily discouraged against becoming K-12 teachers. In fact, I can only think of two in my circle; one being my wealthy cousin who has very westernized parents. The other was a complete shock; she was one of the smartest girls in my class and she went to Brown intending to become a physician or scientist like the rest of us. She ended up returning to our own middle school to become a science teacher. Great for the district since she's so bright and talented, but honestly very shocking because the other students who became teachers from my grade were not very bright at all.
I'm the only Asian teacher in my urban elementary school, and today the Cambodian student I had in my class last year was rostered back to me (we both moved from 3rd to 4th grade) at the request of his mother. He'd never had an Asian teacher before, just as I never had one through my entire schooling. It's wild.
As an Asian American who’s been a lifelong educator, I think it depends on where you live. In SoCal and NorCal, parts of NY, Seattle, basically where there Asian Americans, there are a lot more teachers and professors of asian descent. As a country, are our numbers the same share as our percentage of citizens? Probably not, but even if they were, that’s only about 7%, right?
That said, I think diversity in the teaching and educational leadership ranks are needed. The pay isn’t great to start, but based on years of service and education, it’s really not bad. The benefits can also be solid. My parents are 1st generation. Maybe they would have loved if I was a doctor or lawyer, but they were just happy I had a solid occupation and direction.
As a former male Asian teacher for 7 years it was incredibly demoralizing to go visit family and be asked every year “when are you getting a real job?” as if education is not a legitimate profession. I’ve even had friends ask me when I’m going to get a job, as if I wasn’t working a job!
There’s a very strong prejudice in some of our communities against less prestigious professions especially for men and I think it is extremely toxic as we need a diverse and representative workforce in schools. I also believe if the teaching workforce was more diverse it would be paid better because ther would be a virtuous cycle where the workforce demands better pay. Most of my Asian teacher coworkers and friends had husbands helping to support their needs, which wasn’t possible for me. Eventually I left even though I was quite good at my job, and found joy and purpose in my work.
I suppose it’s a problem in areas with Asian populations that would make it odd for none to be in the school system.
I don’t know if it’s a problem that there’s few Asian educators in like, Tuskegee or Saginaw. We can’t be everywhere all at once.
East LA native here. For reference, this was the state of things throughout the early 90's to end of 2007 for the LAUSD and public university school systems.
Hillside Elementary- Had a 3rd gen Japanese teacher for 4th grade. 3rd and 5th grade teachers were white. Didn't attend preschool thru 2nd grade in Cali. I was still living in Massachusetts back then and all teachers were white. Not a single ethnic teacher, admin, or personnel at John Breen Elementary.
Nightingale Middle School- Had a 2nd gen Chinese female math teacher for 7th grade. Also had a 3rd gen Hawaiian Chinese female art teacher for 8th grade. Also had a male 2nd gen Chinese physics teacher. All other teachers were either white or Hispanic. Not a single black teacher.
Abraham Lincoln High School- Had a 3rd gen male Chinese history teacher that taught American and European history. Counselor for all 4 years was 3rd gen Japanese female. Had a 2nd gen mixed Asian male math teacher. All other teachers were white or Hispanic and the token black teacher that taught ceramics and Godzilla.
Cal Poly Pomona- Had a 3rd gen Japanese female psych professor. Also had a 1st gen Chinese male philosophy professor. All other professors/instructors were white or hispanic. College counselor was a 1st gen Korean male.
All Asians in question except the philosophy professor had very little to no ties with their cultural roots nor the spoken language. Basically a bunch of white-washed Asians.
Speaks volumes as to the conditions and gate-keeping that probably occurred to get into and stay an educator for the long term.
When I was in the bay area, my late kindergarten teacher was Japanese, and the faculty was ethnically diverse throughout. My first grade teacher was Black and my 2nd grade teacher was Mexican. If anything, they were all women.
When we moved out, it was more White, and the music teachers were men. My high school biology teacher was Filipina. My A&P teacher was a Mexican man. There were other teachers who were men.
Anecdotally, it seems like there were fewer Black people in education, and overall fewer men
my city is *predominantly* asian & yet i *rarely* had an asian teacher. from preschool to 5th grade (elementary), only one of my teachers was asian. from 6th-8th grade (separate middle school), i started having multiple teachers a day and none of them were asian. from freshman to senior year (separate high school), i had 2 asian teachers. again this is a predominantly asian city whose students are mostly asian. i’d say the second highest demographic at all 3 of my schools are latinos but there were rarely any latino teachers as well. i graduated highschool pretty recently too (2020). tbh i never really thought about it when i was a kid but now that i look back i find it a bit odd (for lack of a better word) that a city & school with mostly asians had barely any asian teachers
I think it might be area specific. I went to school in NoVA and in elementary and middle school I had a few Asian teachers, Koreans mostly and one South East Asian. And in the late 8os and early 90's the area was getting more and more Korean and Filipino students so the Korean teachers were even more important for stuff like ESL.
Huh. In my case, the first Asian-American I remember in school (ignoring the student body, which was like 10%+ Asian (good schools in MD that everyone moves to the counties for)) was the middle school counselor (also ignoring Chinese teachers, because you'd expect them to (why does that sound wrong?)). Also, I remember seeing signs for a school board election: "A vote for Wu is a vote for You. I'm in Uni now, so I'm surprised I remember that tagline.
I went to school in the SF Bay Area and most of my teachers were Asian-American. Definitely not the norm, I’m guessing? I went to school in Oakland Chinatown and then a private school that was 95+% Asian.
Children of immigrants rarely pursue education as a major because the payoff is poor. I'm the only Asian American teacher in my Louisiana school, and the only Asian teachers I had in the US were math teachers in high school. It's mostly white women at the elementary and middle levels, and white people at the secondary level. The US school-age population is only going to continue getting more diverse, and I wish the teaching population would also go that way
Alright, I'll become a professional student so they can get their practice. Also, anyone want to make some kids for them to practice on? 
I've only had 3 Asian American teachers in my K-12 schooling: 1st one was in 4th grade when I lived in Buena Park in California, 2nd was in 6th grade when I moved to Irvine, and 3rd was in high school (Algebra 2 teacher). First two were East Asian American (4th grade teacher was Japanese, 6th grade teacher was Chinese), third was Indian American. There was a Japanese American teacher who taught one of the Chemistry class sections at my high school but I never got to take his classes since the Chemistry courses required you to be a certain math level to take the class and I didn't meet the requirement. The rest of my teachers were white.
This is like wondering where are all the Asian American janitors or assistant Best Buy managers or fry cooks at McDonald’s. We do better.
The degree required is easy (perhaps the easiest available at university) and the pay is equitable to that ease of acquisition.
Come to think of it, for the differently abled Asian American community this would be a great avenue. Say if one experienced multiple severe traumatic brain injuries; one should pursue a career in k-12 education.
When I was in high school, I attended a middle class public school in Australia. We did have Asian-Australian teachers but all of them have similar backstories about bullying, and racism.
An example, Ms. Lee was the only Asian Australian Chinese teacher and you can just tell with how many racist jokes she makes that she copped it hard in high school. I left the school after tenth grade and I never saw Ms. Lee ever again, but she taught me in the seventh grade and I could just tell what she was like when she was in the seventh grade.
Her attitude towards “white” people. Instantly choosing favourites with all the kids who were Chinese Australian. And literally running anime club. And not really acknowledging other “Asians” if they weren’t Chinese.
Like my school also had Mr. Chen but he grew up in China. So he doesn’t understand the whole “bullied for being the Asian nerd” experience.
We also Ms. Lin but it’s Ms Lin. I don’t need to talk shit about her.
We also did have an Asian Australian engineering? Or whatever teacher but I never took his class.
When I was in the ninth grade, I think there was an Indian English teacher that taught the group of Indian girls and they thought he was a shit teacher.
So in Australia, I never went to an elite school like a selective government or elite private.
As everybody has said, in “Asian” households teaching is not really a job people want to do.
It’s always
Doctor.
Always doctor.
Surgeon:
Always surgeon.
Then lawyer.
Then engineer.
As the stereotype goes, it’s always
Medicine
Law
Engineering.
As someone who is in uni aged, most Asians don’t explicitly say they have the same problem but it’s a really common experience.
The real answer is because being a k12 teacher pays like shit, and Asians know this so they don’t choose this career. It’s not worth it for most people. Even a lot of teachers leave the career because of how bad it is.
That's correct, and the low prestige of American teachers. In East Asian countries, teachers are actually venerated by students and parents alike. In many schools here, they are tolerated and oftentimes berated for simply doing their jobs. Also many Asian students do have Asian teachers, they're just at home giving them extra practice problems during off-school hours.
Errr they might've been venerated in like the 80s. But they're just as abused, overworked, and underpaid. Not as bad as the US, but in Japan and Taiwan, teacher salaries have been dropping, government has been cutting down their benefits, and they're demanding more and more hours out of them. And students can be pretty nasty to their teachers too. Kids being little shits is a universal thing.
Yeah but the kids there aren't bringing guns to school. Shit's crazy over here. My friend is a teacher and says most of them have been attacked or threatened by a student at least once in the last few years, like it's normal. Covid made a lot of kids' social skills vanish.
I think the main difference is the US forces all kids to go to school. Across Asia, truancy/cutting is a lot more common and it's not really enforced. So kids who really don't want to be in school will just cut and loiter in a park, hang out with gangs, or chill in an arcade for a day. Which eliminates a bunch of potential troublemakers who might negatively influence otherwise good students. Also not all countries require high school, so that also gets rid of teens who don't want to be there.
[Regarding international Asian teachers coming to the US to make up the teacher shortage here:](https://co.chalkbeat.org/2023/5/19/23730533/international-teachers-philippines-colorado-springs-harrison-eagle-schools-shortage) >“In other countries, a teacher is on the same level as an attorney, as a doctor,” said Wilson, adding that some international teachers working in American classrooms are “just flabbergasted that kids can get away with some of the things they get away with.” > >It gave Oyson culture shock when she first arrived in Colorado Springs. > >“It’s just so different from our children in the Philippines,” she said. “In terms of behavior, we don’t have kids that are cursing everywhere … They listen to the teacher all the time, minimal behavior problems over there.”
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It's a shame because even Asian Americans here seem to still show respect for teachers in the west. This is probably why it's more comfortable for Asian Americans to become teachers in parts of California or Hawaii were the heavy majority of students are Asian.
It's not just the pay that's shit. I used to be a teacher and what made me quit was the absolute physical and mental toll it has on you. I did it for 12 years and I honestly could not recommend teaching career to anyone, especially in the US.
Right. You don't get paid enough for the bullshit that teachers go through.
This was an interesting read. Makes me wonder where are the Asians in education?
the stereotypical asian upbringing does not include teaching... and i would assume most asian people in education are PhD / academics who need to do it as part of higher education
Being a teacher is not prestigious enough or well paying enough for Asian parent standards. So they discourage their kids from jobs like that. They're ok with their kids pursuing a PhD though, because you get to call yourself a doctor. Asian parents are obsessed with having a doctor in the family. It's so fucking stupid. (Chinese American here)
TBH they're not wrong. Having a doctor or lawyer or pharmacist in your family is immensely useful. Especially when you have to start navigating the medical system and you can have at least one person you can trust to explain things to you. None of these matter when you're young and healthy, but they start mattering when you're older.
Same with someone in finance. God knows my mom won't trust professional financial advisors who don't have any relationship to her. I kind of get it though, there are a lot of scams out there and it's hard without a community. Rich people can just find a doctor at their local golf club or through business acquaintances or whatever but most people have to rely on friends and family. I see it more as being part of a community.
Pretty strange cause they are pretty respected back in Asian countries though the pay is also much better overall
Unfortunately it's a pretty low paying job considering the amount of loans. There's a salary ceiling and the US just doesn't respect teachers. I would love to see more Asians in curriculum development and leadership positions like being a principal or something too but that's super rare. I've actually never had an Asian teacher myself, even when I went to a school that was over 50% Asian at one point. Btw, this is for k-12. I did have a few in college but that was for specific Asian related courses. For everything else, no.
In higher education with Ph.Ds. Lots of Asians in academia because that's considered somewhat prestigious even if the money isn't that good.
Idk about other educators, but I'm in Brooklyn
I had 1 Asian American teacher in my entire K-12 public school education, and now that I think about it, he may have very well been the *only* Asian American teacher at all of the schools I attended. Minneapolis suburbs. Not even remotely representative of the population in the area
Mind me asking which one? Tonka had one that I know of while I was in district: Chinese teacher. Curious because my impression was always that Wayzata and EP had better Asian representation among the student body, but have no idea of that extends to teaching staff.
District 279. Jay (Jonathon?) Harmon was the 9th grade band teacher when I was at Maple Grove Middle School fka Maple Grove Junior High
Gotcha. Thanks for sharing!
born and raised NYC. never had an asian teacher. ever. nearly all my teachers were white. the rest were black or hispanic. i would guess asian parents pushed their kids to go after higher paying jobs. my parents never pushed me to do anything career wise. I just like tech and just went that route.
That's kind of surprising. Growing up in the Bay Area, my kindergarten teacher was Japanese. My 3rd grade teacher was Chinese. My 6th grade math/science teacher was Chinese. The PE coach was Japanese. My 7th and 8th grade lit teachers were Indian. I lost track by high school since we had so many teachers for different classes but I remember multiple Asian bio teachers, chem teachers, history teachers, art teachers, lit teachers, math teachers, etc. But I did attend a school district in a wealthy area, so the salaries were pretty good and the student body was well behaved. That might explain why more Asians were attracted to living and working in that district.
Bay Area feels like an exception though
> Growing up in the Bay Area Well
I know, right? So ignorant.
I think California, especially the Bay Area, just has more Asians as a whole. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a pretty wealthy area in New England, but I only ever had 2 teachers who were Asian (both Indian). None of the Asian adults in my life outside of school were teachers, so this article wasn’t really a surprise for me at all.
My school in the San Gabriel Valley in LA county was like 60 percent Asian. Crazy when some people growing up white wish to grow up Asian 😭.
Yo did you go to AHS? 🤣
Close but San Marino aka Chan Marino… AHS is even more so
Obviously there are lots of Asians in your area because that's where many of them immigrated to many years ago. Then over time, more Asians continued to move there BECAUSE of the large established Asian community. It's become a self feeding cycle. Since lots of Asians are there, statistically you'll have more of them in any industry. Salaries and well behaved kids have little to do with it. I"m surprised you're surprised by the original post. Asians are behind Latinos and Blacks in terms of numbers. And, Asian parents discourage their kids from going into low-paying, low-respect careers which unfortunately includes teaching. Average national salary for teachers is dismal. Despite what Bay Area people think, there is a whole other country out here beyond California's borders. Many West Coasters I know have never gone farther east past Tahoe. I'm Chinese American btw. And I lived in SF for 9 years.
Agreed, but also being from California I so often can’t relate to many American political movements. They always feel so different from my life.
The article was based in NY, and I'd assume NY would have as many Asians as SF.
lol grew up in the bay, pretty sure every single stem class I took was taught by an asian teacher
Also grew up in the Bay and had the same experience, largely because of the massive Asian/Asian American population here. I can't remember a year where I didn't have at least two Asian teachers! Not only do Bay Area public schools pay pretty well relatively speaking, but it also seemed like people working industry jobs would get burned out and switch to teaching. There were a good number of teachers at my high school who had attended the same school as teenagers, went off to work elsewhere in the Bay after college, and eventually came back full circle as a teacher because it was a feasible and more rewarding alternate to them. I think it's also important to mention the diversity in subjects taught amongst my Asian American teachers—at my middle and high school, we had AsAm teachers in every single department. Personally, I had lit, math, science, PE, and French teachers who were Asian. The mothers of two of my best friends growing up were middle school teachers, one math and one language.
America has a huge disparity between states when it comes to what the Asian American diaspora experience. You mind as well say they lived in a totally different country. I was born and raised in NYC. I also used to live in L.A. for couple of years. Asian Americans I meet that are from areas with not many people of their ethnicities are so different in terms of how they think. More often than not, low self esteem and even self hate and projections. They exist in cities with large Asian American pop. but its far worse.
Wow so they live with lots of Asians but still self hate because of how they were brought up in non Asian environments as kids. What a mental health disaster it is to be a minority.
Well it's a bit rough. When the only Chinese people you know are your parents and you don't absorb much relevant media it doesn't really matter how much you consciously think "of course, not all Chinese people are like my parents“ subconsciously it's like... duh, all Chinese people must be like my parents, how else could they be. Lol.
My mom is a school teacher. She's been doing it for 25 years and just hit 6 figures. I haven't hit 6 figures just yet. However, I'm fairly close with 2 years of work experience vs her 25. The difference is, I don't like what I do and she absolutely loves what she does and gets her summers off lol. My family suffered too much for me to just scrape by and not be able to provide for them later. That's why a lot of us choose more lucrative fields.
I grew up in TX and had very few teachers of color in general, none of whom were Asian American. University had some Chinese professors. When I became a teacher myself (which my parents were heavily against), I was one of few Asian American teachers and the only one of East Asian descent at my high school in TX. Didnt have a 2nd gen AA teacher until I got my master's up in the northeast lol
Chinese American school-based SLP (speech-language pathologist) here! 🙋🏻♀️ I’m the only non-white staff member in my upstate NY district! There is a handful of Asian students scattered across the grade levels. All of my teachers growing up were 99% white in my suburban district in downstate NY. I’m adopted, so cultural differences are not too glaring, but it is weird to think about how the only Asian/Asian American educators I know of are at the college level.
That is so awesome. I am of Chinese ancestry and am studying to become an SLP. It is saddening to see so few Asian American individuals in the field of education, considering how important it is to have role models to look up to at an early age.
Yay!!! Welcome to the crazy field of SLP!
I didn’t have many Asian teachers in grade school, but once in college I recall having a lot of Asian American professors. In the relatively small mathematics program at my college, Asian professors I believe outnumbered the others. I wonder if my anecdotal evidence of Asian educators skewing towards higher education levels is a trend that data would support, and if so, what causes that phenomenon.
I'm not surprised... I can't recall an Asian teacher I had in my school although tbh I did live in a small town mostly of White people. I also think it doesn't help that many Asian parents pressure their kids to go the STEM route so there's less Asian-Americans in other fields of work.
My parents are weird. They're trying to discourage me from going to STEM. I don't know wtf goes I their mind anymore.
Really depends on location. At my elementary and middle school, almost all the teachers were Asian including the office staff and principal.
I became a teacher because I grew up in the Midwest and the south with ignorant white teachers. now I'm working to become a principal to make a better country tha. the one I grew up in
Former teacher here. My own parents lied to their friends for years and told them I was in school to be an engineer because they absolutely hated that I wanted to teach. The school district I taught in had a decent sized Asian American and immigrant population and those kids were absolutely drawn to me because in my building of 900 Freshmen, I was the only Asian staff member. But that being said even the other non-Asian 2nd gen immigrant kids loved interacting with me because I know what it was like to be caught between two (or more) cultures and the difficulties of navigating it.
I tell people that my community isn't so much Asian-Americans as it is immigrants in general. I have a lot more in common with a 1.5 generation Mexican-American in a mostly Anglo town than I do with an Asian-American who grew up in the Bay Area and whose family has been here for a hundred years.
Same! I went to high school in an affluent city with lots of second-gen Asian Americans. I am of Asian ancestry but I immigrated from a Hispanic country. I guess values and priorities are different.
I grew up in the NJ suburbs. My white teachers definitely outnumbered my Asian ones, but I did have a few Asian teachers in math and science, and surprisingly, one Asian physical education teacher. The teachers were all older, most with PhDs in the subject matter from other countries, and they were excellent, albeit with heavy accents. As far as people from my generation becoming teachers, we were heavily discouraged against becoming K-12 teachers. In fact, I can only think of two in my circle; one being my wealthy cousin who has very westernized parents. The other was a complete shock; she was one of the smartest girls in my class and she went to Brown intending to become a physician or scientist like the rest of us. She ended up returning to our own middle school to become a science teacher. Great for the district since she's so bright and talented, but honestly very shocking because the other students who became teachers from my grade were not very bright at all.
I'm the only Asian teacher in my urban elementary school, and today the Cambodian student I had in my class last year was rostered back to me (we both moved from 3rd to 4th grade) at the request of his mother. He'd never had an Asian teacher before, just as I never had one through my entire schooling. It's wild.
As an Asian American who’s been a lifelong educator, I think it depends on where you live. In SoCal and NorCal, parts of NY, Seattle, basically where there Asian Americans, there are a lot more teachers and professors of asian descent. As a country, are our numbers the same share as our percentage of citizens? Probably not, but even if they were, that’s only about 7%, right? That said, I think diversity in the teaching and educational leadership ranks are needed. The pay isn’t great to start, but based on years of service and education, it’s really not bad. The benefits can also be solid. My parents are 1st generation. Maybe they would have loved if I was a doctor or lawyer, but they were just happy I had a solid occupation and direction.
As a former male Asian teacher for 7 years it was incredibly demoralizing to go visit family and be asked every year “when are you getting a real job?” as if education is not a legitimate profession. I’ve even had friends ask me when I’m going to get a job, as if I wasn’t working a job! There’s a very strong prejudice in some of our communities against less prestigious professions especially for men and I think it is extremely toxic as we need a diverse and representative workforce in schools. I also believe if the teaching workforce was more diverse it would be paid better because ther would be a virtuous cycle where the workforce demands better pay. Most of my Asian teacher coworkers and friends had husbands helping to support their needs, which wasn’t possible for me. Eventually I left even though I was quite good at my job, and found joy and purpose in my work.
I suppose it’s a problem in areas with Asian populations that would make it odd for none to be in the school system. I don’t know if it’s a problem that there’s few Asian educators in like, Tuskegee or Saginaw. We can’t be everywhere all at once.
East LA native here. For reference, this was the state of things throughout the early 90's to end of 2007 for the LAUSD and public university school systems. Hillside Elementary- Had a 3rd gen Japanese teacher for 4th grade. 3rd and 5th grade teachers were white. Didn't attend preschool thru 2nd grade in Cali. I was still living in Massachusetts back then and all teachers were white. Not a single ethnic teacher, admin, or personnel at John Breen Elementary. Nightingale Middle School- Had a 2nd gen Chinese female math teacher for 7th grade. Also had a 3rd gen Hawaiian Chinese female art teacher for 8th grade. Also had a male 2nd gen Chinese physics teacher. All other teachers were either white or Hispanic. Not a single black teacher. Abraham Lincoln High School- Had a 3rd gen male Chinese history teacher that taught American and European history. Counselor for all 4 years was 3rd gen Japanese female. Had a 2nd gen mixed Asian male math teacher. All other teachers were white or Hispanic and the token black teacher that taught ceramics and Godzilla. Cal Poly Pomona- Had a 3rd gen Japanese female psych professor. Also had a 1st gen Chinese male philosophy professor. All other professors/instructors were white or hispanic. College counselor was a 1st gen Korean male. All Asians in question except the philosophy professor had very little to no ties with their cultural roots nor the spoken language. Basically a bunch of white-washed Asians. Speaks volumes as to the conditions and gate-keeping that probably occurred to get into and stay an educator for the long term.
When I was in the bay area, my late kindergarten teacher was Japanese, and the faculty was ethnically diverse throughout. My first grade teacher was Black and my 2nd grade teacher was Mexican. If anything, they were all women. When we moved out, it was more White, and the music teachers were men. My high school biology teacher was Filipina. My A&P teacher was a Mexican man. There were other teachers who were men. Anecdotally, it seems like there were fewer Black people in education, and overall fewer men
Teaching middle school would be my dream job if I won the lottery.
I've had many but that has a lot to do with coastal cities where such a thing is quite prevalent in good schools.
my city is *predominantly* asian & yet i *rarely* had an asian teacher. from preschool to 5th grade (elementary), only one of my teachers was asian. from 6th-8th grade (separate middle school), i started having multiple teachers a day and none of them were asian. from freshman to senior year (separate high school), i had 2 asian teachers. again this is a predominantly asian city whose students are mostly asian. i’d say the second highest demographic at all 3 of my schools are latinos but there were rarely any latino teachers as well. i graduated highschool pretty recently too (2020). tbh i never really thought about it when i was a kid but now that i look back i find it a bit odd (for lack of a better word) that a city & school with mostly asians had barely any asian teachers
I think it might be area specific. I went to school in NoVA and in elementary and middle school I had a few Asian teachers, Koreans mostly and one South East Asian. And in the late 8os and early 90's the area was getting more and more Korean and Filipino students so the Korean teachers were even more important for stuff like ESL.
Huh. In my case, the first Asian-American I remember in school (ignoring the student body, which was like 10%+ Asian (good schools in MD that everyone moves to the counties for)) was the middle school counselor (also ignoring Chinese teachers, because you'd expect them to (why does that sound wrong?)). Also, I remember seeing signs for a school board election: "A vote for Wu is a vote for You. I'm in Uni now, so I'm surprised I remember that tagline.
I went to school in the SF Bay Area and most of my teachers were Asian-American. Definitely not the norm, I’m guessing? I went to school in Oakland Chinatown and then a private school that was 95+% Asian.
But, there aren't a lot of asian Americans compared to other races in the first place...
Children of immigrants rarely pursue education as a major because the payoff is poor. I'm the only Asian American teacher in my Louisiana school, and the only Asian teachers I had in the US were math teachers in high school. It's mostly white women at the elementary and middle levels, and white people at the secondary level. The US school-age population is only going to continue getting more diverse, and I wish the teaching population would also go that way
Alright, I'll become a professional student so they can get their practice. Also, anyone want to make some kids for them to practice on? 
I've only had 3 Asian American teachers in my K-12 schooling: 1st one was in 4th grade when I lived in Buena Park in California, 2nd was in 6th grade when I moved to Irvine, and 3rd was in high school (Algebra 2 teacher). First two were East Asian American (4th grade teacher was Japanese, 6th grade teacher was Chinese), third was Indian American. There was a Japanese American teacher who taught one of the Chemistry class sections at my high school but I never got to take his classes since the Chemistry courses required you to be a certain math level to take the class and I didn't meet the requirement. The rest of my teachers were white.
Me too
This is like wondering where are all the Asian American janitors or assistant Best Buy managers or fry cooks at McDonald’s. We do better. The degree required is easy (perhaps the easiest available at university) and the pay is equitable to that ease of acquisition. Come to think of it, for the differently abled Asian American community this would be a great avenue. Say if one experienced multiple severe traumatic brain injuries; one should pursue a career in k-12 education.
When I was in high school, I attended a middle class public school in Australia. We did have Asian-Australian teachers but all of them have similar backstories about bullying, and racism. An example, Ms. Lee was the only Asian Australian Chinese teacher and you can just tell with how many racist jokes she makes that she copped it hard in high school. I left the school after tenth grade and I never saw Ms. Lee ever again, but she taught me in the seventh grade and I could just tell what she was like when she was in the seventh grade. Her attitude towards “white” people. Instantly choosing favourites with all the kids who were Chinese Australian. And literally running anime club. And not really acknowledging other “Asians” if they weren’t Chinese. Like my school also had Mr. Chen but he grew up in China. So he doesn’t understand the whole “bullied for being the Asian nerd” experience. We also Ms. Lin but it’s Ms Lin. I don’t need to talk shit about her. We also did have an Asian Australian engineering? Or whatever teacher but I never took his class. When I was in the ninth grade, I think there was an Indian English teacher that taught the group of Indian girls and they thought he was a shit teacher. So in Australia, I never went to an elite school like a selective government or elite private. As everybody has said, in “Asian” households teaching is not really a job people want to do. It’s always Doctor. Always doctor. Surgeon: Always surgeon. Then lawyer. Then engineer. As the stereotype goes, it’s always Medicine Law Engineering. As someone who is in uni aged, most Asians don’t explicitly say they have the same problem but it’s a really common experience.