Responding to Silence

"What do you know about Asians?" a young Chinese American woman asks Mark, a young White man of Italian descent. His response:

I'm going to be honest with you. I completely believed the stereotype. Asian people are hard workers, they're really quiet, they get good grades because they have tons of pressure from their families to get good grades ... are quiet so people can't have a problem with them.

[From the video, Skin Deep: College Students Confront Racism]¹

The exchange captures the essence of the current stereotypes that currently circulate about Chinese North Americans. While the "model minority" characterization may initially seem to be a positive and beneficial one, it has some negative effects. As antiracist researcher and educators Beverly Tatum and Stacey Lee explain, in terms of intergroup relations, the model minority stereotype has served to pit North-American Asians against other groups targeted by racism. The accusing message to other people of color is, "They overcame discrimination—why can't you?" It has also contributed to White resentment, leading to an increase in anti-Asian violence.2 As well, uncritical acceptance of the stereotype has also concealed the needs and problems of those Asians who have not experienced the success of good grades. Writers Jeff Yang, Dina Gan, and Terry Hong have put it this way:

Are we or aren't we? Only the Census Bureau can say for sure. What started out as a seemingly harmless observation has grown into a scary sociotheoretical monster, devouring all racial groups in its path. Holding up Asian Americans as paragon and proof that racial discrimination need not be a barrier to social advancement, the "Model Minority" thesis drove a wedge between racial groups trying to forge coalitions after the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s. Thirty years since its inception, the end result of the Model Minority myth has been resentment of Asian Americans by Blacks, Whites, and even those Asians themselves who didn't fit the stereotype of the hard working, lots-of-money, good-grade getting, all-in-the-family-keeping whiz kids. ³

Although the young man in the opening quote believes that being quiet can protect Asians from people having a problem with them, this was not always the case at Northside. On the contrary, the fact that many of the students from Hong Kong were often quiet in class was considered burdensome and resented by some of their non-Chinese and Canadian-born Chinese classmates. The issue of student silence in multilingual classrooms is explored. We begin with excerpts from two student interviews. The first interview was with a Cantonese-speaking student, Victor Yu, who spoke about the issue of "showing off" in the Introduction. The second interview, conducted by research assistant Gordon Pon and me, was with Mina Henry, a Canadian-born woman of Indo-Caribbean ancestry, who was a student in Anne Yee's grade 12 English classroom. Both Victor and Mina talk about the silence they associated with Asian students in their classes. The Commentary, which was co-written by Gordon and me, analyzes the different ways Victor, Mina, and other students in Mrs. Yee's English class have understood Asian silence at Northside. In the Pedagogical Discussion, Gordon and I look at the ways teachers might assist their students in negotiating the dilemmas and tensions associated with silences in the classroom. Here, we make use of the work undertaken by Northside English teachers Anne Yee, Greg Dunn, and Leonard Robertson, all of whom have member checked the ethnographic interview excerpts, commentary.

"I CAN KEEP IT IN MY HEART"

Tara: Tell me some of the differences between going to school in Hong Kong and going to high school here in Toronto.

Victor: Oh, there's a big difference. In Hong Kong, right? The teachers are really dominating, like, they, they, want everything under their control because there are 40 people at least in one class, even in grade 7. So, there are many people, right? If one student gets, like, out of control, right? Everyone will be out of control. So that teacher wants absolute control. And in this case, the good students will have no questions. They will always follow the teacher instruction. So, in here, right? Maybe the teacher, teacher will say that, "This guy is doing really good in, in his task, in his, his, work. How come he doesn't answer any questions?" Or "How come he doesn't answer any of my, how he come didn't answer my questions?" Because this is a different culture.

Tara: Right. Tell me more about that. You were telling me before I turned on the tape [recorder] about that. You were telling me this is something I should tell my [pre-service teacher education] students.

Victor: Yeah. If, if you see a student, right? Like especially from Hong Kong or from Asia. Like, they, they do their work really good. But they're quiet, right? Don't blame them because this is like what they used to be in the school in Hong Kong, or in, in their country. Because they, they think that, "If I don't have any problems for the teacher, the teacher will think I am good." So, they keep quiet. They don't know that if they don't, like, answer questions, then they are not really participating in the class. Right? It's, it's, they will, like, the teachers will see them as not really good students. So, this is, this would be a difference from the school in Hong Kong and here.

Tara: Let me ask you [this]. Was it very hard for you when you first came to Toronto to get used to the presentations and the group work and the speaking out in class?

Victor: Yeah. It was really, really hard. 'Cause, okay, 'cause I, when I want to answer some questions I was thinking about, "If I answer," right? "What will other Cantonese students or students from Hong Kong think about me?" If I, like, they may be thinking about how I am showing off my knowledge. I mean, yeah, I know the [answers to the] questions, right? I know it. That's, that's good. I can keep it in my heart. But then, if I put my hand up and then say, "Sir, I understand" and then answer the question, right? They will, they may think, think I am showing off. So, it is really hard. [Interview, October 9, 1999]

"EVERYONE HAS TO CONTRIBUTE"

Gordon: Can I ask you a little about the group work in Mrs. Yee's class?

Mina: Well, first of all, like, I thought it was unfair because it was only me and Gregory (a Hong Kongese student) in the group doing the ISP [Independent Special Project] and there were five other people [in other groups] ... Other groups had five people, we had two people ... And then with Gregory, he didn't do anything ... I did the whole, I planned out every single thing. If you looked at our presentation, it was all on what I had and what I put into it. She [Mrs. Yee] does a lot of stuff with group work. But then, the people that can't speak English or not [well], you know what I mean? They don't contribute anything and I'm, like, left to do the work for them and they get the same mark as me, which I don't find fair.

Tara: Group work is a very important topic for our work. In what ways is it good and in what ways is it bad?

Mina: I think group work is good, but you have to have people at the same level, you know what I mean? Everyone has to contribute. Of course, there is always going to be someone to take the lead ... but you need other people to contribute, right? And they don't. Especially in this class, they don 't. There's a lot of Chinese people, like, no offense, right? And they can't speak English properly, you know what I mean? And, like, she [Mrs. Yee] makes us, like, teach them. Well, like, I'm in a grade 12 Advanced English. My English is not that great myself, like, you know what I mean? I can speak proper English, but I am here to learn how to write properly for my OAC level [Ontario Academic Credit/high school leaving credit level]. 1 don't want to have to teach people, like, basic work. I need to learn how to write an essay properly. I need to learn the basic skills. In math class, the Chinese people are all good. They don't teach me math, you know what I mean? They sit there and do their own work. They go to private school and learn math. None of them help me. you know what I mean? But here I have to teach them basic primary skills. And my English is not that good.

Tara: I want to ask you a question on that. There is no question that you take on a leadership role in the class ... Do you think that in some unexpected way, being in a class like Mrs. Yee's—and I hear everything you're saying about how difficult it is for you and that's very important—

Mina: I don't mind multiculturalism, right? My friends, they're of all races. They speak Greek, they speak whatever. But, you know what I mean, when it comes to my work, I have to achieve. I have to achieve the marks.

Tara: Absolutely. But do you think the fact that you take on more leadership in these groups in Mrs. Yee's class than you do in other classes, is a good thing? I know there is that whole problem about the essay, but is the fact that you do take on so much leadership, is that a good thing for you in some ways?

Mina: I like taking on the leadership role, I've always been like that. In any class I will be, like, a leader. I like speaking my mind and I like having discussions, but I like—

Tara: But you're concerned about the essay.

Mina: Not even the essay writing. Okay, I say my part, but like there's no like other stimuli from any other person in the class. They just sit there, you know what I mean? There's nothing there to, like you know, conflict with. In my other classes, I have other people [who] will say things, will disagree with me, will give me—in this class I have nothing. Everyone in that class just sits there like this. They're really quiet, they don't do nothing, like, you know what I mean? In other classes, I have other people that are on the same level in the same way as I am, so I have something to conflict with me. Seriously, I don't think half of those people in that class should be in a grade 12 advanced class. That's honestly what I'm saying. They shouldn't, they can't speak proper English ...

Tara: You talk a little bit about the silence and I want to know why do you think there is so much silence? 'Cause we've noticed the same thing in Mrs. Yee's class. You mentioned it. It could be [English] language proficiency. That is probably a big reason. Is there any other reason you think that people are quiet?

Mina: I have no clue. In most of my other classes people are just loud, and most of my classes are more [linguistically and racially] mixed. In this class, there are more Orientals and Orientals I find to be quieter people, like, you know, maybe that's why. I have no clue why, but like everyone in that class is like really quiet. [Interview, May 6, 1998].

¹ This exchange was reproduced in Tatum (1997, p. 160) and can been heard in the video "Skin Deep," produced and directed by Reid (1995).

² For information on anti-Asian violence, see Chan and Hune (1995).

³ See Yang, Gan, and Hong (1997).

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