My thesis for my masters

Part One

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” ― Jack Kerouac

Writing a capstone for a master’s program is quite a task. It’s like practicing for five years to run a marathon without stopping for a light jog. I probably should have worked on the concept of this thesis at the start of my program. Instead, I procrastinated like any good student by focusing on video games, and friends. But when I did get around to it...I had about eight weeks to dish out a working, and perfect thesis.

It is relieving to be done with my master’s in English. I can breathe a little again. However, this milestone leaves another one open. I am now looking for a job as either an English Teacher or an editor. Any advice on how to achieve this is wanted, and I desire help. Thank you in advance.

My process of writing this thesis had a lot of trouble and problems with it. I tended to my own grammar, my own thoughts, and had to completely abolish my first version of the thesis during the seventh week of an 11th-week class. Forty pages had to be written and I had to gear it down like a nuclear bomb was going to hit me. I even felt that way for a while. But eventually, I reached my freedom. For a special on my blog, I will be sharing my thesis in parts. Always feel free to comment, like, and discuss the content.

Introduction

A journey begins with a single step. This step can lead to both good and bad events to occur for a person. It is the events that change us, shape us, and tell us who we will be. Life is unique and the stories we write, and share tell us about ourselves and society.

In every story, decisions play a key part in how actions, feelings, and changes take place throughout the world of the character. Literature has opened the doors of expressing these feelings and adapting the minds of readers to become enraptured in stories, and histories of the characters within. We become imagination. It grows and produces our minds with thoughts, and worlds that we can never reach physically.

In my own world, I have come to realize that these decisions have determined the place that I am today. I was not born into poverty, my father did get arrested. It became my decision to live in poverty with my disabled mother after his arrest. By choosing to do this, I formed a path for respect with education and a passion for reading books as they are far cheaper than any of the fancy toys other kids had. This taught me how to be an avid reader and develop a love for writing.

With this love of reading and writing, I have stumbled upon a lack of Asian Literature in the core curricular for students in American education. My discovery began when I was in sixth grade and realize that the majority of the texts we were reading remained works from the past, or present by writers born in North America, or Europe. I never tried to voice these concerns with the schools because other students who tried were often told that teachers have too much on their plate to cover such topics.

Rarely, if any of the work was from other cultural Americans aside from Native Americans, and black history month. Our school was too focused on the SAT test and it drove me to realize as an avid reader of Manga ( Japanese comics) that there is a whole new way for students to learn and grow aside from a basic skills generator test.

Asian Americans and Asians, in general, have seen their fair share of oppression and disrespect from the western culture because of their parents’ background or religious beliefs. Additionally, the recent virus called Coronavirus has caused an odd epidemic as its epicenter for the outbreak that began in Wuhan, China. This virus has caused strange reactions to the Asian culture currently with people shying away from Asians of any decent even if they are in America and haven’t traveled. Due to the epidemic, people are treating Asians with a sense of distance throughout the world. I am here to say “ fear is what holds us back.” Rather than be afraid we should realize that life is short and to put our best forward which means accepting people for who they are.

By ignoring Asian culture in the school curriculum, schools are allowing Asians to be stereotyped, bullied, and disrespected both in the classroom and at home. Circumstances allow students to make assumptions about each other based on small background knowledge about race, religion, and upbringing. Due to the lack of understanding of each other, it creates misunderstandings and poor judgments. This is why Asian media and culture inside the curricular it will stop this type of bullying or stereotyping by creating a decline in negative words and actions towards Asian and Asian American classmates.

Being bullied for anyone feels like a load of unfairness mixed with an entirely new form of self-deprivation. The problem with bullying is that it stems from parts of a person that can no be changed. I would know. I was bullied. My eyes used to be fish eyes but after being bullied about them for most of my life-time, I changed them during high-school. I accepted that the gum, the punches, and the attitudes were not going to be directed at me because of my eyes. After this, the decision for me not to wear makeup as a means to keep attention off of myself became the result.

At first, the idea of being bullied at home about education was overshadowed by the bullying that is appearing in classrooms. However, parents can be strict on their youth because of either a poor background from their own homeland or because they expect the best out of their child right away. From this point of view, it is noticeable that there is a struggle in the United States for Asian Americans to find their place in school.

Asian Americans are in conflict between having to meet parents’ expectations of good grades to earn good jobs. Where the American dream is a desire to be and fulfill what you want to both financially, and job-wise. However, Asian parents typically want their children to be wealthy and prosperous over doing a job that they wish to do. This can create harsh discipline and dedication to their studies as students. Such dedication and harsh discipline for studies can be both useful, and frightening for these students.

Other values that Asian culture can bring forward to the classroom can be the idea of cleanliness like leaving shoes at the door, and students in Japan participate in cleaning the school themselves. Asian education is considered the only pathway for success in Asia. The reasoning behind success as achieved with education is because school teaches children how to operate in society as adults through chores, information, and respect for their teachers.

Another aspect of their success in education is the formation of the idea that failure breeds into itself. According to an article called These Asian Countries Are Winning the Education Game, “the expectation and insistence that all students will meet high standards is the single most important explanation of the success of these Asian countries with students of every description, including disadvantaged students” (Tucker 4). Schools set high bars in Asia for students and are not allowed to bend these expectations. In Asia, students learn that the only way to social mobility and better pay is through dedicating their time to their students.

What this does is initiate a purpose for students to learn in the classroom. In fact, these values would improve the modernized expectations of students because they would notice that what they are doing in the classroom is effective in the real world as well. Most students are feeling like what they are learning is not justified in the way society is living in America. Overall, Asian values and cultures can bring forth a higher form of respect for their education and teachers.

Alongside the issues of the lack of Asian literature within the western curriculum, it is important to expand this topic to include the homes of Asian Americans who must adapt to both the society of westernized nations and their homeland at the same time. This can cause grievance for students as they struggle to identify themselves in the world. It creates a struggle both at home, and in the classroom for acceptance. They are presented with media but the media that is touched on by Asians is limited in the American classroom.

This issue created students who are missing out on the value of opposing or different cultures in comparison to their own. Even if ESL (English as a Second Language) classes cover Asian Literature, it was still eluded and often avoided as a culture inside a normal classroom where students of Asian descent would have to adapt to Americanized school systems.

When I think of education, I find myself turning my brain around the idea of learning, improvement, and drive. No one is uneducated in the world. People are educated in different ways. In third world countries, survival is a skill that is taught and trained within the people of that village. It is a foundation for a society where people learn how to integrate themselves into society as humans, and ideally find a placement where they can procure a life as an adult.

Education in the modern world takes on new meaning by focusing on schooling from a young age into adulthood and teaches the youth about the way the world works around them. Also, it can show the youth how to better serve society as adults.

Although there are numerous routes and teaching styles to take, I believe in taking a multicultural teaching style while being aided by a critically engaged one. This style of teaching will aid in bringing more Asian media into the core curriculum classes of both English composition, and Literature.

My choice of using autoethnography for my paper is a stylistic one to aid in showing my personal experiences with the lack of Asian Media in the classroom, and the direct educational benefits Asian Media brings to the classroom. Furthermore, it will help in providing the theories of culture and gender equality that stand out the most to understand the diverse media, and tough background for them through Literature theory. This can include being brought to the classroom through fun activities, homework, and lessons.

By bringing Asian media into English Literature and composition classrooms, it allows students to appreciate Eastern values, lessons, and concepts that would have otherwise been left unnoticed.