San Gabriel Valley
Introduction
We will be using personal knowledge along with primary and secondary sources to provide historical background and critical analysis. Working off our own experiences as residents of the San Gabriel Valley, we will be writing narratives of what we observe in each area, making sure to specify how each culture and ethnicity can play a role in the differences between cities. Most of the San Gabriel Valley lies within the 626 area code, thus our project may incorporate referencing this area as the 626 also.
Lastly, US News and World Report releases an annual report ranking all the high schools and assessing each city's educational institution based on their "college readiness" and Academic Performance Index Survey scores from standardized texting. We believe that there is more to the city than rankings strongly influenced by monetary income. Cities such as San Gabriel or El Monte are rich in culture, history and diversity that pushes us to create new categories and scores in which to assess the cities of the San Gabriel Valley. This will be presented in our Path titled "Scores."
The San Gabriel Valley, with its cities and inhabitants, often get clumped together into a single category, stereotype, and entity. Ultimately, we are trying to demonstrate that this is an incorrect assumption to make, for each city offers its own individuality and its people, the same.
Unfortunately, stereotypes do emerge within each city. We will strike to dismantle these stereotypes within our three focus cities as well:
Stereotypes (based on personal experiences of being a resident of SGV):
San Marino:
rich, spoiled, Chinese, White, perfect SAT scores, Huntington Library, Lacy Park, regulations, mansions
San Gabriel:
Chinese, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Great Wall, Chinatown, hotpot, dim sum, Asian
El Monte:
Mexican, ghetto, poor, tacos, Alberto's, Pico, unsafe, gangs, crime, drugs
As we have learned in Asian American Studies, stereotypes reinforce incorrect assumptions that are detrimental to the individuality and diversity of a single person. It undermines certain achievements and can simultaneously harshen the image of an entire group. We need to embrace a more critical and comprehensive understanding of ethnic groups and promote their right to be unique.
Our Critical Map
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