<Begin Segment 18>

BY: So this is off the subject a little bit, but I think it relates to being a teacher in education. So obviously you grew up with the idea that education is important.

DR: Absolutely.

BY: Did your parents tell you that, or how did you get that feeling?

DR: I got that from my teachers, especially Mrs. Christopherson.

BY: And so there is this stereotype of Asians students as kind of being the "model minority." I don't know if you've ever heard that, you know, that they get really good grades and they do well on tests and they are hard workers and all that. So I'm wondering, first of all, what do you think about that idea, that Asians are the "model minority"?

DR: To be honest with you, I believe that, I agree with that. Not all of us.

BY: Talk a little bit about why you agree with that.

DR: Because I think their work ethics is, they're high. Their parents' expectations are high. That's just being Japanese as far as I'm concerned. I mean, you need to go out there and be a good student and study hard.

BY: Did you feel pressured to do that as you were growing up?

DR: No.

BY: Do you feel like you pressured your own children to do that?

DR: Yes and no, it was half and half.

BY: So explain that.

DR: Well, how can I tell this? No, I guess I lied. Because I did expect them to be good students and do their best and get good grades. My son was really good at that. In fact, when his sister started school, he was two years younger than her, and every day he would give me such a bad time, he wanted to go to school so bad, and actually his birthday was too late. Yeah, too late to get into school at the right time. So I put him into a private school for a year, so he could go to school with the regular kids, and that was really a big mistake. I mean, he did well, he always was the top of the class. But when he got to middle school, you know, when the boys and girls start noticing each other, he was so left out.

BY: He was a year younger?

DR: He was a year younger. But the time he got to high school, it was fine.

BY: So the other part of that question, so there's this idea of Asians being the "model minority." And so you said you believe that. As a teacher, do you have any observations around that? Did you have Asian students?

DR: I did not.

BY: You did not, okay. I was just wondering because even now, it's an idea that a lot of people have, that Asian students are, work harder, get better grades, all of that.

DR: Yeah, I think that's partly family expectations also.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.