Reply to NYT article on easing academic pressure and a cultural divide

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wow, some weird Asian cheerleading going on in this thread.[/quote]
I don't think it's Asian cheerleading, so much as annoyance at wealthy white parents that don't like the fact their little Johnnies and Susies are finding it too hard to compete, and the fact that white kids as a whole have more advantages in life than most other races to begin with, and here their parents are complaining.[/quote]

Whose doing that?  The wholemthing was spurred by Asian kids committing suicide in Palio Alto and a unusually large number of kids expressing suicidia thoughts in Princeton Junction.  Are we to assume these kids should just be sacrificed to keep the system going?[/quote]

I don't agree with the amount of pressure kids are under these days, but I agree with another PP.. if parents don't like it, move.  That's what we did.  I'm from the Palo Alto area.  I have no doubt that some of these white, wealthy parents put their own kinds of pressure on their kids. There are plenty of white/wealthy kids that have taken drugs to help them cope with stress and pressure.  Why didn't the that community sound off then?  Why just now when Asian American kids are upping the competition?  [/quote]

Asian kids aren't "just now" upping the competition.  There's been a large Asian population in this school system for decades.  Clearly, quite a few posters feel it's better to let a few kids kill themselves rather than let them take one less AP, interesting to see where people's priorities lie.

In any case, my kids go to private school so I have no dog in this fight, seems like people are invested in making this a "white people can't stand how superior Asians are" thread, so have at it.[/quote]

No one is forced to take APs.  Hospitalize the kids making suicide threats. Get them some help for their depression and mental health issues.   It will be more helpful than getting rid of APs, advanced classes, or whatever stressors in life that are causing these students to want to die.  People who cannot handle a stressful academic load (or any other stressful life choices that makes them want to kill themselves) have the choice to not take a stressful academic load.  But depressed people don't see that.

Getting rid of advanced classes for all instead of providing actual mental health services to those who need it is a cop out.

And it does sound like the school system is using the mental health issues of a few to get rid of a program that is 90% Asian. [b] Not sure this would happen to a program that is 90% white (like the football team).[/b][/quote]

Exactly.  There are kids getting concussions, taking steroids - which make them violent, etc.. for school sports. Why aren't the parents up in arms about getting rid of school sports?  Oh, just because a few kids get hurt doesn't mean they should get rid of such a great program, right?  Same thing.

These parents want academic rigor, but not too rigorous so that their kids can't compete or take part in other activities.  Should I complain to our local school board that the entrance exams to the gifted programs are too rigorous, kids are stressed out trying to get in, so they should do away with it?  We have the choice to not apply.  They have the choice to not take the summer programs or be in the highest math class.  Unlike in Korea or China, the result of one test doesn't determine your life path.  Isn't this one of the great things about this country? [/quote]

I completely agree with both these PP and I am white. I think it's ridiculous to get rid of an advanced program that is 90% Asian. [/quote]

They didn't get rid of it, they pushed back the starting year from fourth to sixth, same as has been done in many other districts that are majority white.  If you want to be a victim, always a way to make it so, I guess.[/quote]

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