White privilege and asian-bashing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the entire thread, but I am white and can say that my son, who attended elementary and middle school in Potomac MCPS schools, was very well prepared for high school math (in a rigorous private high school). I thank the Asian American population which pushed our school to challenge the kids, which might not have happened otherwise. You should be grateful that these people are joining our communities and setting the bar higher. I hope it continues.

This attitude is reasonable and logical. And it's not news that the US k-12 is bad in comparison with other developed countries. The changes that the influx Asian students bring should be overall positive to any open-minded people, no matter how uncomfortable it feels initially.

NO. The problem is that those studies compare apples and oranges. Many countries "spin off" kids who are not going to college long before 12th grade.

Indeed, and our higher education is the top in the world. How can US kids handle that if they are so poorly educated (although this is changing now with the push for everyone to attend college)? Folks from all of these "superior" countries have been clamoring to send their kids to college here. Historically, we expected K-12 to teach the basics, fuel curiosity and allow for the person to develop a wide range of different talents before heading to college where it all came together in a mixture that led the world in innovation and prosperity. Now, people are moving here and trying to re-write the things that drew them to our country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Indeed, and our higher education is the top in the world. How can US kids handle that if they are so poorly educated

Depending on the major, they perhaps can't. Most STEM majors at decent universities are dominated by Asians, too, and many bright public school kids can't hack an engineering or physics major. It's also more common for kids to need remediation when they enter college, as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Indeed, and our higher education is the top in the world. How can US kids handle that if they are so poorly educated

Depending on the major, they perhaps can't. Most STEM majors at decent universities are dominated by Asians, too, and many bright public school kids can't hack an engineering or physics major. It's also more common for kids to need remediation when they enter college, as well.

Do you mean actual citizens of China? Because it seems to me the “Asian kids” majoring in STEM are
nearly all also “US kids,” no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Indeed, and our higher education is the top in the world. How can US kids handle that if they are so poorly educated

Depending on the major, they perhaps can't. Most STEM majors at decent universities are dominated by Asians, too, and many bright public school kids can't hack an engineering or physics major. It's also more common for kids to need remediation when they enter college, as well.

Do you mean actual citizens of China? Because it seems to me the “Asian kids” majoring in STEM are
nearly all also “US kids,” no?

Give me a break. You and others have implied throughout this thread that Asian Americans are ruining US schools by doing outside enrichment and making things too competitive. The assertion about US having the top higher education in the world implies that regular, bright kids who are purely products of public school education can handle college just fine. They can't. College STEM majors and classes are dominated by those Asian Americans who are doing outside enrichment or tutoring and are "studying too hard."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Indeed, and our higher education is the top in the world. How can US kids handle that if they are so poorly educated

Depending on the major, they perhaps can't. Most STEM majors at decent universities are dominated by Asians, too, and many bright public school kids can't hack an engineering or physics major. It's also more common for kids to need remediation when they enter college, as well.

Do you mean actual citizens of China? Because it seems to me the “Asian kids” majoring in STEM are
nearly all also “US kids,” no?

Give me a break. You and others have implied throughout this thread that Asian Americans are ruining US schools by doing outside enrichment and making things too competitive. The assertion about US having the top higher education in the world implies that regular, bright kids who are purely products of public school education can handle college just fine. They can't. College STEM majors and classes are dominated by those Asian Americans who are doing outside enrichment or tutoring and are "studying too hard."

ITA .. it's like how our school district likes to tout the high scores of its student body, but then dislike all the outside enrichment some of the students do in order to get that high test score. And then they try to provide enrichment to under performing groups so that they too can get higher test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Indeed, and our higher education is the top in the world. How can US kids handle that if they are so poorly educated

Depending on the major, they perhaps can't. Most STEM majors at decent universities are dominated by Asians, too, and many bright public school kids can't hack an engineering or physics major. It's also more common for kids to need remediation when they enter college, as well.

Do you mean actual citizens of China? Because it seems to me the “Asian kids” majoring in STEM are
nearly all also “US kids,” no?

There are a lots of Asian students from Asian in STEM in US colleges. Go visit math or physics classes in schools like CMU, UIUC or UCLA. You will find 1/3 or 1/2 of the classes are filled with foreign students. Among the STEM students trained in the US colleges, 20-40% of them are not us citizen or permanent residents. US used to be able to attract top talent from every cornor of the world but more and more US trained students are going back to their home country. Guess why colleges accept so many foreign students? Because there are not enough us high school graduates with solid kmowledge to fill the slots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Indeed, and our higher education is the top in the world. How can US kids handle that if they are so poorly educated

Depending on the major, they perhaps can't. Most STEM majors at decent universities are dominated by Asians, too, and many bright public school kids can't hack an engineering or physics major. It's also more common for kids to need remediation when they enter college, as well.

Do you mean actual citizens of China? Because it seems to me the “Asian kids” majoring in STEM are
nearly all also “US kids,” no?

There are a lots of Asian students from Asian in STEM in US colleges. Go visit math or physics classes in schools like CMU, UIUC or UCLA. You will find 1/3 or 1/2 of the classes are filled with foreign students. Among the STEM students trained in the US colleges, 20-40% of them are not us citizen or permanent residents. US used to be able to attract top talent from every cornor of the world but more and more US trained students are going back to their home country. Guess why colleges accept so many foreign students? Because there are not enough us high school graduates with solid kmowledge to fill the slots.

I was just about to say that, except that 'actual citizens of China' aren't in STEM only, they major in other subjects, also. Everyone who works in higher education knows that.

[Anonymous]

“Guess why colleges accept so many foreign students? Because there are not enough us high school graduates with solid kmowledge to fill the slots. ”

Couldn't Have anything to do with them being willing to pay full freight tuition...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Indeed, and our higher education is the top in the world. How can US kids handle that if they are so poorly educated

Depending on the major, they perhaps can't. Most STEM majors at decent universities are dominated by Asians, too, and many bright public school kids can't hack an engineering or physics major. It's also more common for kids to need remediation when they enter college, as well.

Do you mean actual citizens of China? Because it seems to me the “Asian kids” majoring in STEM are
nearly all also “US kids,” no?

There are a lots of Asian students from Asian in STEM in US colleges. Go visit math or physics classes in schools like CMU, UIUC or UCLA. You will find 1/3 or 1/2 of the classes are filled with foreign students. Among the STEM students trained in the US colleges, 20-40% of them are not us citizen or permanent residents. US used to be able to attract top talent from every cornor of the world but more and more US trained students are going back to their home country. Guess why colleges accept so many foreign students? Because there are not enough us high school graduates with solid kmowledge to fill the slots.

Yep. The remainder of the students, though, are mostly the Asian Americans who have been bashed in this thread for doing outside enrichment or studying too hard and ruining school for the white kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I guess my question is what should I do about it? I'm as white as you can get and not Asian American.. It just bugs me when the statements are clearly aimed at criticizing or blaming Asian American kids. Quite frankly I know many white European and black African families who are just as intense and focused on academics over sports so its not accurate to lay all the blame for pressure on kids at the feet of Asian Americans. I also know that many kids get stressed over not getting good grades because they loose privileges like video game or TV time when they don't bring home As. I honestly do not think this is a bad thing. People are naturally driven by reward and consequences.

If a teacher, admin or parent was making racist comments about how an AA kid must have only gotten into whichever school or program due to affirmative action I would 100% call them on that statement. Most people know not to disparage AA or latino students out loud though many may hold prejudices against them. For the Asian Americans though it seems 100% acceptable to disparage them openly and freely. No one seems to speak up or out about it.

I'm not sure what to say though. Do you come out and say stop that is a racist remark and while I am not a member of the race you are targeting I am still offended .Do you say Hey I'm a white chick and I totally agree with the groups that you appear to be bashing?

Where is your outrage at the fact that wealthier parents send their children to after school tutoring and paid extra-curricular activities, and the result of that is that lower-income students can't compete and are shut out of educational opportunities? Seems that is a more important issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Indeed, and our higher education is the top in the world. How can US kids handle that if they are so poorly educated

Depending on the major, they perhaps can't. Most STEM majors at decent universities are dominated by Asians, too, and many bright public school kids can't hack an engineering or physics major. It's also more common for kids to need remediation when they enter college, as well.

Do you mean actual citizens of China? Because it seems to me the “Asian kids” majoring in STEM are
nearly all also “US kids,” no?

There are a lots of Asian students from Asian in STEM in US colleges. Go visit math or physics classes in schools like CMU, UIUC or UCLA. You will find 1/3 or 1/2 of the classes are filled with foreign students. Among the STEM students trained in the US colleges, 20-40% of them are not us citizen or permanent residents. US used to be able to attract top talent from every cornor of the world but more and more US trained students are going back to their home country. Guess why colleges accept so many foreign students? Because there are not enough us high school graduates with solid kmowledge to fill the slots.

I was just about to say that, except that 'actual citizens of China' aren't in STEM only, they major in other subjects, also. Everyone who works in higher education knows that.

This is not really correct. I work in higher ed - specifically with foreign students - and the majority of foreign students (from anywhere) do study STEM or business. That is because most other countries take a more practical approach to higher education, on the whole. They are very focused on future job opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the entire thread, but I am white and can say that my son, who attended elementary and middle school in Potomac MCPS schools, was very well prepared for high school math (in a rigorous private high school). I thank the Asian American population which pushed our school to challenge the kids, which might not have happened otherwise. You should be grateful that these people are joining our communities and setting the bar higher. I hope it continues.

This attitude is reasonable and logical. And it's not news that the US k-12 is bad in comparison with other developed countries. The changes that the influx Asian students bring should be overall positive to any open-minded people, no matter how uncomfortable it feels initially.

+1 to both of these. We're not Asian but DC are involved in a lot of activities where a majority or large percentage of the kids are. In general, I think their work ethic is admirable and it's a good influence on my children to see that working hard is vitally important, even if natural talent is present too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the entire thread, but I am white and can say that my son, who attended elementary and middle school in Potomac MCPS schools, was very well prepared for high school math (in a rigorous private high school). I thank the Asian American population which pushed our school to challenge the kids, which might not have happened otherwise. You should be grateful that these people are joining our communities and setting the bar higher. I hope it continues.

This attitude is reasonable and logical. And it's not news that the US k-12 is bad in comparison with other developed countries. The changes that the influx Asian students bring should be overall positive to any open-minded people, no matter how uncomfortable it feels initially.

+1 to both of these. We're not Asian but DC are involved in a lot of activities where a majority or large percentage of the kids are. In general, I think their work ethic is admirable and it's a good influence on my children to see that working hard is vitally important, even if natural talent is present too.

We also live in an area with a lot of Asians but we happen to be Asian American. DH and I grew up here and are very Americanized. These Asian kids who do extra work outside of school have set the bar higher and now my children are better students. They have to study harder to keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the entire thread, but I am white and can say that my son, who attended elementary and middle school in Potomac MCPS schools, was very well prepared for high school math (in a rigorous private high school). I thank the Asian American population which pushed our school to challenge the kids, which might not have happened otherwise. You should be grateful that these people are joining our communities and setting the bar higher. I hope it continues.

This attitude is reasonable and logical. And it's not news that the US k-12 is bad in comparison with other developed countries. The changes that the influx Asian students bring should be overall positive to any open-minded people, no matter how uncomfortable it feels initially.

+1 to both of these. We're not Asian but DC are involved in a lot of activities where a majority or large percentage of the kids are. In general, I think their work ethic is admirable and it's a good influence on my children to see that working hard is vitally important, even if natural talent is present too.

We also live in an area with a lot of Asians but we happen to be Asian American. DH and I grew up here and are very Americanized. These Asian kids who do extra work outside of school have set the bar higher and now my children are better students. They have to study harder to keep up.

We are very happy that the Asian kids at our school drove our DS to be a better student. He’s competed and learned with them since kindergarten (back when there was tracking for advanced math). And yes now he’s an engineering student in university.

[Anonymous]

In the recent past, accelerated Asian-American college applicants outperformed members of other ethnic groups in the admissions process. And the white suburban parents were outraged. But at some point a critical mass was reached. Today, what is happening is that the Asian-American applicants are canceling each other out due to the perceived sameness of "accelerated STEM gods who play tennis." They are competing against each other. And it's the Asian-American parents who are outraged.