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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Marcel Bass, Student at Union Square Academy For Health Sciences and Youth Advocate at Asian American Student Advocacy Project
1:47:10
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3 min
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Marcel Bass, an Asian American student, testifies about the impact of the model minority myth on AAPI students' mental health and the need for systemic changes in schools to support all students' well-being. He discusses the proposed mental health initiatives and offers additional recommendations to better address the unique challenges faced by AAPI students.
- Highlights the negative effects of stereotypes and expectations on AAPI students' mental health
- Suggests that while the proposed mental health initiatives are a good start, they are not sufficient to address systemic issues
- Recommends collecting disaggregated data, implementing an inclusive curriculum, and hiring more AAPI school social workers to better support AAPI students
Marcel Bass
1:47:10
Hi.
1:47:11
Good morning.
1:47:12
So, first, I wanna thank Chair Lee and Lorent oh, sorry.
1:47:15
For allowing this conversation.
1:47:16
My name is Marcel, a junior at Union Square Academy For Health Sciences High School in Manhattan.
1:47:22
I'm a youth advocate at the American Asian sorry.
1:47:26
The Asian American Student Advocacy Project Mental Health Campaign.
1:47:30
I am Asian American and the model minority myth has negatively impacted my experiences at schools.
1:47:37
Peers and teachers expect me to have perfect grades, to be strong in all subjects, and expect me to look or act like how the media portrays Asian girls.
1:47:45
I've been judged because I'm too exotic.
1:47:47
I have been called racial slurs and expected to laugh at Asian jokes by peers, which teachers choose to ignore.
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However, I am me just like anyone else.
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I have my strengths and my weaknesses, and being tied to stereotypes and expectations have been damaging to my mental health.
1:48:03
Regardless of our ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, and other factors, all students, including AAPI students, deserve a learning space where their mental health is embraced and taken care of.
1:48:15
And where schools are actively defining health to include our mental sorry, our well-being and emotions.
1:48:21
Schools need to make sure that we are not merely after thoughts due to hurtful stereotypes, and schools must recognize that we are part of a vibrant future.
1:48:30
To that end, as student advocates at ASAP, we have thoughts regarding the introduction of a mental health toolkit, peer to peer mental health training, and adding mental health professionals to create students in the mental health club.
1:48:44
All three ideas are a good start because they create the space for students to explore and learn more about mental health and for students to build empathy towards others.
1:48:52
However, these cannot be the only solutions.
1:48:55
To support all students' mental health in schools, we need long term solutions and systemic changes.
1:49:03
For example, I also felt school assemblies are not meaningful because of how none of them address the root causes of issues.
1:49:10
They could also be vague that I'm not sure how much one is learning.
1:49:13
In ASAP, my team brainstormed and compiled several lists of charts of what mental health means to us.
1:49:18
And as of last week, we started thinking about the changes we would like to see.
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Barriers and challenges for us to talk about mental health are often systemic.
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For example, so counselors and social workers don't understand our struggles as AAPI students.
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We don't see ourselves in the curriculum, the teachers, and implicit bias people have as a result of the model minority myth.
1:49:40
None of these could be fully addressed with these the introductions we're discussing today.
1:49:45
As AAPI ASAP Youth Leaders, we have identified a few additional changes we would like to see.
1:49:51
1st, we need disaggregated data.
1:49:53
The AAPI community is not a monolith and aggregated data doesn't show the needs of our students like what languages they speak.
1:50:00
With aggregated data, we can't see or support diverse schools.
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To challenge and combat the model minority myth, we need an inclusive curriculum where everyone is able to learn AAPI history and culture that is reflective of our community.
1:50:14
Having an inclusive curriculum would also allow students to feel seen and included in our community.
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As youth advocates in ASAP, we are also ready to and willing to work with your office as ideas are being implemented.
1:50:27
We are also happy to provide feedback on these introductions.
1:50:30
We would like to also call in the city council to come up with more creative ways to hire more AAPI school social workers and help us get that disaggregated data implemented across city agencies to truly reflect the needs of our community.
1:50:43
Thank you.