My parents, and I would bargain the parents of most of my fellow Chinese, have made it through difficult challenges when they first immigrated here from China.
My father came here a poor man. He settled and he immediately looked for work which he contributed all of his earnings to his college education. He told me that he used to love eating peanut butter sandwiches but since that was the only thing he ate for a long time, because it was so cheap, he eventually got sick of it.
The only asset he had was his ability to speak English, which was a huge advantage over other immigrants. He worked in a restaurant, went home late to a dangerous neighborhood, studied for his Master’s, and went to classes. He faced other challenges along the way such as getting mugged, getting burned by a searing hot pan, and other hardships I can hardly imagine.
But eventually, he graduated, married my mother, had me and my sister, got a job at a Japanese company, got a teaching job, and bought a home and a comfortable life for his family. Considering the conditions of his own childhood background, he achieved the American dream and did his family proud. He has instilled in me a value of hard work, respect, and intelligence. Now, he and my mom have paved the way for me and my sister so that we may both live better lives.
But now that we have food, clothes, shelter, healthcare, and all these other luxuries that children like when my father was a child could barely comprehend, what does my generation have left to achieve? What is defined by a better life? Food, clothing, shelter, the basic necessities? Is it a good paying job as most Asian parents hope of their children? Have we hit the end of the road and reached the good life? Or is there another challenge that my Chinese generation must face in order to lead a better life as our parents hoped?
The challenge that I believe we face now is the glass ceiling. This arose in a discussion I had recently with my father and Uncle Charlie (not my actual uncle). We were talking about my future and career and to sum things up, Charlie is highly practical and encouraged me to pick a job that makes big money, regardless of the emotional fulfillment of the job. I told him I want to be an engineer and he told me to use my math skills as an accountant. He told me that I could not compete with foreign students in STEM fields and that the only advantage I have over them is my ability to communicate effectively in English and I needed to make use of this. I countered him saying that managers of tech businesses need both the tech knowledge as well as the communication skills.
Effectively, he told me that I did not seem like the managerial type. I was not white enough. In this society, the people at the top positions of our job markets are tall, handsome, white people. Even within our own native countries, you see white managers and CEOs in Hong Kong businesses. It is a white dominated world and I have no chance of breaking into that niche. So he encouraged me to aim a little lower than I expected, take the road of least resistance, and live a comfortable life.
Is this really what is expected of the Chinese community, even from those within our own Chinese culture? It is precisely because of this type of mindset that restricts our people from entering the ranks of high society. How are we expected to take on these roles if our own people do not believe we can acquire them? Did the Civil Rights movement take place because Dr. Martin Luther King told his people to aim for jobs as laborers and not as leaders? I am in no way comparing the difficulties of my generation to the difficulties of his, but I am drawing parallels that I see in terms of ethnic challenges that face both of our people.
It was my hopes to simply be an engineer who can build interesting technology and have a fun time doing it. But now I believe that I, and more Chinese of my generation, should aspire to be leaders in our respective fields. I believe we need to innovate and lead so that not only can our Chinese community be represented and recognized in the high ranks of society, but also so that we may serve as role models for the change and the good that we can contribute to the world.
The status quo is unsustainable. So forgive me Uncle Charlie, but I refuse to accept your advice. I refuse to aim lower than my expectations so that I can fill whatever goals I did not achieve with money. I refuse to pursue a career solely for its monetary rewards. I choose to continue on the more competitive path to being an engineer. And I choose to be one of the front runners paving the way for the future of this field. I will do what it takes to show that the Asian people are innovative, creative, strong leaders.
This, I believe, is the new American Dream that we should strive to achieve. Our parents have climbed the financial obstacles to get us to the base of the mountain. Now it is our turn to overcome the social barriers that we face. It’s time to break the glass ceiling and enjoy the view from up top.
