Editing Model minority (section)

==== Southeast Asian Americans ====
Arguably, the model minority stereotype masks the socioeconomic under performance of other Asian American subgroups and the experiences of Southeast Asian American populations in the U.S. serve to refute the model minority stereotype.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last1=Ngo|first1=Bic|last2=Lee|first2=Stacey|date=December 2007|title=Complicating the Image of Model Minority Success: A Review of Southeast Asian American Education|journal=Review of Educational Research|volume=77|issue=4|pages=415–453|doi=10.3102/0034654307309918|s2cid=145367905}}</ref> For context, Southeast Asian Americans consist of several ethnic groups, including [[Burmese Americans|Burmese]], [[Vietnamese Americans|Vietnamese]], [[Hmong Americans|Hmong]], [[Laotian Americans|Laotian]], and [[Cambodian Americans|Cambodian]].

Despite high household incomes, many Southeast Asian Americans and other Asian groups such as [[Filipino Americans|Filipinos]], [[Vietnamese Americans|Vietnamese]], [[Indonesian Americans|Indonesians]], [[Thai Americans|Thais]],  Laotians, Cambodians as well as South Asian groups such as [[Nepalese Americans|Nepalese]] and [[Pakistani Americans|Pakistani]] have lower per capita incomes then East Asians.<ref name="Explore Census Data">{{Cite web |title=Explore Census Data |url=https://data.census.gov/table?t=-4000A:012 |access-date=2024-11-09 |website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Per Capita Income of Asian Groups and Ethnicities<ref name="Explore Census Data"/>
!
!Per Capita Income
|-
|Taiwanese
|83811
|-
|Asian Indian
|72389
|-
|Sri Lankan
|69325
|-
|Japanese
|61568
|-
|Chinese, except Taiwanese
|61289
|-
|Korean
|58560
|-
|All Asian (Non Hispanic)
|55840
|-
|All White (Non Hispanic)
|50675
|-
|Filipino
|47819
|-
|Pakistani
|45935
|-
|Indonesian
|44811
|-
|Thai
|42675
|-
|Vietnamese
|40037
|-
|Nepalese
|39993
|-
|Laotian
|36938
|-
|Cambodian
|35725
|-
|Bangladesh
|32739
|-
|All Black (Non Hispanic))
|31360
|-
|Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (Non Hispanic)
|31811
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
|28026
|-
|American Indian and Native Alaskan (Non Hispanic)
|26473
|-
|Hmong
|26232
|-
|Burmese
|24583
|}
[[File:Income by race and ethnicity 2023 (Household and Per Capita).png|thumb|Household and Per Capita Income by Race, Ethnicity and Asian American group. Model Minority Myth<ref name="Explore Census Data"/>]]
An [[Empiricism|empirical]] [[literature review]] shows that most of the existing data used to justify the model minority image regarding Asian American academic achievement is aggregated. As a result, this data ignores important differences among individual Asian ethnic groups.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Tran|first1=Nellie|last2=Birman|first2=Dina|year=2010|title=Questioning the model minority: Studies of Asian American academic performance.|journal=[[Asian American Journal of Psychology]]|volume=1|issue=2|pages=106–118|doi=10.1037/a0019965}}</ref> Although many Asian Americans have succeeded academically and socioeconomically, survey research shows that recent immigrant groups, such as Southeast Asians, have been unable to replicate such success.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wong|first1=Paul|last2=Lai|first2=Chienping|last3=Nagasawa|first3=Richard|last4=Lin|first4=Tieming|date=1998|title=Asian Americans as a Model Minority: Self-Perceptions and Perceptions by Other Racial Groups|journal=Sociological Perspectives|volume=41|issue=1|pages=95–118|doi=10.2307/1389355|jstor=1389355|s2cid=32296161}}</ref>

According to the [[2010 United States Census|2010 U.S. Census]], the overall percentage of people 25 years and older with less than a high school education in the U.S. population is 15%, whereas Asian Americans, as an aggregate, are close at 11.1%. However, disparities exist when comparing South Asian Americans and East Asian Americans with Southeast Asian Americans. For example, only 13.6% of Chinese Americans, 4.0% Japanese Americans, and 6.0% of South Asian Americans ages 25 years or older have less than a high school education.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2011/ted_20111214_data.htm#chart1|title=Educational attainment and unemployment among Asians in the United States }}</ref> In contrast, Southeast Asian Americans more than double the South Asian American and East Asian American percentages with 38.5% of Cambodian Americans, 39.6% of Hmong Americans, 34.3% of Lao Americans, and 51.1% of Vietnamese Americans ages 25 and over holding less than a high school education.

According to some studies only 39% of Filipino American men (ages 25–34) had attained a Bachelor's degree, in comparison to 87% of Asian Indian American men, 69% of Chinese American men, 63% of Japanese American men, 62% of Korean American men, and 42 percent of Vietnamese American men. The same study showed that Filipino, Korean and Cambodian men with Bachelor's degrees have lower median wages of $30 an hour compared to Chinese and Indian immigrant men who had median wages of $40 an hour. (Sanchez-Lopez et al ., 2017).<ref>RISE Report_Nadal.pdf</ref>

The 2010 U.S. Census shows that 52% of Asian Americans ages 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher, which is higher than the national American average of 29.9%.<ref name=":12" /> In contrast, the percentage of individuals aged 25 and over holding a bachelor's degree or higher amongst Southeast Asian American groups is much lower with only 44.4% of Filipino Americans and 21.2% of Vietnamese Americans falling within the aforementioned educational bounds.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2011/ted_20111214.htm|title=Educational attainment and unemployment among Asians in the United States : The Economics Daily : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics }}</ref> With the exception of Vietnamese Americans, Southeast Asian American representation in higher education is lower than other racial minorities, including African Americans (14.2%) and Latino Americans (10.3%).<ref name=":12" /> As cited in an empirical literature review, research that lacks differentiation between the varying Asian ethnic groups may mask under-performing groups as the higher performing groups raise the average. As a result, Southeast Asian American students are often overlooked due to the overwhelming success of their East and South Asian American peers.<ref name=":2" />

As cited in a case study, many deficits of Southeast Asian American students' academic achievement can be attributed to the structural barriers of living in an immigrant household.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|last=Kim|first=Rebecca|date=Spring 2002|title=Ethnic Differences in Academic Achievement between Vietnamese and Cambodian Children: Cultural and Structural Explanations|journal=The Sociological Quarterly|volume=43|issue=2|pages=213–235|doi=10.1525/tsq.2002.43.2.213}}</ref> Many Southeast Asian American students are children of refugees from countries at war.<ref name=":02" /> While the parents of Southeast Asian American students may have escaped death and persecution from their homelands, they often arrive in the US with fragmented families.<ref name=":02" />&nbsp;As a result, refugees often lack resources, which causes them to not only rely on government assistance, but to also be placed in low-income communities near poorly funded schools.<ref name=":02" /> Additionally, families frequently have little to no understanding of the U.S. school system.<ref name=":02" /> Thus, Southeast Asian students are at a disadvantage as they have to quickly adjust to the new school system, while also keeping up with native-born students.<ref name=":02" />

However, certain Southeast Asian ethnic groups have shown greater progress than others within the regional group and resemble the success of other more established Asian Americans.<ref name=":02" /> As cited in a case study,<ref name=":02" /> Vietnamese American students are beginning to show comparable rates of academic success to East Asian American students. Furthermore, among Southeast Asian American students, Vietnamese American students are recognized as having the highest academic performance, whereas Cambodian American students have the poorest performance.<ref name=":02" /> Although Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees endured similar immigration hardships, the aforementioned differences in academic success is attributed to structural and cultural factors.<ref name=":02" /> Another factor which may have an influence on Vietnamese American success is that the majority of 21st century Vietnamese immigrants to the United States are from non-refugee backgrounds, dissimilar from earlier migration patterns.

Despite this progress amongst Southeast Asian American students, the subgroup still struggles economically. Similar to data on academic achievement, information regarding Asian American's economic prospects is frequently aggregated and thus hides the diversity of economic struggles amongst subgroups like Southeast Asian Americans.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last1=Lee|first1=Stacey|title=Asian American Psychology: Current Perspectives|last2=Wong|first2=Nga-Wing Anjela|last3=Alvarez|first3=Alvin|publisher=Psychology Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0805860085|pages=71–73|chapter=The Model Minority and Perpetual Foreigner: Stereotypes of Asian Americans|chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233912258}}</ref> The high poverty rate amongst Hmong Americans places the group in one of the highest poverty brackets within the United States.<ref name=":5" /> Hmong Americans, more so men than women, have also been disproportionately racialized and criminalized via gangster stereotyping.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Vue|first1=Pao Lee|last2=Schein|first2=Louisa|last3=Vang|first3=Bee|title=Comparative Racialization and Unequal Justice in the Era of Black Lives Matter: The Dylan Yang Case|url=http://hmongstudies.org/VueScheinVangHSJ17.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202095020/http://hmongstudies.org/VueScheinVangHSJ17.pdf|url-status=usurped|archive-date=December 2, 2017|journal=Hmong Studies Journal|volume=17|pages=21}}</ref>

Additionally, median income levels differ amongst Asian American subgroups in which Southeast Asian Americans represent a disproportionate amount of low annual median incomes.<ref name=":5" /> This is illustrated by research in which Hmong Americans and Cambodian Americans have a per capita income of $10,366 in comparison to Indian Americans who have a per capita income of around $27,514 and Japanese Americans who have a per capita income of $30,075.<ref name=":5" /> By analyzing the individual economic data of Asian American subgroups, it becomes evident that the model minority stereotype, which puts forth the notion of Asian Americans achieving higher levels socioeconomic success, may be misleading.<ref name=":5" /> It is also written in Racial Wealth Snapshot by NCRC that Asian Americans disproportionately live in metropolitan areas where cost of living is high and that it is important to factor in household size and cost of living when talking about Asian Americans.