I think these observations need to be more granular in terms of to which generation someone belongs and the proportion of Asian Americans to White (and the other ethnicities, but mainly Whites). From what you're relating, including the relevance of Fresh Off The Boat, it sounds as if you're 2nd generation (maybe 1st) Asian American, which doesn't diminish, in any way, what you've experienced. I'm 4th generation, so some of my experiences are similar to yours, and Eddies from Fresh Off The Boat, but others not so much. For example, my mom never prepared Chinese food for lunch; I got the standard White-Bread American fare, peanut butter & jelly, ham/turkey/salami sandwich's, can of soda, etc. In retrospect and in terms of who I am now, I think it would have been pretty goddam awesome if she had packed me dim sum for lunch. The scholastic expectations were there, but not to the same degree to which I'm seeing kids currently held these days. In terms of racial environment, I was one of four Asians in my class in elementary school and there were maybe like six to ten more in high school. When I faced racism there, which wasn't often but it also wasn't in a joking manner, and I clearly knew the sentiment who was issuing it. In terms of the whole model minority thing, I kinda felt like it was my duty to just do my own thing, regardless if it fit with that or not. That had a few kind of an interesting results. People in authority were predisposed to giving me the benefit of the doubt, so I got away with a lot of shit, like being the go-to guy when it came to having alcohol on the class ski/snowboard trips (I worked at the local liquor store...owned and run by my first Asian friend, two grades above and met him in middle school...still keep in touch with him). All that said, I did feel more a part of White American culture than Chinese American, and it wasn't until university that I started actively seeking to learn of my Chinese cultural heritage. I'm quite a bit older than OP, but I think this can still apply in that I have a lot of seconds cousins who are OP's age or younger, 5th generation, so they're gonna have some of the same experiences as OP, such as a lot of the pop-culture references and the presence of more Asians than when I was growing up, but their parents, my cousins, will have grown up like me.