11.1.12 Links Roundup
- For Asians, School Tests Are Vital Steppingstones (The New York Times)
No one will be surprised if Asian students, who make up 14 percent of the city’s public school students, once again win most of the seats, and if black and Hispanic students win few. Last school year, of the 14,415 students enrolled in the eight specialized high schools that require a test for admissions, 8,549 were Asian.
Because of the disparity, some have begun calling for an end to the policy of using the test as the sole basis of admission to the schools, and last month, civil rights groups filed a complaint with the federal government, contending that the policy discriminated against students, many of whom are black or Hispanic, who cannot afford the score-raising tutoring that other students can. The Shis, like other Asian families who spoke about the exam in interviews in the past month, did not deny engaging in extensive test preparation. To the contrary, they seemed to discuss their efforts with pride.
They also said they were puzzled about having to defend a process they viewed as a vital steppingstone for immigrants. And more than a few saw the criticism of the test as an attack on their cultures, as troubling to them as grumblings about the growing Asian presence in these schools and the prestigious colleges they feed into. “You know: ‘You’re Asian, you must be smart,’” said Jan Michael Vicencio, an immigrant from Manila and a junior at Brooklyn Tech, one of the eight schools that use the test for admission. “And you’re not sure it’s a compliment or an insult. We get that a lot.”
- Grave Injustice (You Offend Me You Offend My Family)
On the evening of October 17th, 1992, (18th in Asia) a 16-year-old Japanese exchange student named Yoshiro Hattori went with his homestay brother, Webb Haymaker, to a Halloween party organized for Japanese exchange students. With a love for classic American movies, Hattori was dressed up as John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. The boys arrived at the wrong house just a few doors down. Hattori rang the doorbell as the wife Mrs. Peairs saw them from the side door and called her husband to get a gun. Rodney Peairs opened the front door holding a gun with a laser sight and told the boys to freeze. While Haymaker ran, Hattori turned around and said, “We’re here for the party.”
Right out of The Terminator, Rodney Peairs, a six-foot-two armed man, shot the 130-pound Japanese teenager dressed up as John Travolta. If Hattori had dressed up as Olivia Newton John instead, would he have met the same fate?
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