Making the Invisible Visible: Asian Americans in Public Education, Part 2

Session 2, on Wednesday, January 18, at 7pm will be "It’s NOT Because of 'Asian Culture' that Asian Americans are Invisible: Busting Stereotypes and Framing Realities of Asian American Well Being."

Admission is free but we welcome and encourage contributions to support our work and programs like this.

Asian Americans are frequently omitted from research on aspects of students’ intellectual and emotional well being. Studies that include Asian Americans often inadvertently reinforce the problematic and insidious "model minority" myth that plagues Asian American lived experiences. Continuing the conversation from Session 1, Session 2 panelists will highlight data that challenge the false narratives that Asian Americans have no problems and are thriving, a state of being frequently attributed to their “Asian cultures.” Panelists will discuss the cultural essentialist myths that hide the truth about the actual intellectual, mental, and emotional well being of our Asian American students.

Admission is free, but we welcome and encourage donations to support our advocacy for public education and so we can continue offering programs like this. Register today!

The Speakers

Go Sasaki is a 12-year veteran teacher, including eight years in the Boston Public Schools. He is a core member of the Massachusetts Asian American Educators Association, a Board member of Citizens for Public Schools, and a docent for the Tule Lake Pilgrimage, the semi-annual pilgrimage to the Tule Lake WWII Incarceration Camp for Japanese Americans. His family has been back and forth between the U.S. and Japan for over a century, and he and his partner are trying their best to raise their children with their heritage languages.

Rosann Tung is the daughter of immigrants and mother of a Boston Public School graduate. At New York University, Brown, and the Center for Collaborative Education, she led research teams to expose inequities and share successes. She has served on the BPS English Learner Task Force, the Exam School Task Force, and the board of TERC. In addition to advocating for racial justice, she writes creative nonfiction.

Jean Yu-wen Wu is professor emerita at Tufts University, a scholar, educator, and practitioner in critical race studies, anti-colonial Asian/Asian American diaspora studies, decolonization of research methodologies, community-based activism, and critical pedagogy.

Thanks to the members of the planning committee for all of their excellent work putting this series together: Jean Wu, Katie Li, Vivian Tam, and Go Sasaki.