Another stumper

Huan linked me to this article in the Post today so I thought I'd post it in here. I'm always interested in reading articles about Affirmative Action in education, particularly as it pertains to Asian Americans. I studied it pretty closely in college, but more as related to black/white. Most policy discussion doesn't tie into the Asian American population, if only because they make up such a small proportion of the country and the studies just aren't there.

This article brings up some good points that aren't necessarily new, but it's always nice to see something with a different spin. In particular, I found this excerpt which was quoted from a book quite interesting: "In terms of school achievement, it is more advantageous to be Asian than to be wealthy, to have non-divorced parents, or to have a mother who is able to stay at home full time." I wonder how they come up with that. It kind of makes you go, whoa. While you can never speak for everyone, I can speak to my own experience and the fact that growing up in my house, it was just expected that you would excel in school. I can't even think back to having heard a lecture or learning a lesson in order to know this-- it was just in the air, ingrained somehow. I can't really explain it, though I always try to be thankful for it.

The guy in the article who thinks Asian Americans are getting shafted by the system brings up said point: "The solution to the problem of lower average achievement among African Americans and Hispanics is not 'the Band-Aid approach of race-based affirmative action,' ...It is solved by improving the K-12 schools for the lower economic classes which are disproportionately Black and Latino."

Back to previous post-- How do we do that? I agree wholeheartedly that schools need severe change and improvement at the primary level, but where do you begin? I don't think Affirmative Action is the be-all and end-all of this problem--it's clearly imperfect and has its problems, as this article discusses--but I think that until K-12 schooling changes for those who need it, Affirmative Action is important to those who truly benefit from it (which, some say, is "all of us").

Anyway, another something to think about... hmm, I'm on this education policy kick now, aren't I?

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(just started listening today- another New York gem! Very excellent stuff)
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