Incoming freshmen Jordan Yeh and Ryan Phung, both Chinese-American students, chuckled as they listed common stereotypes of Asians that came to mind, such as being good at math, playing the violin and having strict parents.
Yeh said his parents are fairly relaxed when it comes to his education.
Both said that in general the stereotypes have an element of truth but are more often material for jokes than valid statistics.
A report released Monday shows that the academically high-achieving stereotype associated with Asian-Americans is an outdated and potentially harmful notion. The report, "Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders-Facts, Not Fiction: Setting the Record Straight," is based on federal education, immigration and census data and College Board statistics.
The purpose of the report is to dispel possibly harmful assumptions about the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community and replace those assumptions with facts - for example, that the growth in university populations is solely attributed to the minority group parallels that of other demographics.
The stereotype fuels the creation of educational policies in academic institutions that ignore Asian-American students who do not fit the stereotype and are in need of special assistance, according to the report.
Conducted by researchers from New York University and funded by the College Board, the study also addresses how the stereotype dismisses the broad rangeof academic fields of study - not just math, science, engineering and technology - pursued by Asian-Americans.
While many Asian-American students excel academically and are well represented at the nation's most selective colleges, the report said there is a significant number of students who struggle and are overlooked by policies that assume Asian-American students will excel on their own.
But, some say the stereotype holds a shred of truth.
Elizabeth Walsh, a community and regional planning graduate student, said the vast majority of her Asian-American classmates seem to fulfill the positive aspects of their stereotypes - intelligence and drive - but that Asian exchange students seem to fit the stereotypes more often than Asian-American students.
