<p>Shrink, I have two AA friends and am familiar with the home life of about 6 others. My point wasn’t intended to be statistically meaningful. </p>
<p>In our school, 9 of the Top 10 are Asian; one is white. White kids in our school aren’t doing that well either. Everyone thinks Asian kids are so bright, but they are no brighter than anyone else. Our advantage is that almost all of us live in two-parent homes where both parents expect us to study hard and excel academically. Asian kids who come from divorced homes usually fare no better than other races from single-parent homes. </p>
<p>The statistics are over-whelming. Kids raised in single-parent homes are at a much greater risk of committing crimes, having abortions, dropping out of school, etc. This is true for all races. Rates of births to unwed mothers among all races have risen since the 1950s. But not at equal rates. The rate among AA women has risen five times the rate for whites and three times for Hispanics. As a result, AA children are more likely than children of other races to live without both parents. What I don’t understand is that most of the decline in two-parent AA families has taken place over the last 20 to 25 years – after the Civil Rights movement’s successes. Today, almost 3 out of 4 AA births are to unwed mothers. This number is even higher when you look only at only poor AA mothers. I think this is what President Obama was addressing. Although civil rights have improved drastically over the last 25 years, the achievement gap has increased between AA and other races because of broken homes. </p>
<p>I can speak with authority only about my race. In China, it is virtually unheard of for women to have children without marrying first. Although this number increases for Asian-Americans, the numbers are still very, very low when compared to other Americans. In my opinion, this is why Asians do so well in school. To me, it seems pretty simple. We’re no smarter than anyone else. We are just raised in homes where achievement is encouraged and expected. Even “dumb” Asian kids almost always attend a four-year college. It seems to me any race could accomplish the same thing if their culture were the same.</p>