Systemic bias against Asian-Americans in schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m at a private school with asian child and it’s the same situation. It’s not one person trying to take down publics but rather many people telling their school’s truth. At our peer schools, as soon as the schools become 30-40% Asian, they fall out of favor and quickly lose white applicants. And then the school takes more asian students or if they have an upper school they take even international students to survive, and everyone stays away because “it’s the asian school.”

In my personal experience, the kids at my child’s k-8 who are white are chosen more for teacher-selected leadership positions, allowed more leeway for bad behavior, and given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to academics. The Asian kids-
especially the girls- are expected to be good little soldiers and not rock the boat. When my daughter’s white bully was having a hard time socially and lashing out at other kids, she was given special sessions with the school counselors and the teacher chastised the girls she bullied when they mandated mediation sessions. When my daughter had reported the bullying, the teacher admonished her to focus on herself, try to work out her problems with the bully and not just run to adults, not be a tattle tale, etc. The lowest point that told me my daughter would always be invisible to the people in power was last winter. Multiple administrators and teachers who had known our family since kindergarten asked if my DD was playing violin in the talent show.

She’s been at the school for 5 years. She does not play any instrument. She gets signed out regularly for travel events for her sport so it’s known in writing how she spends massive chunks of her time. At that point I realized that they sincerely believed she was one of the other Asian girls in the grade. And probably had for a while.

Read “Race on the top” which is a really illuminating book about how this situation comes to be and the tensions between Asian and whites parents.

This is the unfortunate response of schools to victims of bullies, IME. I believe you that the school didn't know your DD from Adam (or Eve) but schools also do not seem to know what do do with bullies or with victims of bullies.

Our solution to the bullying was to change schools, which happened naturally when they went to different middle schools.

[Anonymous]

I had to laugh at the private school administrator who assumed your kid played the violin and does not play high-level sports because it it sounds like it's something out of a sit-com from the 1989s but it still happens all the f'ing time today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you get to MS and HS when teacher choose award recipients. You'll see how few Asian American students especially East Asian students get awards for anything other than grades.

This is not the case where my kids go. Their school is about 60% white and 30% Asian, and Asian students win most of the awards (except athletics!)

Our school that has a high percentage of Asians got rid of academic awards for this very reason a few years. Because all the winners were Asian and they didn't want that. They instead started "soft" awards of kids chosen by teachers. Every single one was white or another non-Asian minority.

+1 at the HS ceremony, majority of "teacher favorite" awards were non Asian. Majority of scholarships awarded by outside organizations were Asian.

They recognized kids who got straight As in the past 2 years, which was a long list and had more diverse kids. They did not recognize kids who got straight As all 4 years, which would've been a much smaller list, and probably mostly Asian.

They do whatever they can to NOT recognize the academic achievements of Asian students in the school.

I do not see this at our HS in FCPS that is about 25-30% Asian. Class officers are often Asian; multiple faculty awards at graduation went to Asian students; the principal sent a news blast about the mostly-Asian team that won It’s Academic, etc.

I am thinking our school isn’t that different from other local schools with a lot of Asian kids and maybe some of the claims here are coming from people in other areas or exaggerated by people with an anti-public school agenda.

We are in the DMV but not FCPS either and we've had the same experiences of AAPI kids' achievements being underplayed. Are there school administrators who are AAPI? The schools in our area have like 5% AAPI staff but other types of diversity which I think is part of the issue. There's no one at the staff level to raise the question of whether this is the right thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you get to MS and HS when teacher choose award recipients. You'll see how few Asian American students especially East Asian students get awards for anything other than grades.

This is not the case where my kids go. Their school is about 60% white and 30% Asian, and Asian students win most of the awards (except athletics!)

Our school that has a high percentage of Asians got rid of academic awards for this very reason a few years. Because all the winners were Asian and they didn't want that. They instead started "soft" awards of kids chosen by teachers. Every single one was white or another non-Asian minority.

+1 at the HS ceremony, majority of "teacher favorite" awards were non Asian. Majority of scholarships awarded by outside organizations were Asian.

They recognized kids who got straight As in the past 2 years, which was a long list and had more diverse kids. They did not recognize kids who got straight As all 4 years, which would've been a much smaller list, and probably mostly Asian.

They do whatever they can to NOT recognize the academic achievements of Asian students in the school.

I do not see this at our HS in FCPS that is about 25-30% Asian. Class officers are often Asian; multiple faculty awards at graduation went to Asian students; the principal sent a news blast about the mostly-Asian team that won It’s Academic, etc.

I am thinking our school isn’t that different from other local schools with a lot of Asian kids and maybe some of the claims here are coming from people in other areas or exaggerated by people with an anti-public school agenda.

We are in the DMV but not FCPS either and we've had the same experiences of AAPI kids' achievements being underplayed. Are there school administrators who are AAPI? The schools in our area have like 5% AAPI staff but other types of diversity which I think is part of the issue. There's no one at the staff level to raise the question of whether this is the right thing to do.

The reason for that is obvious - do you want your DCs to be teachers or school administrations? What jobs are you encouraging your DC to go into?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you get to MS and HS when teacher choose award recipients. You'll see how few Asian American students especially East Asian students get awards for anything other than grades.

This is not the case where my kids go. Their school is about 60% white and 30% Asian, and Asian students win most of the awards (except athletics!)

Our school that has a high percentage of Asians got rid of academic awards for this very reason a few years. Because all the winners were Asian and they didn't want that. They instead started "soft" awards of kids chosen by teachers. Every single one was white or another non-Asian minority.

Yes this.

My kids highly rated public school at graduation had speeches by a couple kids in the student gov’t (white), had all kids joining the military or military school stand for applause (mostly white), and another stand and applause for a sports team that went to states (mostly white and black). All were worthy of their applause and recognition.

National Merit Scholar finalists and winner, were not recognized at all. Not even a name read or head nod.

And the concept of class rank and valedictorian was eliminated years ago.

Forgot to add- there was a Spanish speaking person that read the names of Hispanic students with perfect pronunciation. Traditional Asian names were pretty butchered.

Huh? Do you expect a single person of Asian ethnicity to be able to pronounce the Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Laos, and Vietnamese names?

If that person’s job is to read names at an important event (graduation), then yes, I expect them to learn how to pronounce the name (I like the PP’s school where kids are asked to provide a phonetic pronunciation of their name) not just butcher it. It’s extremely disrespectful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you get to MS and HS when teacher choose award recipients. You'll see how few Asian American students especially East Asian students get awards for anything other than grades.

This is not the case where my kids go. Their school is about 60% white and 30% Asian, and Asian students win most of the awards (except athletics!)

Our school that has a high percentage of Asians got rid of academic awards for this very reason a few years. Because all the winners were Asian and they didn't want that. They instead started "soft" awards of kids chosen by teachers. Every single one was white or another non-Asian minority.

Yes this.

My kids highly rated public school at graduation had speeches by a couple kids in the student gov’t (white), had all kids joining the military or military school stand for applause (mostly white), and another stand and applause for a sports team that went to states (mostly white and black). All were worthy of their applause and recognition.

National Merit Scholar finalists and winner, were not recognized at all. Not even a name read or head nod.

And the concept of class rank and valedictorian was eliminated years ago.

Forgot to add- there was a Spanish speaking person that read the names of Hispanic students with perfect pronunciation. Traditional Asian names were pretty butchered.

Huh? Do you expect a single person of Asian ethnicity to be able to pronounce the Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Laos, and Vietnamese names?

Do you always make assumptions?

I stated that they had a special person to pronounce the names of one race category. Did I state they should have a person of every ethnicity?

They didn't need a special person. They needed one person or several persons (there are a lot of names), to practice how to pronounce names and call them out properly. It's lazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you get to MS and HS when teacher choose award recipients. You'll see how few Asian American students especially East Asian students get awards for anything other than grades.

This is not the case where my kids go. Their school is about 60% white and 30% Asian, and Asian students win most of the awards (except athletics!)

Our school that has a high percentage of Asians got rid of academic awards for this very reason a few years. Because all the winners were Asian and they didn't want that. They instead started "soft" awards of kids chosen by teachers. Every single one was white or another non-Asian minority.

+1 at the HS ceremony, majority of "teacher favorite" awards were non Asian. Majority of scholarships awarded by outside organizations were Asian.

They recognized kids who got straight As in the past 2 years, which was a long list and had more diverse kids. They did not recognize kids who got straight As all 4 years, which would've been a much smaller list, and probably mostly Asian.

They do whatever they can to NOT recognize the academic achievements of Asian students in the school.

I do not see this at our HS in FCPS that is about 25-30% Asian. Class officers are often Asian; multiple faculty awards at graduation went to Asian students; the principal sent a news blast about the mostly-Asian team that won It’s Academic, etc.

I am thinking our school isn’t that different from other local schools with a lot of Asian kids and maybe some of the claims here are coming from people in other areas or exaggerated by people with an anti-public school agenda.

I was not the pp you're quoting, but I posted about the school that recognized and applauded those going into the military and a sport team the went to states. But failed to even mention the National Merit Scholars.

This was indeed an FCPS school. Asian population is less than 15% at this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you get to MS and HS when teacher choose award recipients. You'll see how few Asian American students especially East Asian students get awards for anything other than grades.

This is not the case where my kids go. Their school is about 60% white and 30% Asian, and Asian students win most of the awards (except athletics!)

Our school that has a high percentage of Asians got rid of academic awards for this very reason a few years. Because all the winners were Asian and they didn't want that. They instead started "soft" awards of kids chosen by teachers. Every single one was white or another non-Asian minority.

Yes this.

My kids highly rated public school at graduation had speeches by a couple kids in the student gov’t (white), had all kids joining the military or military school stand for applause (mostly white), and another stand and applause for a sports team that went to states (mostly white and black). All were worthy of their applause and recognition.

National Merit Scholar finalists and winner, were not recognized at all. Not even a name read or head nod.

And the concept of class rank and valedictorian was eliminated years ago.

Forgot to add- there was a Spanish speaking person that read the names of Hispanic students with perfect pronunciation. Traditional Asian names were pretty butchered.

Huh? Do you expect a single person of Asian ethnicity to be able to pronounce the Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Laos, and Vietnamese names?

Do you always make assumptions?

I stated that they had a special person to pronounce the names of one race category. Did I state they should have a person of every ethnicity?

They didn't need a special person. They needed one person or several persons (there are a lot of names), to practice how to pronounce names and call them out properly. It's lazy.

At our old school in NY students wrote out the phonetic pronunciation and sometimes whoever was reading the names, usually the principal, they would sometimes double check with teachers or the student to make sure they had it right. It doesn't require a lot of effort, just a little respect. I'm sure they still got some names wrong but it wasn't for lack of trying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you get to MS and HS when teacher choose award recipients. You'll see how few Asian American students especially East Asian students get awards for anything other than grades.

This is not the case where my kids go. Their school is about 60% white and 30% Asian, and Asian students win most of the awards (except athletics!)

Our school that has a high percentage of Asians got rid of academic awards for this very reason a few years. Because all the winners were Asian and they didn't want that. They instead started "soft" awards of kids chosen by teachers. Every single one was white or another non-Asian minority.

+1 at the HS ceremony, majority of "teacher favorite" awards were non Asian. Majority of scholarships awarded by outside organizations were Asian.

They recognized kids who got straight As in the past 2 years, which was a long list and had more diverse kids. They did not recognize kids who got straight As all 4 years, which would've been a much smaller list, and probably mostly Asian.

They do whatever they can to NOT recognize the academic achievements of Asian students in the school.

I do not see this at our HS in FCPS that is about 25-30% Asian. Class officers are often Asian; multiple faculty awards at graduation went to Asian students; the principal sent a news blast about the mostly-Asian team that won It’s Academic, etc.

I am thinking our school isn’t that different from other local schools with a lot of Asian kids and maybe some of the claims here are coming from people in other areas or exaggerated by people with an anti-public school agenda.

We are in the DMV but not FCPS either and we've had the same experiences of AAPI kids' achievements being underplayed. Are there school administrators who are AAPI? The schools in our area have like 5% AAPI staff but other types of diversity which I think is part of the issue. There's no one at the staff level to raise the question of whether this is the right thing to do.

The reason for that is obvious - do you want your DCs to be teachers or school administrations? What jobs are you encouraging your DC to go into?

DC's actually interested in being a teacher and we are very supportive. AAPI, magnet student. There's a lot of respect for teachers in our home country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you get to MS and HS when teacher choose award recipients. You'll see how few Asian American students especially East Asian students get awards for anything other than grades.

This is not the case where my kids go. Their school is about 60% white and 30% Asian, and Asian students win most of the awards (except athletics!)

Our school that has a high percentage of Asians got rid of academic awards for this very reason a few years. Because all the winners were Asian and they didn't want that. They instead started "soft" awards of kids chosen by teachers. Every single one was white or another non-Asian minority.

+1 at the HS ceremony, majority of "teacher favorite" awards were non Asian. Majority of scholarships awarded by outside organizations were Asian.

They recognized kids who got straight As in the past 2 years, which was a long list and had more diverse kids. They did not recognize kids who got straight As all 4 years, which would've been a much smaller list, and probably mostly Asian.

They do whatever they can to NOT recognize the academic achievements of Asian students in the school.

I do not see this at our HS in FCPS that is about 25-30% Asian. Class officers are often Asian; multiple faculty awards at graduation went to Asian students; the principal sent a news blast about the mostly-Asian team that won It’s Academic, etc.

I am thinking our school isn’t that different from other local schools with a lot of Asian kids and maybe some of the claims here are coming from people in other areas or exaggerated by people with an anti-public school agenda.

We are in the DMV but not FCPS either and we've had the same experiences of AAPI kids' achievements being underplayed. Are there school administrators who are AAPI? The schools in our area have like 5% AAPI staff but other types of diversity which I think is part of the issue. There's no one at the staff level to raise the question of whether this is the right thing to do.

The reason for that is obvious - do you want your DCs to be teachers or school administrations? What jobs are you encouraging your DC to go into?

Bingo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you get to MS and HS when teacher choose award recipients. You'll see how few Asian American students especially East Asian students get awards for anything other than grades.

This is not the case where my kids go. Their school is about 60% white and 30% Asian, and Asian students win most of the awards (except athletics!)

Our school that has a high percentage of Asians got rid of academic awards for this very reason a few years. Because all the winners were Asian and they didn't want that. They instead started "soft" awards of kids chosen by teachers. Every single one was white or another non-Asian minority.

+1 at the HS ceremony, majority of "teacher favorite" awards were non Asian. Majority of scholarships awarded by outside organizations were Asian.

They recognized kids who got straight As in the past 2 years, which was a long list and had more diverse kids. They did not recognize kids who got straight As all 4 years, which would've been a much smaller list, and probably mostly Asian.

They do whatever they can to NOT recognize the academic achievements of Asian students in the school.

I do not see this at our HS in FCPS that is about 25-30% Asian. Class officers are often Asian; multiple faculty awards at graduation went to Asian students; the principal sent a news blast about the mostly-Asian team that won It’s Academic, etc.

I am thinking our school isn’t that different from other local schools with a lot of Asian kids and maybe some of the claims here are coming from people in other areas or exaggerated by people with an anti-public school agenda.

We are in the DMV but not FCPS either and we've had the same experiences of AAPI kids' achievements being underplayed. Are there school administrators who are AAPI? The schools in our area have like 5% AAPI staff but other types of diversity which I think is part of the issue. There's no one at the staff level to raise the question of whether this is the right thing to do.

The reason for that is obvious - do you want your DCs to be teachers or school administrations? What jobs are you encouraging your DC to go into?

DC's actually interested in being a teacher and we are very supportive. AAPI, magnet student. There's a lot of respect for teachers in our home country.

Good for them and good for you.

[Anonymous]

Why isn't it enough that your super duper Kumon devouring child gets good grades and test scores? Why do they also have to be recognized at an award ceremony and oh, by someone fluent in their language who can read their name properly????? Jesus, give me a break!

[Anonymous]

Some also claim that TJ is biased against Asians even though they're the most well-represented demographic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some also claim that TJ is biased against Asians even though they're the most well-represented demographic.

The rule changes caused a 20% drop in the number of Asians in the TJ freshman class, and it mirrors a nationwide movement to reduce the number of Asians in magnet schools. NYC, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, and MCPS all did the same.

NYC is notable in that the Asians are poor, and the URMs there have other pathways to success. But they did it anyway.

At some point you take the hint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some also claim that TJ is biased against Asians even though they're the most well-represented demographic.

Well, of course there should be MORE! Just like there should be more at Harvard!