New White Flight --Fleeing smart Asians

Parent Cafe
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<p>I found this on the CC high school board.Very interesting…</p>

<p>"
The New White Flight
Lifted from Proquest/the Wall Street Journal/AoPS…</p>

<p>[In Silicon Valley, two high schools with outstanding academic reputations are losing white students as Asian students move in. Why?] </p>

<p>Monta Vista High School’s parent-teacher association, recently dissuaded a family with a young child from moving to Cupertino because there are so few young white kids left in the public schools. “This may not sound good,” she confides, “but their child may be the only Caucasian kid in the class.” …</p>

<p>In the 1960s, the term “white flight” emerged to describe the rapid exodus of whites from big cities into the suburbs, a process that often resulted in the economic degradation of the remaining community. Back then, the phenomenon was mostly believed to be sparked by the growth in the population of African-Americans, and to a lesser degree Hispanics, in some major cities. </p>

<p>But this modern incarnation is different. Across the country, Asian- Americans have by and large been successful and accepted into middle- and upper-class communities. Silicon Valley has kept Cupertino’s economy stable, and the town is almost indistinguishable from many of the suburbs around it. The shrinking number of white students hasn’t hurt the academic standards of Cupertino’s schools – in fact the opposite is true. …</p>

<p>Some whites fear that by avoiding schools with large Asian populations parents are short-changing their own children, giving them the idea that they can’t compete with Asian kids. “My parents never let me think that because I’m Caucasian, I’m not going to succeed,” says Jessie Hogin, a white Monta Vista graduate. </p>

<p>The white exodus clearly involves race-based presumptions, not all of which are positive. One example: Asian parents are too competitive. That sounds like racism to many of Cupertino’s Asian residents, who resent the fact that their growing numbers and success are causing many white families to boycott the town altogether…“”</p>

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<p>My stepfather, on moving into a large house in a posh, upscale suburb of Los Angeles sighed with great pride and satisfaction. “I’ve arrived.” he said “I’m the only white man on a block full of Asians.”</p>

<p>I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. </p>

<p>By the way, I graduated from Monta Vista a couple of centuries ago. The school then was academic, superbly run and well regarded. If white residents are choosing to avoid it today - for whatever reason - too bad for them. It’s certainly their loss.</p>

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<p>As has also been picked up elsewhere, famed Yale English professor (and bestselling author) Harold Bloom - never one to shy away from a provocative comment, even if (or maybe especially if) it means painting with an awfully broad brush - has characterized Asian-Americans as “the new Jews”:</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-10-07-bloom-en.html[/url]”>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-10-07-bloom-en.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Yes, I’ve heard this too: Asians are the new Jews, as are new arrivals from India.</p>

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<p>I firmly believe that America is great due to our immigration history and that recent efforts to close borders is the dumbest idea possible. After all, my family immigrated here in the 1600’s so why wouldn’t I think that:).</p>

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<p>Schools with large Asian populations are schools where a large percentage of the students and parents place a very high value on academics.</p>

<p>I, for one, do not think this is something that I would want to avoid. I think my kids have benefited from being in schools that had substantial Asian populations. The attitudes tend to rub off.</p>

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<p>Back then, the phenomenon was mostly believed to be sparked by the growth in the population of African-Americans, and to a lesser degree Hispanics, in some major cities.</p>

<p>Or maybe they wanted to move where they could afford to have a yard?
My parents looked in the city to buy a house, but chose to move to the suburbs because where they could afford in the city, had few amenities like grocery stores that were closeby, and the suburban neighborhood, had several.</p>

<p>In our area we have immigrants moving to work @ Microsoft and other companies in the region.
They generally move to the suburbs to be closer to work & because the reputation of the suburban schools is better. Also- as there are already a large group of families from the Indian subcontinent / Asia, that naturally attracts more families.
( However do we describe them as wanting to avoid the Caucasian dominated city of Seattle?)
I dont see Caucasians avoiding those neighborhoods, however, with gas going up, I do see people moving closer to work or to a more central locaton for both parents.</p>

<p>Observing in the city, I have noticed that if caucasians move into an area with a heavier % of minorities, they are perceived as “gentrifiying” the area, which isn’t considered a “goodthing”.
However, if for instance a caucasian chooses to live in an area with a history of European immigrants, they are considered to be unwilling to live in an area with minorities.
( but I haven’t heard anything being said about an increase of minorities moving into the area with the European immigrant history- which I think is great- but it has been very slow in coming, perhaps one reason is, those old Scandinavians are remarkably long lived- just on my little street, I have 4 neighbors in their 90’s-late 80’s)</p>

<p>On the one hand I see whites being slammed for wanting to live in an area, with at least a moderate representation of those with similar ethnic history, and I also see them slammed when they enter an area with a different ethnic history.</p>

<p>I admit- when we moved from teh suburbs to the city, we didn’t look at homes in neighborhoods, that we weren’t familiar with. There were certain features that I preferred being close to and that I knew, and as my husband had Scandinavian roots, he was familar with the Scandinavian neighborhood, so that is where we concentrated our search.</p>

<p>Im not sure why wanting to live in an area that is familiar enough to feel comfortable is considered racist?</p>

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<p>We moved in 1997 to a house just a few hundred feet from the Monta Vista school district line (hence we live there, but my kids didn’t go there). The area, and almost all the schools, comprises mostly Asian and Indian families. I have always thought of it as a <em>wonderful</em> opportunity my Caucasian children have had, to be living in such a culturally rich area, so different from the NY suburb we moved from. They are part of an ethnic minority of about 10-15% Caucasians in their school, and I think it’s been great for them and for their education. Parental standards are high, which has been good for the schools. I would encourage people to move <em>TO</em> this area… if they could begin to afford it! (If we were moving now rather than 9 years ago, we couldn’t afford it.)</p>

<p>Which brings up the fact that the wealth of the area may have something to do with the excellence of the local schools, too…</p>

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<p>HOwever- and I hesitate to comment on this, because I am sure others from my daughters high school read this board.</p>

<p>My daughter attends a school with a high percentage of the most academically adept students in the district. It is * the* school for them to attend, if they are going public.
This has some advantages, in that for a teacher, who is interested in teaching students who are ready to learn, and who has parents who are more than willing to support the school, it is a desirable place to work.
So it not only has some of the best students, it has some of the best teachers. From some perspectives they dominate the school.</p>

<p>In reading the course descriptions for example, last year, nine above grade math classes were offered during the day, while if you were below grade level, you had to take that course after school. ( which as I have commented, interfered with afterschool sports, transportation and tutoring for other classes)</p>

<p>The group of parents that sponsor and support many of the school programs, are primarily parents of this academically adept group of students. The parents are often much more affluent than either the district or even the city average, and the students are often taking 4 AP classes, while other students are having difficulty getting their chosen electives.</p>

<p>Just spending the day volunteering yesterday with these parents, and listening to their talk, made me feel that my daughter who is taking a strong academic load, although we decided that AP courses were too time consuming for her, is slacking and I should be pushing her to a higher level.</p>

<p>I know that most of my daughters friends, although they may be on an AP track- arent consumed with GPA, and with lining everything up for elite colleges, however, I have also heard some students who do seem to be more concerned with style over substance, and prefer to take a course from a teacher who is known as an easy grader, over someone who is more interesting but more challenging for the same course.</p>

<p>Some parents seem to reinforce this opinion, and if a school had a reputation as a school where GPA was more important than what you were actually learning, and where students who were working hard, yet were looked down upon by students who had higher GPAs, I also would consider a different environment for my kid.</p>

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<p>At the end of the day, I think it’s class - rather than race or ethnicity - that tends to drive a wedge between folks. </p>

<p>A long time ago, (Mike) Nichols & (Elaine) May had this to say about the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago’s south side, which is home to the University of Chicago and better known for racial than economic diversity:</p>

<p>“Black and white arm in arm against the poor.”</p>

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<p>Having lived in an Asian country, having many Asian immigrants and first generation Asian American citizens as close friends, I disagree epis. Americans really struggle with Asian accents. I have a number of highly educated American friends who actively avoid conversing with Asian immigrants to avoid struggling with the accent. </p>

<p>By the same token, and please don’t flame me, but my mainland and Hong Kong Chinese friends are among the most racist people I know. They openly remind me that they believe that white civilization is barbaric compared to the sophistication and genius of their 5000 year old Chinese culture. They also are quite open about their contempt for African and Indian races. Chinese and Korean nationals often despise the Japanese. The Japanese nationals I know often despise the Chinese. Japanese that leave Japan are viewed as second class aliens once they return. They are ‘tainted’ by their exposure to foreign society. The Hong Kong Chinese think the ‘Red’ Chinese are uncouth—and on and on. </p>

<p>Also, worries about a culture or a school being overrun by another foreign culture–particularily a xenophobic culture–are understandable. The Singaporean government announced a new policy of self-interest–they plan to send 50% (!!) of their university students abroad in the next ten years.</p>

<p>America has enjoyed all the benefits of a functioning melting pot. Long may it continue. However, must we blindly embrace all variations of that melting pot? </p>

<p>btw I lived through the ‘White Flight’ in my neighborhood. My family stayed behind. In retrospect, that flight was as much about hard drugs and serious crime sweeping through black culture as it was about race. In our neighborhood, there was no ‘tipping’ factor but families moved away in droves anyway. I’ve always wondered what would have happened to integration without the drugs.</p>

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<p>Cheers:</p>

<p>I don’t disagree that there’s a whole lot of race-based and ethnicity-based animosity out there. But sometimes, I think, what seems to be racially driven is actually more class driven, with race serving as a sort of proxy. </p>

<p>Other times, though - and you’re certainly right to point this out - it ain’t: it’s just plain old hostility toward people who are different because, well, they’re different.</p>

<p>What I love about the Nichols and May line is the way it shines a light on the often unacknowledged biases of folks who consider themselves above such things - people who are too well-educated, too liberal, too politically correct ever to make a racist remark, but who feel no shame whatsoever in looking down their long noses at those of their own race who belong to a lower economic class.</p>

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<p>Mootmom - Indians are Asians.</p>

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<p>" At the end of the day, I think it’s class - rather than race or ethnicity - that tends to drive a wedge between folks. "</p>

<p>Certainly in part. But when cops pull over my private-school, Vassar & Yale educated black friend when she’s driving home in a mostly white upscale suburb – they don’t do it because of any class reasons. They do it because she’s black.</p>

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<p>I think there is a difference between valuing education and being overly single-minded and demanding about it to the extreme. I think many Asian parents cross that line while those of other backgrounds look to a more balanced life. Personally I would prefer for my kids to have the balanced outlook and enjoy high school a little.</p>

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<p>" firmly believe that America is great due to our immigration history and that recent efforts to close borders is the dumbest idea possible. After all, my family immigrated here in the 1600’s so why wouldn’t I think that."</p>

<p>Ya but…your ancestors came here on boat and payed for it, whether with money or servitude. This “new” kind of immigration has no resemblence what-so-ever to what this country was built upon. I love it when people say, “America was built on immigration.” Ya well, they didnt get in here for free…</p>

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<p>For one person it’s a matter of balance. </p>

<p>For another person – say, an immigrant from China whose parents were ‘reeducated’ during the Cultural Revolution; a Russian Jew hobbled by Russia’s anti-semitism; an Indian who on a daily basis witnessed mind-boggling poverty – for that person academic achievement may be the only opportunity for advancement and a level of security unavailable – and unimaginable – in their native country. </p>

<p>It’s all a matter of perspective. And a type of hunger.</p>

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<p>Blink182 – do you for any moment imagine that the “new immigration” doesn’t pay its dues when it comes here, legally or illegally?</p>

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<p>“I have noticed that if caucasians move into an area with a heavier % of minorities, they are perceived as “gentrifiying” the area, which isn’t considered a “goodthing”.”</p>

<p>Emerald, the “gentrification” issues only arise when significant numbers of whites who are relatively well-off move into lower middle class minority communities, and rehab their properties to values well above those of long-time inhabitants. Many of these minority residents experience drastic rises in their rents, or are evicted when landlords realize that their properties have greatly increased in value. These people are displaced when they can no longer afford the increased rents, or property taxes that came about as a result of the changing demographics of their neighborhoods. This presents a problem when people feel that they have nowhere else to go. Natually, they feel resentful. </p>

<p>Often times, the “gentrifiers” are white. But increasingly, they are upwardly mobile professional blacks, who engage in the same type of rehabilitation. Just like the whites who buy these types of properties, they realize that many of these old homes were once grand residences with a lot of charm. Naturally given the means, they desire to see their homes return to their former glory. It’s good for them, but bad for the poor whose housing options become increasingly limited.</p>

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<p>Oh, noooooo…</p>

<p>They’re lowering the crime rate and increasing property values! They’re not destroying our way of life!</p>