When I was reading "The Model Minority" I couldn't help but think of all the kids I went to high school with. There were a lot of Asians in my school and the ones I knew all had parents who highly valued grades and expected the straight As. This expectancy from the parents is a culture thing and helps the myth exist. But, there are also parents like that in other cultures and among all the races in America. If the parents aren't happy unless their children are getting straight As, then those children are going to work hard all the time, assuming that they want to please their parents. I guess my point is that the parents expectation is really, but not unique to Asian Americans.
The other thing that was common among the Asian American students at my school was that a lot of them were good artists. Few of them wanted to be artists, but they were good for self-taught. As a matter of fact they were good at everything they did in school. They were just good students. Of course, I generalizing and falling under the myth. There were Asian Americans who fell under the average and some who needed tutors after school in order to get a descent grade. But, the majority of the Asians I know were really smart good at school. I don't think that their being good students made them smarter, I feel that their being good students made them good at worker with the school system. Again this is something that is not unique to Asian Americans.
There are many different ways of learning and there is always going to be a population of students, in every race and culture, that learn really well and fast in the school system. Some of these students go on to do really well and some don't because they just learned how to work the school system, not real life.
I have always been interested with the part of the myth that all Asians are good at math and science. What I find interesting is that these are the subjects that are best translated through different languages. I would love to read a detailed study that talks about this fact. Maybe it's not take Asians are naturally better at math and science, but that the first generation immigrates pick up of it better because it is easier to understand. Subjects such as language are really hard to have a full understanding of in any language, even some one's native language. If the parents are good at math and science, then their children are going to grow up having better understanding of these subjects because they have parents who can help them. These isn't a race thing, it's a nurture thing. I know more about language, the history and structure than most kids my age because I have two English professors as parents.
I think that you have done a good job of analyzing the primary fallacy of the model minority myth. The idea that the so-called "Asian attributes" such as high achievement and excellence at math and science are racially based ignores the fact that these are characteristics independent of one's race or ethnicity. For instance, there are parents of all races and ethnicities that have high expectations for their students is something that people often overlook in their eagerness to uphold the model minority myth. I agree that much of the "Asian attributes" are more about nurture -- there is a degree of self-fulfilling prophecy when Asian students, for example, are encouraged to pursue certain academic fields by professors or (as you pointed out) they may gravitate toward it because of language accessibility.
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