White Flight

Just because Stanford hasn’t sent me an interview invite yet doesn’t mean that me or anyone else that hasn’t received one is totally out of the running. When I said I’m out of the running, I really meant it more as a “prep step” for getting rejection from Stanford.

My mom sent me this interesting article today about “white flight” and Montavista High School in Cupertino. Considering I grew up in Fremont and attended a high school with a very similar “ethnic mix”, I really related to the article. I also have to say that departure from California really was a big surprise. Out on the east coast, there are definitely a lot of Asians, but its not nearly what it was like growing up in Fremont, or even attending classes at UCLA. It’s crazy when you are not Chinese but know what Chinese school is, the most common last name at your school is Chen, and everyone struggles to get their verbal scores up on their SATs but no one spends even two minutes worrying about their math scores. When you’re cruising the freeway, the person in front of you is probably Indian; the person behind you is probably Indian. Oh, and of course, places like Chat Café actually have a decent chance of survival, if they don’t “Americanize” their food too much.

The main comment I have on this phenomena is that the high schools really need to do something to broaden their curriculum and emphasize areas outside of math and science. Of course many of us were trained in ethnic dance and classical music, but simultaneously devoid of any pop culture or social understanding that existed outside the realm of our academically charged high school campus. What happened to classes like high school broadcast journalism? Why was woodshop cut? Of course, no one signs up for Home-Ec… and most importantly… since when did you become dumb because all your math and science courses didn’t start with Honors? (I really feel weird saying this, especially because I fit fairly well into the stereo typed academically over-achieving Indian student.) It took me years after high school to really come to realize the importance of skills outside of academia… or even non-traditional studies within academia. What good is a doctor that is so socially inept that he cannot provide satisfactory customer service skills to his patients? Or a finance executive that cannot make a presentation without looking down and stuttering? These are incredibly intelligent individuals, but there is something lacking. Don’t even ask me what it’s like to date someone that grew up and excelled in this environment… socially inept suddenly takes on a new meaning!

I think the current situation in the high schools is not only diminishing social and ethnic diversity within the school, but diversity within the educational process of these highly Asian/South Asian populated regions. Why should it only be the Caucasian population that pushes for an academically varied education? “White Flight” or not, if this continues, it will dangerously reinforce the current societal stereotypes of Asians as the “model” minority. Maybe those of you out there studying education can help us out.