Why doesn't MCPS care about Asian-Americans and feelings of bias/discrimination?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that PP but when people I know use the words "Asian culture" they often mean Asian American culture which is something kind of imposed on Asians in the United States since they are lumped together as a census category.

Yeah, and generally when people in the US refer to "European culture," they're white ethno-nationalists trying to justify anti-immigrant xenophobia.

I'm the "Asian culture" PP, when I say "Asian culture" I mean the culture in Asian countries, not the Asian American culture.

When my spouse, from Europe, says "southern European culture" vs "northern european culture" or "western european culture" vs "eastern european culture", it's not about xenophobia.

So, the culture in Kazakhstan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, Korea...

Could you please list some factors common to the cultures of Turkmenistan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, and South Korea?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because MCPS is jumping on the woke train and AA have "white privilege".

As an Asian-American (who grew up low-income), I have yet to experience any white privilege. It really irks me that MCPS lumps Asian kids with white kids.

Why does MCPS have to suppress one group of kids in order to elevate another? My oldest is a 1st grader, so learning about how MCPS operates has been pretty eye-opening.

I feel the same. How about trying to simply elevate all kids?

This would be a great idea, in a school system where all kids came to school with with the same opportunities.

Yeah, best solution is to discriminate against Asians.

We need to be clear here - no one is discriminating against Asian American students. I mean, if you want to talk about why MCPS doesn't give Diwali or Lunar New Year off school, we can discuss that, but OP specifically mentioned magnet admissions, and there is no discrimination.

When MCPS retooled the magnet admissions, they prioritized kids who would otherwise not have an academic peer group. This "hurt" kids living in areas with lots of high achievers, meaning basically those in uniformly high SES neighborhoods. It "helped" kids living in neighborhoods with a lower number of high achievers, meaning those in more economically diverse neighborhoods.

The axis here along which MCPS "discriminates" is economic, not racial/ethnic, and prioritizing kids who would otherwise not have a peer group is a normal and legal rationale for magnet admissions.

The retooled admissions made perfect sense and were even laudable, but many parents who were used to gaming the system by investing in prep weren't too happy about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that PP but when people I know use the words "Asian culture" they often mean Asian American culture which is something kind of imposed on Asians in the United States since they are lumped together as a census category.

Yeah, and generally when people in the US refer to "European culture," they're white ethno-nationalists trying to justify anti-immigrant xenophobia.

I'm the "Asian culture" PP, when I say "Asian culture" I mean the culture in Asian countries, not the Asian American culture.

When my spouse, from Europe, says "southern European culture" vs "northern european culture" or "western european culture" vs "eastern european culture", it's not about xenophobia.

This is a tangent, but your spouse is drawing pretty specific lines that make a lot more sense than "Asian culture."

Yes, Central European (Warsaw Pact) countries have some similarities, historically and culturally. So do Eastern European (former USSR) countries, Northern European (Scandinavian), Southern European (Greece and Italy) and former Yugoslav (Balkan) nations.

But you see that those are much finer gradients than "Asian culture," right?

[Anonymous]

Instead of using "Asian Cultures", there might be something in common among immigrants came to US from other side of the ocean, they all have their "American dreams" and they try hard to fulfill their dreams.

Can we call it "immigrant culture" instead ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are you Asian?

You have no clue. Seriously.

If you heard how some teachers disparage Asian students and parents in MCPS, you would feel differently.

"Are there teachers (and others) in MCPS who believe, say, and do bigoted things about Asian-Americans?" (Yes)

and

"Do MCPS policies and practices discriminate against Asian-Americans?" (No)

are related but different questions.

+1 OP is alleging systemic bias (policies and practices, particularly in magnet admissions). Those do not exist, or at least there's no proof that they exist. If MCPS is lying about the process being race-blind, then we can talk about systemic bias.

Other posters are talking about individual bias among kids, parents, and teachers when it comes to Asian American students. This is obviously a problem, but individual and systemic bias are different problems and require different interventions.

No, OP is talking about how MCPS seems to be ignoring concerns by Asian and Asian American parents and students that they are being discriminated against. He clearly said to basically ignore the debate over whether there actually is discrimination but that there is obviously a FEELING that there is which needs to be discussed and addressed.

The stress people feel from this is very real. You may think there's no systemic bias. Others disagree and feel there is bias and discrimination in the system. The fact that this is an issue at all is something that is causing tension at school and between families and racial groups. It's something the district needs to step up and recognize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of using "Asian Cultures", there might be something in common among immigrants came to US from other side of the ocean, they all have their "American dreams" and they try hard to fulfill their dreams.

Can we call it "immigrant culture" instead ?

Are the dreams of immigrants who came to the US from the other side of the Pacific Ocean different from the dreams of immigrants who came to the US from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean or from another part of the Americas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because MCPS is jumping on the woke train and AA have "white privilege".

As an Asian-American (who grew up low-income), I have yet to experience any white privilege. It really irks me that MCPS lumps Asian kids with white kids.

Why does MCPS have to suppress one group of kids in order to elevate another? My oldest is a 1st grader, so learning about how MCPS operates has been pretty eye-opening.

I feel the same. How about trying to simply elevate all kids?

This would be a great idea, in a school system where all kids came to school with with the same opportunities.

Yeah, best solution is to discriminate against Asians.

We need to be clear here - no one is discriminating against Asian American students. I mean, if you want to talk about why MCPS doesn't give Diwali or Lunar New Year off school, we can discuss that, but OP specifically mentioned magnet admissions, and there is no discrimination.

When MCPS retooled the magnet admissions, they prioritized kids who would otherwise not have an academic peer group. This "hurt" kids living in areas with lots of high achievers, meaning basically those in uniformly high SES neighborhoods. It "helped" kids living in neighborhoods with a lower number of high achievers, meaning those in more economically diverse neighborhoods.

The axis here along which MCPS "discriminates" is economic, not racial/ethnic, and prioritizing kids who would otherwise not have a peer group is a normal and legal rationale for magnet admissions.

The retooled admissions made perfect sense and were even laudable, but many parents who were used to gaming the system by investing in prep weren't too happy about it.

Look! More stereotypes about prepping!
This will shock you but many people who don't use prepping services were also upset about the changes. They are not those used to gaming the system but just think it's unfair.
Universal screening is a good idea. Making allowances for kids who are poor is a good idea.

The adding on different layers of selection just to get the racial mix you want, bias and discrimination.

I'm not bitter. My DC got in under the new criteria into the most competitive CES. I still think it was done incorrectly and with biased intent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instead of using "Asian Cultures", there might be something in common among immigrants came to US from other side of the ocean, they all have their "American dreams" and they try hard to fulfill their dreams.

Can we call it "immigrant culture" instead ?

Are the dreams of immigrants who came to the US from the other side of the Pacific Ocean different from the dreams of immigrants who came to the US from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean or from another part of the Americas?

DP. Asian here. Sure, I'll stop using the term Asian culture when MCPS stops tracking who is Asian and using that data to make generalizations and decisions about Asian students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instead of using "Asian Cultures", there might be something in common among immigrants came to US from other side of the ocean, they all have their "American dreams" and they try hard to fulfill their dreams.

Can we call it "immigrant culture" instead ?

Are the dreams of immigrants who came to the US from the other side of the Pacific Ocean different from the dreams of immigrants who came to the US from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean or from another part of the Americas?

DP. Asian here. Sure, I'll stop using the term Asian culture when MCPS stops tracking who is Asian and using that data to make generalizations and decisions about Asian students.

Asian-Americans, no?

Federal law requires MCPS to do this.

And really, for a test of the idea that you can solve issues of race/ethnicity by not collecting data about race/ethnicity, just look at France. How is that working for them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Look! More stereotypes about prepping!
This will shock you but many people who don't use prepping services were also upset about the changes. They are not those used to gaming the system but just think it's unfair.
Universal screening is a good idea. Making allowances for kids who are poor is a good idea.

The adding on different layers of selection just to get the racial mix you want, bias and discrimination.

I'm not bitter. My DC got in under the new criteria into the most competitive CES. I still think it was done incorrectly and with biased intent.

It would definitely be bias and discrimination if MCPS had done that, but MCPS did not do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that PP but when people I know use the words "Asian culture" they often mean Asian American culture which is something kind of imposed on Asians in the United States since they are lumped together as a census category.

Yeah, and generally when people in the US refer to "European culture," they're white ethno-nationalists trying to justify anti-immigrant xenophobia.

I'm the "Asian culture" PP, when I say "Asian culture" I mean the culture in Asian countries, not the Asian American culture.

When my spouse, from Europe, says "southern European culture" vs "northern european culture" or "western european culture" vs "eastern european culture", it's not about xenophobia.

So, the culture in Kazakhstan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, Korea...

Could you please list some factors common to the cultures of Turkmenistan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, and South Korea?

NP
I don't understand the back and forth being willfully obtuse in order to determine what exactly "asian" is in the context of this thread, but obviously it refers to the asian countries from which the overwhelming majority of the MCPS students come from, no?
I'm talking about either south asian (Indian, Pakistani) or east/SE Asian (Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Phillipines) and these groups definitely share a similar culture.
How many families from Kazakhstan, Yemen, Bahrain, Nepal, Turkmenistan have you met around here?

[Anonymous]

Do people from India and Pakistan agree that they share a similar culture? Narendra Modi and his Hindutva buddies are doing their best to make the point that not even everyone in India shares a similar culture.

To say nothing of the history of relations between China, Korea, and Japan.

Next you'll tell me that Turks and Armenians share a similar culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that PP but when people I know use the words "Asian culture" they often mean Asian American culture which is something kind of imposed on Asians in the United States since they are lumped together as a census category.

Yeah, and generally when people in the US refer to "European culture," they're white ethno-nationalists trying to justify anti-immigrant xenophobia.

I'm the "Asian culture" PP, when I say "Asian culture" I mean the culture in Asian countries, not the Asian American culture.

When my spouse, from Europe, says "southern European culture" vs "northern european culture" or "western european culture" vs "eastern european culture", it's not about xenophobia.

So, the culture in Kazakhstan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, Korea...

Could you please list some factors common to the cultures of Turkmenistan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, and South Korea?

You are right that there are differences.

Just like there are absolutely differences between my ‘practically white’ neighbor from Argentina, and my co-worker attorney from Columbia. Versus your El Salvadoran housekeeper and Guatemalan gardener.

Yet, amazingly MCPS lumps them all together as ‘Latinx’. Regardless of background.

See how ridiculous that is? How useless it is to lump kids together by race?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that PP but when people I know use the words "Asian culture" they often mean Asian American culture which is something kind of imposed on Asians in the United States since they are lumped together as a census category.

Yeah, and generally when people in the US refer to "European culture," they're white ethno-nationalists trying to justify anti-immigrant xenophobia.

I'm the "Asian culture" PP, when I say "Asian culture" I mean the culture in Asian countries, not the Asian American culture.

When my spouse, from Europe, says "southern European culture" vs "northern european culture" or "western european culture" vs "eastern european culture", it's not about xenophobia.

So, the culture in Kazakhstan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, Korea...

Could you please list some factors common to the cultures of Turkmenistan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, and South Korea?

You are right that there are differences.

Just like there are absolutely differences between my ‘practically white’ neighbor from Argentina, and my co-worker attorney from Columbia. Versus your El Salvadoran housekeeper and Guatemalan gardener.

Yet, amazingly MCPS lumps them all together as ‘Latinx’. Regardless of background.

See how ridiculous that is? How useless it is to lump kids together by race?

And I should add that MCPS sees all Latinx kids as ‘underrepresented’ and therefore somehow disadvantaged. Regardless of how well-educated or wealthy their parents may or may not be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that PP but when people I know use the words "Asian culture" they often mean Asian American culture which is something kind of imposed on Asians in the United States since they are lumped together as a census category.

Yeah, and generally when people in the US refer to "European culture," they're white ethno-nationalists trying to justify anti-immigrant xenophobia.

I'm the "Asian culture" PP, when I say "Asian culture" I mean the culture in Asian countries, not the Asian American culture.

When my spouse, from Europe, says "southern European culture" vs "northern european culture" or "western european culture" vs "eastern european culture", it's not about xenophobia.

So, the culture in Kazakhstan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, Korea...

Could you please list some factors common to the cultures of Turkmenistan, Singapore, Yemen, Thailand, Philippines, Bahrain, Nepal, and South Korea?

You are right that there are differences.

Just like there are absolutely differences between my ‘practically white’ neighbor from Argentina, and my co-worker attorney from Columbia. Versus your El Salvadoran housekeeper and Guatemalan gardener.

Yet, amazingly MCPS lumps them all together as ‘Latinx’. Regardless of background.

See how ridiculous that is? How useless it is to lump kids together by race?

In other words, you agree there is no such thing as "Asian culture" or "Latin culture."