Smashing the stereotype: that's what the "Growing Up Asian in America" exhibit, which is on display through the end of August at the Santa Clara City Library, is all about. This year's exhibit theme, "Winning and Losing, Competition and Teamwork," was inspired by the Bejing Olympics. The Asian Pacific Fund, which sponsors the exhibit, invited Bay Area students, with Asian and Pacific ethnic backgrounds, to submit essays and artwork on the competition topic. The organization's website provides background on the conflicts being experienced by Bay Area students who entered the competition:"It is a widely-held stereotype that Asian parents in particular expect their children to excel in school, and we wanted to know how common this expectation for excellence actually is. How does competition and teamwork fit into students' drive to succeed?. . .From the entries that emerged, it seems like Asian youth feel enormous pressure from their parents to excel, not just in school but in other areas too. Yet we also found quite a range of responses to that pressure. For example, many students felt regret about doing especially well when it meant a good friend would lose, and others unexpectedly found new friends when they cooperated with teammates and opponents. Competition in sports was often a relief from academic pressures, and many students enjoyed sports precisely because they could try their best without feeling like they always had to win. . . . The students who participated in the contest shared with us dilemmas they have faced and the difficult lessons they learned about sportsmanship, failure, humility and excellence. Regardless of the roles that competition and teamwork play in students' lives, we do know that it is very important for young people to find ways to cope with whatever pressures they feel."You can view the winning essays and artwork in person at the Library, or online at the This Year's Winners section of the "Growing Up Asian" website.
Santa Clara City Library patron, Huda Iftekhar, who is a student at Santa Clara Unified School District's Peterson Middle School, was awarded "honorable mention" in the grades 6-8 competition. Her essay, titled "Winning and Losing," can be viewed on the competition website and is and included in the traveling exhibit. In Huda's words:
". . . sometimes, when you lose, you make another person smile and cheer. That is the best kind of winning and losing of all."posted by jtb
