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HOME > SCHOLARSHIPS & AWARDS > GROWING UP ASIAN IN AMERICA
About the Theme: Superheroes
The Asian Pacific Fund selects a new theme for the Growing Up Asian in America contest every year, and with the Beijing Summer Olympics coming up, we asked students to share their ideas on winning and losing. 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. We hope the essays and art work displayed here help our diverse communities develop an understanding how young people come to terms with how they compete against and work with one another.
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