Asians and Whites battle over direction of school district in NJ
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A Talented One
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New Jersey School District Eases Pressure on Students, Baring an Ethnic Divide
This fall, David Aderhold, the superintendent of a high-achieving school district near Princeton, N.J., sent parents an alarming 16-page letter.
The school district, he said, was facing a crisis. Its students were overburdened and stressed out, juggling too much work and too many demands.
In the previous school year, 120 middle and high school students were recommended for mental health assessments; 40 were hospitalized. And on a survey administered by the district, students wrote things like, “I hate going to school,” and “Coming out of 12 years in this district, I have learned one thing: that a grade, a percentage or even a point is to be valued over anything else.”
With his letter, Dr. Aderhold inserted West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District into a national discussion about the intense focus on achievement at elite schools, and whether it has gone too far.
At follow-up meetings, he urged parents to join him in advocating a holistic, “whole child” approach to schooling that respects “social-emotional development” and “deep and meaningful learning” over academics alone. The alternative, he suggested, was to face the prospect of becoming another Palo Alto, Calif., where outsize stress on teenage students is believed to have contributed to two clusters of suicides in the last six years.
But instead of bringing families together, Dr. Aderhold’s letter revealed a fissure in the district, which has 9,700 students, and one that broke down roughly along racial lines. On one side are white parents like Catherine Foley, a former president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at her daughter’s middle school, who has come to see the district’s increasingly pressured atmosphere as antithetical to learning.
“My son was in fourth grade and told me, ‘I’m not going to amount to anything because I have nothing to put on my résumé,’ ” Ms. Foley said.
On the other side are parents like Mike Jia, one of the thousands of Asian-American professionals who have moved to the district in the past decade, who said Dr. Aderhold’s reforms would amount to a “dumbing down” of his children’s education.
“What is happening here reflects a national anti-intellectual trend that will not prepare our children for the future,” Mr. Jia said.
About 10 minutes from Princeton and an hour and a half from New York City, West Windsor and Plainsboro have become popular bedroom communities for technology entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical researchers and engineers, drawn in large part by the public schools. From the last three graduating classes, 16 seniors were admitted to M.I.T. It churns out Science Olympiad winners, classically trained musicians and students with perfect SAT scores.
The district has become increasingly popular with immigrant families from China, India and Korea. This year, 65 percent of its students are Asian-American, compared with 44 percent in 2007. Many of them are the first in their families born in the United States.
They have had a growing influence on the district. Asian-American parents are enthusiastic supporters of the competitive instrumental music program. They have been huge supporters of the district’s advanced mathematics program, which once began in the fourth grade but will now start in the sixth. The change to the program, in which 90 percent of the participating students are Asian-American, is one of Dr. Aderhold’s reforms.
Asian-American students have been avid participants in a state program that permits them to take summer classes off campus for high school credit, allowing them to maximize the number of honors and Advanced Placement classes they can take, another practice that Dr. Aderhold is limiting this school year.
With many Asian-American children attending supplemental instructional programs, there is a perception among some white families that the elementary school curriculum is being sped up to accommodate them.
Both Asian-American and white families say the tension between the two groups has grown steadily over the past few years, as the number of Asian families has risen. But the division has become more obvious in recent months as Dr. Aderhold has made changes, including no-homework nights, an end to high school midterms and finals, and a “right to squeak” initiative that made it easier to participate in the music program.
At a packed meeting of the school district’s Board of Education held shortly before the winter break, a middle school cafeteria was filled with parents, with Asian-Americans sitting on one side and white families on the other. Some parents and students described rampant cheating, grade fixation and days so stressful that some students could not wait for them to end. But other parents, primarily Asian-American ones, described a different picture, one in which their values were being ignored.
Helen Yin, the mother of an eighth grader and a kindergartner, told the crowd that Dr. Aderhold was attempting to hold her and her children back. At one point, a visibly upset Ms. Yin, who moved from Chengdu, China, to pursue a master’s degree in chemistry, shouted to the room filled with parents, “Who can I trust?”
“I don’t think limitations can help,” she said later, in an interview. “If children are to learn and grow, they need experiences.”
Jennifer Lee, professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and an author of “The Asian American Achievement Paradox,” says misunderstandings between first-generation Asian-American parents and those who have been in this country longer are common. What white middle-class parents do not always understand, she said, is how much pressure recent immigrants feel to boost their children into the middle class.
“They don’t have the same chances to get their children internships or jobs at law firms,” Professor Lee said. “So what they believe is that their children must excel beyond their white peers in academic settings so they have the same chances to excel later.”
The issue of the stresses felt by students in elite school districts has gained attention in recent years as schools in places like Newton, Mass., and Palo Alto have reported clusters of suicides. West Windsor-Plainsboro has not had a teenage suicide in recent years, but Dr. Aderhold, who has worked in the district for seven years and been superintendent for the last two and a half, said he had seen troubling signs.
In a recent art assignment, a middle school student depicted an overburdened child who was being berated for earning an A, rather than an A+, on a calculus exam. In the image, the mother scolds the student with the words, “Shame on you!”
Further, Dr. Aderhold said, the New Jersey Education Department has flagged at least two pieces of writing on state English language assessments in which students expressed suicidal thoughts.
The survey commissioned by the district found that 68 percent of high school honor and Advanced Placement students reported feeling stressed about school “always or most of the time.”
“We need to bring back some balance,” Dr. Aderhold said. “You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to do something.”
Not all public opinion has fallen along racial lines.
Karen Sue, the Chinese-American mother of a fifth grader and an eighth grader, believes the competition within the district has gotten out of control. Ms. Sue, who was born in the United States to immigrant parents, wants her peers to dial it back.
“It’s become an arms race, an educational arms race,” she said. “We all want our kids to achieve and be successful. The question is, at what cost?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/26/nyregion/reforms-to-ease-students-stress-divide-a-new-jersey-school-district.html
This fall, David Aderhold, the superintendent of a high-achieving school district near Princeton, N.J., sent parents an alarming 16-page letter.
The school district, he said, was facing a crisis. Its students were overburdened and stressed out, juggling too much work and too many demands.
In the previous school year, 120 middle and high school students were recommended for mental health assessments; 40 were hospitalized. And on a survey administered by the district, students wrote things like, “I hate going to school,” and “Coming out of 12 years in this district, I have learned one thing: that a grade, a percentage or even a point is to be valued over anything else.”
With his letter, Dr. Aderhold inserted West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District into a national discussion about the intense focus on achievement at elite schools, and whether it has gone too far.
At follow-up meetings, he urged parents to join him in advocating a holistic, “whole child” approach to schooling that respects “social-emotional development” and “deep and meaningful learning” over academics alone. The alternative, he suggested, was to face the prospect of becoming another Palo Alto, Calif., where outsize stress on teenage students is believed to have contributed to two clusters of suicides in the last six years.
But instead of bringing families together, Dr. Aderhold’s letter revealed a fissure in the district, which has 9,700 students, and one that broke down roughly along racial lines. On one side are white parents like Catherine Foley, a former president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at her daughter’s middle school, who has come to see the district’s increasingly pressured atmosphere as antithetical to learning.
“My son was in fourth grade and told me, ‘I’m not going to amount to anything because I have nothing to put on my résumé,’ ” Ms. Foley said.
On the other side are parents like Mike Jia, one of the thousands of Asian-American professionals who have moved to the district in the past decade, who said Dr. Aderhold’s reforms would amount to a “dumbing down” of his children’s education.
“What is happening here reflects a national anti-intellectual trend that will not prepare our children for the future,” Mr. Jia said.
About 10 minutes from Princeton and an hour and a half from New York City, West Windsor and Plainsboro have become popular bedroom communities for technology entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical researchers and engineers, drawn in large part by the public schools. From the last three graduating classes, 16 seniors were admitted to M.I.T. It churns out Science Olympiad winners, classically trained musicians and students with perfect SAT scores.
The district has become increasingly popular with immigrant families from China, India and Korea. This year, 65 percent of its students are Asian-American, compared with 44 percent in 2007. Many of them are the first in their families born in the United States.
They have had a growing influence on the district. Asian-American parents are enthusiastic supporters of the competitive instrumental music program. They have been huge supporters of the district’s advanced mathematics program, which once began in the fourth grade but will now start in the sixth. The change to the program, in which 90 percent of the participating students are Asian-American, is one of Dr. Aderhold’s reforms.
Asian-American students have been avid participants in a state program that permits them to take summer classes off campus for high school credit, allowing them to maximize the number of honors and Advanced Placement classes they can take, another practice that Dr. Aderhold is limiting this school year.
With many Asian-American children attending supplemental instructional programs, there is a perception among some white families that the elementary school curriculum is being sped up to accommodate them.
Both Asian-American and white families say the tension between the two groups has grown steadily over the past few years, as the number of Asian families has risen. But the division has become more obvious in recent months as Dr. Aderhold has made changes, including no-homework nights, an end to high school midterms and finals, and a “right to squeak” initiative that made it easier to participate in the music program.
At a packed meeting of the school district’s Board of Education held shortly before the winter break, a middle school cafeteria was filled with parents, with Asian-Americans sitting on one side and white families on the other. Some parents and students described rampant cheating, grade fixation and days so stressful that some students could not wait for them to end. But other parents, primarily Asian-American ones, described a different picture, one in which their values were being ignored.
Helen Yin, the mother of an eighth grader and a kindergartner, told the crowd that Dr. Aderhold was attempting to hold her and her children back. At one point, a visibly upset Ms. Yin, who moved from Chengdu, China, to pursue a master’s degree in chemistry, shouted to the room filled with parents, “Who can I trust?”
“I don’t think limitations can help,” she said later, in an interview. “If children are to learn and grow, they need experiences.”
Jennifer Lee, professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and an author of “The Asian American Achievement Paradox,” says misunderstandings between first-generation Asian-American parents and those who have been in this country longer are common. What white middle-class parents do not always understand, she said, is how much pressure recent immigrants feel to boost their children into the middle class.
“They don’t have the same chances to get their children internships or jobs at law firms,” Professor Lee said. “So what they believe is that their children must excel beyond their white peers in academic settings so they have the same chances to excel later.”
The issue of the stresses felt by students in elite school districts has gained attention in recent years as schools in places like Newton, Mass., and Palo Alto have reported clusters of suicides. West Windsor-Plainsboro has not had a teenage suicide in recent years, but Dr. Aderhold, who has worked in the district for seven years and been superintendent for the last two and a half, said he had seen troubling signs.
In a recent art assignment, a middle school student depicted an overburdened child who was being berated for earning an A, rather than an A+, on a calculus exam. In the image, the mother scolds the student with the words, “Shame on you!”
Further, Dr. Aderhold said, the New Jersey Education Department has flagged at least two pieces of writing on state English language assessments in which students expressed suicidal thoughts.
The survey commissioned by the district found that 68 percent of high school honor and Advanced Placement students reported feeling stressed about school “always or most of the time.”
“We need to bring back some balance,” Dr. Aderhold said. “You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to do something.”
Not all public opinion has fallen along racial lines.
Karen Sue, the Chinese-American mother of a fifth grader and an eighth grader, believes the competition within the district has gotten out of control. Ms. Sue, who was born in the United States to immigrant parents, wants her peers to dial it back.
“It’s become an arms race, an educational arms race,” she said. “We all want our kids to achieve and be successful. The question is, at what cost?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/26/nyregion/reforms-to-ease-students-stress-divide-a-new-jersey-school-district.html
Comments
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When Americans start losing the game rewrite the rules
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I used to tutor Asian students in grad school. I learned that a lot of them are smart, but they aren't nearly as smart as people think they are. They just have a hell of a work ethic. Their parents push them hard as hell which is good to a point, but a lot of them go too far. Some of those students acted like getting a 'B' was the worse thing in the world. Those kids didn't even seem to enjoy life. Their only purpose in being seemed to be to avoid disappointing their parents.
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What white middle-class parents do not always understand, she said, is how much pressure recent immigrants feel to boost their children into the middle class.
“They don’t have the same chances to get their children internships or jobs at law firms,” Professor Lee said. “So what they believe is that their children must excel beyond their white peers in academic settings so they have the same chances to excel later.”
So true. I know so many white dudes that got high positions in companies because of who their dads or granddads are, or what business relationships they have, not based on any real experience or merit. They're literally allowed to learn to work high positions on the fly, if they can go a year or two without seriously ? up now they're experienced.
My one dude born into money spent his time at one of the toughest universities here "selling" drugs and trying ? like ? or ? . Finally hits rock bottom with the drugs. Drops out and comes home. His pops sells his business and retires. A condition of the sale is that his 2 sons are made vp's of the company.
4yrs later this company is effectively run into the ground by these 2 having no idea what they're doing. But now they're "certified professionals" at what they do because they can put up a resume that's pretty unmatched for dudes their age. So they move up to even higher paying jobs. But really they just faked it till they made it. They have kids rinse repeat. So it go. -
I expect my child to be more than just a bookworm.
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Lol this is literally less than 20 mins from me
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I want these two groups to fight
Hopefully it happens a lot more -
My son was in fourth grade and told me, ‘I’m not going to amount to anything because I have nothing to put on my résumé,’ ” Ms. Foley said.
She definitely put those words in her sons mouth -
Immigrants tend to push their children because they lack the social capital that'll help their children succeed. Those children will be unhappy but it'll be worth it in the end.
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Me too, im in Somerset county so this is something that im very familiarFocal Point wrote: »Lol this is literally less than 20 mins from me
But yeah, asians are not smarter than the average nonasian lmao, they just have a hell of a work ethic and pressure. I know so many Asian kids who cheat and do all types of ? just ti get their grades up -
The Lonious Monk wrote: »I used to tutor Asian students in grad school. I learned that a lot of them are smart, but they aren't nearly as smart as people think they are. They just have a hell of a work ethic. Their parents push them hard as hell which is good to a point, but a lot of them go too far. Some of those students acted like getting a 'B' was the worse thing in the world. Those kids didn't even seem to enjoy life. Their only purpose in being seemed to be to avoid disappointing their parents.
Lol @ being smart and needing a tutor, wheretheydothatat? And getting a 'B' is pretty wack if the class is in the field you plan to work in. Anything less than a 'B' is not acceptable for grad school anyways, so given that it's the bottom of the barrel as far as grades go, that logic makes sense.
From my experience, Asians are serious about their grades, but very few are actually smart. There's usually 1 or 2 "smart" Asians in the group who everyone goes to for help. That or they simply cheat come test/project time.
Since we're on the topic, in contrast, black people are no nonsense when it comes to their school work. If the opportunity presented itself, I always chose the black person when it came project time. Choosing others is a ? shoot, you may get a good teammate, you may not. White (American) males are the absolute worst teammates on average, stay away from them if you can. Terrible on all fronts. -
So if the white kids struggle or feel too much pressure the curriculum needs changing. And because the Asian and Indian kids are excelling under the same system now there's tension. But I thought it was a "meritocracy" in the US. Anyone else's kids in the same situation would be told to work harder...
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wrd c.s.. lmao @ being smart and going to school...NothingButTheTruth wrote: »The Lonious Monk wrote: »I used to tutor Asian students in grad school. I learned that a lot of them are smart, but they aren't nearly as smart as people think they are. They just have a hell of a work ethic. Their parents push them hard as hell which is good to a point, but a lot of them go too far. Some of those students acted like getting a 'B' was the worse thing in the world. Those kids didn't even seem to enjoy life. Their only purpose in being seemed to be to avoid disappointing their parents.
Lol @ being smart and needing a tutor, wheretheydothatat? And getting a 'B' is pretty wack if the class is in the field you plan to work in. Anything less than a 'B' is not acceptable for grad school anyways, so given that it's the bottom of the barrel as far as grades go, that logic makes sense.
From my experience, Asians are serious about their grades, but very few are actually smart. There's usually 1 or 2 "smart" Asians in the group who everyone goes to for help. That or they simply cheat come test/project time.
Since we're on the topic, in contrast, black people are no nonsense when it comes to their school work. If the opportunity presented itself, I always chose the black person when it came project time. Choosing others is a ? shoot, you may get a good teammate, you may not. White (American) males are the absolute worst teammates on average, stay away from them if you can. Terrible on all fronts.
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wrd c.s.. lmao @ being smart and going to school...
Need more context on what you're touching on. The concept of a tutor is when you pay extra money to hire someone to help you or the intended recipient understand what is being taught in class. One could make the argument that you need extra attention to understand the same concept that everyone else is comprehending just fine from the lecture. That was my stance.
I'm not sure what you're getting at. -
the concept of a tutor is, the role of secondary teacher... a secondary teacher who gives that child, more one on one attention.. it has nothing to do with how smart a child is, it's more so ABOUT REINFORCING WHAT THE CHILD LEARNED.NothingButTheTruth wrote: »wrd c.s.. lmao @ being smart and going to school...
Need more context on what you're touching on. The concept of a tutor is when you pay extra money to hire someone to help you or the intended recipient understand what is being taught in class. One could make the argument that you need extra attention to understand the same concept that everyone else is comprehending just fine from the lecture. That was my stance.
I'm not sure what you're getting at.
BUT I'll let u tell it tho... smart guy -
the concept of a tutor is, the role of secondary teacher... a secondary teacher who gives that child, more one on one attention.. it has nothing to do with how smart a child is, it's more so ABOUT REINFORCING WHAT THE CHILD LEARNED.NothingButTheTruth wrote: »wrd c.s.. lmao @ being smart and going to school...
Need more context on what you're touching on. The concept of a tutor is when you pay extra money to hire someone to help you or the intended recipient understand what is being taught in class. One could make the argument that you need extra attention to understand the same concept that everyone else is comprehending just fine from the lecture. That was my stance.
I'm not sure what you're getting at.
BUT I'll let u tell it tho... smart guy
Lol in other words, you were one of those kids who needed a tutor. -
thegreatunknown wrote: »So if the white kids struggle or feel too much pressure the curriculum needs changing. And because the Asian Indian kids are excelling under the same system now there's tension. But I thought it was a "meritocracy" in the US. Anyone else's kids in the same situation would be told to work harder...
Indians are Asian -
Asians are slowly taking over West Windsor-Plainsboro and South Brunswick, whites in those areas are well off but are threaten by the Asian minority because they takeover subtly
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In asia, kids go to school, then go to a secondary school
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Focal Point wrote: »thegreatunknown wrote: »So if the white kids struggle or feel too much pressure the curriculum needs changing. And because the Asian Indian kids are excelling under the same system now there's tension. But I thought it was a "meritocracy" in the US. Anyone else's kids in the same situation would be told to work harder...
Indians are Asian
You know damn well what I meant...not one person who sees a Indian walks around calling them Asians. -
thegreatunknown wrote: »Focal Point wrote: »thegreatunknown wrote: »So if the white kids struggle or feel too much pressure the curriculum needs changing. And because the Asian Indian kids are excelling under the same system now there's tension. But I thought it was a "meritocracy" in the US. Anyone else's kids in the same situation would be told to work harder...
Indians are Asian
You know damn well what I meant...not one person who sees a Indian walks around calling them Asians.
that's the American way Europeans call east Indians Asian -
Cool..I'm not European. My point was the correction wasn't needed, it was pretty obvious what I was referring to.
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Focal Point wrote: »thegreatunknown wrote: »So if the white kids struggle or feel too much pressure the curriculum needs changing. And because the Asian Indian kids are excelling under the same system now there's tension. But I thought it was a "meritocracy" in the US. Anyone else's kids in the same situation would be told to work harder...
Indians are Asian
South Asian. -
Focal Point wrote: »Asians are slowly taking over West Windsor-Plainsboro and South Brunswick, whites in those areas are well off but are threaten by the Asian minority because they takeover subtly
Central Jersey has mad indians , plus black, white asian, spnaish, ts like queens now -
NothingButTheTruth wrote: »The Lonious Monk wrote: »I used to tutor Asian students in grad school. I learned that a lot of them are smart, but they aren't nearly as smart as people think they are. They just have a hell of a work ethic. Their parents push them hard as hell which is good to a point, but a lot of them go too far. Some of those students acted like getting a 'B' was the worse thing in the world. Those kids didn't even seem to enjoy life. Their only purpose in being seemed to be to avoid disappointing their parents.
Lol @ being smart and needing a tutor, wheretheydothatat? And getting a 'B' is pretty wack if the class is in the field you plan to work in. Anything less than a 'B' is not acceptable for grad school anyways, so given that it's the bottom of the barrel as far as grades go, that logic makes sense.
From my experience, Asians are serious about their grades, but very few are actually smart. There's usually 1 or 2 "smart" Asians in the group who everyone goes to for help. That or they simply cheat come test/project time.
Since we're on the topic, in contrast, black people are no nonsense when it comes to their school work. If the opportunity presented itself, I always chose the black person when it came project time. Choosing others is a ? shoot, you may get a good teammate, you may not. White (American) males are the absolute worst teammates on average, stay away from them if you can. Terrible on all fronts.
I was in grad school for physics. Most of the students I tutored were Bio majors with Med school aspirations, so no physics wasn't anything close to what they were majoring.
The rest of that ? you said is nonsense. -
NothingButTheTruth wrote: »wrd c.s.. lmao @ being smart and going to school...
Need more context on what you're touching on. The concept of a tutor is when you pay extra money to hire someone to help you or the intended recipient understand what is being taught in class. One could make the argument that you need extra attention to understand the same concept that everyone else is comprehending just fine from the lecture. That was my stance.
I'm not sure what you're getting at.
People don't always pay for tutors ? . Decent colleges provide tutoring for students, and plenty of people in school go to tutors to maximize their grades not just "make it." In other words, plenty of people I tutored were making Bs, but came to tutoring to get As.
The ? you're saying is pretty stupid honestly. I don't know if you're trying to sound smart or what, but it's the opposite.
