Disassembling the Model Minority: Asian Pacific Islander Identities and Their Schooling Experiences

When I was in kindergarten, I was always in trouble. During recess I either sat on the benches or stood up against the wall. I had few friends; I always seemed to get into arguments with my classmates no matter if they were Filipino American like me, or European American, or African American, or Latinos. I always caused problems for my teacher. Mrs. H. always tried to silence me when I would try and engage in a discussion as to why I was in trouble. Once I got punished for not doing my class work correctly. We were to watch a movie when we all finished coloring our pictures. I hurried to finish my picture so I could join my classmates on the round carpet. I was so proud of my work I ran up to show Mrs. H. I was halted in mid stride by Mrs. M., the aide, and told to return to my seat. Mrs. H. examined my picture and proceeded to show the class how wrong my picture was. My picture was not done correctly because I colored outside of the lines of the lion's mane. As punishment I had to sit in the corner and color another lion picture as the class got to watch the movie. Every so often I would lean back in my chair and get a glimpse of the movie. I would be redirected to my work when Mrs. H. would yell at me to return to my seat and remind me I wasn't part of the group. All I wanted to do was be with everyone else. Was I really wrong to color outside the lines or did I have fine motor issues that needed to be addressed?