Cupertino Schools & white kids
Here's yet another report showing how well Cupertino schools are doing.
We all know the context: Cupertino's school population is mostly Chinese. Not exclusively, but mostly. The rest consist mostly of white kids, with a few Koreans and Indians.
Unique perhaps in the whole world, an important portion of Cupertino's white kids avoid Cupertino schools because they can't compete.
On the surface, this might indicate that the Chinese kids are smarter than the white kids. There's no doubt, the parents of these kids are some of the best China had to offer, and the Cupertino kids, in counter-Lake Wobegon sense, are all above average.
But living here yields a different primary answer. White parents are less involved in their kids' education than Chinese parents. White parents are more likely to allow their kids to spend all evening, every evening, on entertainment. White parents are more likely to allow their kids to skip school. White parents are more likely to tolerate drug usage. When those kids don't seem to be competing very well in school, what else can you do? Don't want the dears to lose confidence. You take them out of the Cuptertino public school system. Good riddance, we can hear it blocks away with no amplification.
Chinese kids may well be chomping at the bit to get loose once they graduate high school, but with a very high probability they graduate with the kind of credentials which allow them an unlimited future. Plenty of white kids join them, but plenty do not.
It has little to do with the kids, and everything to do with the parents.
We all know the context: Cupertino's school population is mostly Chinese. Not exclusively, but mostly. The rest consist mostly of white kids, with a few Koreans and Indians.
Unique perhaps in the whole world, an important portion of Cupertino's white kids avoid Cupertino schools because they can't compete.
On the surface, this might indicate that the Chinese kids are smarter than the white kids. There's no doubt, the parents of these kids are some of the best China had to offer, and the Cupertino kids, in counter-Lake Wobegon sense, are all above average.
But living here yields a different primary answer. White parents are less involved in their kids' education than Chinese parents. White parents are more likely to allow their kids to spend all evening, every evening, on entertainment. White parents are more likely to allow their kids to skip school. White parents are more likely to tolerate drug usage. When those kids don't seem to be competing very well in school, what else can you do? Don't want the dears to lose confidence. You take them out of the Cuptertino public school system. Good riddance, we can hear it blocks away with no amplification.
Chinese kids may well be chomping at the bit to get loose once they graduate high school, but with a very high probability they graduate with the kind of credentials which allow them an unlimited future. Plenty of white kids join them, but plenty do not.
It has little to do with the kids, and everything to do with the parents.
posted by dwshelf at 8:47 AM
4 Comments:
My son, a White guy, is at Monta Vista. He's a decent student and he has a well rounded life. He has many interests and is very creative.
His {Chinese} friend went to a math tutor over a break. His grade was an A but his mom wanted an A+. This kid has only books, is not allowed to join clubs, doesn't have many friends as his parents disappove of most of the kids he likes.
The problem with this rote A++ achievement is that you need a balanced life to fuel your creativity and when you go into the work world, you need to work with others and interact responsibly. If you are only allowed to study, you don't develop those other very important skills.
I will add that my son also does not skip school, smoke, drink, do drugs. It is not correct to say that Caucasians allow this.
I'm not sure we're disagreeing.
I'm not sure that the Chinese pattern is right for everyone, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's not right for anyone.
With regards to what Caucasians do...consider that we're discussing a difference of generalizations. The phenomenom of white kids being unable to compete is real. Your son (and many other white kids) are doing fine, and are not part of that observation.
The reason I'm reluctant to be too critical of the Chinese method is because the kids turn out ok.
They're accepted into prestigious universities, where they continue to excel. They gradutate and join life in a quite fast lane.
I know these Chinese kids, and, living in Cupertino, I presume Anonymous knows them too. I know them as high school kids, I know them as college kids, I know them as new college graduates, and I know them ten years later. Perfection, not, of course. But by and large these kids do extraordinarily well. Off track into meth is vanishingly unlikely. Over-fascination with poker, or various gaming, a bigger threat.
We have plenty of data.
Post a Comment
<< Home