How do you guys feel about sending your kids to an Asian majority public school?

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panda

panda

Well-known member
The link about the ghosts of white people in Johns Creek was actually found by TalkIrvine poster WoodburyOwner and I found the article to be facinating as what the author Anajali describes in the article is unfolding real time in Johns Creek, Georgia today. It was very interested to find an article simiar to this 11 years ago from Silicon Valley regarding the rapid white flight out the top elite public high school in Cupertino: Monta Vista. Below you are see a post from a concerned American voicing her opinon about the suddent demographic shift. 

As an Asian parent of two 1st graders, I am starting to get a little concerned as one of my boy's class has an 90% Asian ratio. When my boys were in Kindegarten, there were atleast 7-8 white kids in each of their classes. They are no longer there as 1st graders.

I wanted to get some feedback from the older the parents who have children attending Asian majority public schools. When I was first grade, I remember building forts in my friends backyard, catching tadpole, turtles, and frogs at a nearby pond, and riding my bike. I know that my boys are going to grow up in a very different environment than the environment I grew up in as a child. It seems like the first thing on the teachers' mind is academics and maintainging their high test scores over the child's emotional health. My wife have talked to me several times of possibly moving our boys to Perimeter Church school in Johns Creek. I would love to get feedback from older parents who have teenager in an Asian majority environment. Looking back... Is it healthy? Pros and Cons.. TalkIrvine. Let's have an open discussion on this topic. 

The New White Flight in Silicon Valley - Cupertino, Californiahttp://www.wsj.com/articles/SB113236377590902105

The New White Flight in N. Atlanta - Johns Creek, Georgiahttps://psmag.com/ghosts-of-white-p...om-an-asian-ethnoburb-b550ba986cdb#.h1zwcsy8g

A reply by a concerned American resident in Johns Creek while the white flight is taking place:

This reply will not be politically correct. There is nothing wrong with "white people" or as I would call them natural born Americans wanting to move to a place where their culture isn't rivaled by people from other countries. We have lost our identity thanks to every foreigner who comes to our country and cried because they don't like our culture, our customs or way of life. We Americans like to enjoy our summers and days after school. We don't lock our children up inside and force them to endless hours of academic work just so they can have flawless grades (as a very good friend of mine put it). I bought a house in St. Ives 13 years ago and this area was definitely mostly white in fact that was one of the reasons I loved it so much.

I'm not racists but I do believe that all these different cultures saturating our cities is causing our identity to suffer. We don't have to be ashamed to want better for our children. We don't have to be ashamed of wanting them to grow up in the traditional America we grew up in. It's becoming increasingly harder to do that as we are flooded with all these other cultures. I want my children to grow up saying the pledge of allegiance at school every morning, saluting our flag with respect and pride. I want my children to grow up respecting our law enforcement and thanking our service men and women. I'm an American and while my skin isn't white I was born American and I bleed Red, White, and Blue. For anyone who comes to our country to live here they should love our country and our culture or they should stay in their own country. God Bless America and our people.
 
My daughter is in a Montessori class and it seems to have a decent amount of diversity. I agree with you panda. I was born in Mexico but raised in the US since I was two. I'm as white washed as you can get and I like the traditional/white American culture. Even though I like to put down Asians on TI, my wife is asian, my kids are half Asian, two of my closest friends are Asian, so while I may joke around on TI I'm actually not a racist,well maybe a little :-)

I want my kids to grow up in the traditional white/American culture where you play with your friends after school and not have to worry about constant homework. My belief is people are either smart or they are not. The smart Asian kid may come out of the gate strong because of the higher emphasis on education but the smart non Asian kid will eventually catch-up. And the social/interpersonal skills learned by the non Asian smart kid will eventually help them beat the hard core Asian kid in white corporate America. Not too say that there are not asians that have good interpersonal skills but they seem to be fewer and far between.
 
We have lived in Irvine for almost 8 years.  My older son played after school everyday in Elementary/Middle school and the kids he played with were all non Asians.  He did have Asian friends he played with in elementary school but only some times on weekends (never on weekdays - many of his Asian friends were not allowed to play on school days.) 

Now that he is in High School, the kids he hangs our with on weekends are all mostly non Asians.  Same with kids he hangs out with during the week (of course after he is done with homework :)  ).

 
IrvineNinja said:
We have lived in Irvine for almost 8 years.  My older son played after school everyday in Elementary/Middle school and the kids he played with were all non Asians.  He did have Asian friends he played with in elementary school but only some times on weekends (never on weekdays - many of his Asian friends were not allowed to play on school days.) 

Now that he is in High School, the kids he hangs our with on weekends are all mostly non Asians.  Same with kids he hangs out with during the week (of course after he is done with homework :)  ).
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Good to hear! I think exposure to diversity is a valuable aspect of raising a well rounded child into adulthood. Even if my kids don't have as much exposure in school we'll always make sure they get it in their extracurricular activities.
 
The thing  that I struggle with more than a "lack of diversity" is interacting with a majority population as an out-group. The in-group/out-group dynamics can differ vastly between ethnic/cultural backgrounds. At times it can be disheartening when some populations show virtually zero interest or interactions with an out-group. 
 
Paris said:
IrvineNinja said:
We have lived in Irvine for almost 8 years.  My older son played after school everyday in Elementary/Middle school and the kids he played with were all non Asians.  He did have Asian friends he played with in elementary school but only some times on weekends (never on weekdays - many of his Asian friends were not allowed to play on school days.) 

Now that he is in High School, the kids he hangs our with on weekends are all mostly non Asians.  Same with kids he hangs out with during the week (of course after he is done with homework :)  ).
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Good to hear! I think exposure to diversity is a valuable aspect of raising a well rounded child into adulthood. Even if my kids don't have as much exposure in school we'll always make sure they get it in their extracurricular activities.
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There is a chance if you do your extra curricular activities they might be Asian also.  ;D
 
peppy said:
The thing  that I struggle with more than a "lack of diversity" is interacting with a majority population as an out-group. The in-group/out-group dynamics can differ vastly between ethnic/cultural backgrounds. At times it can be disheartening when some populations show virtually zero interest or interactions with an out-group.
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I'm not quite sure what you mean by this.
Do you mean, you're not sure how to handle being in a situation where you are a minority? E.g. if you are white (which I don't even know if you are), but find yourself in a situation where whites are not the majority?  So now you how know it feels to be the "out group." where the customs of your own group are not the default standard for what is "normal/normative?" Irvine is not even that skewed. Asians are only SLIGHTLY more numerous than whites in Irvine, but no group has a clear majority (its a plurality with no group >50%). There can be more than one standard of "normal" or normative by the way.

In some other places in the U.S., if there's 10-25 percent minorities of all colors, that's considered "diverse" as long as whites are still in the majority.
I don't see how that's more diverse for one group to be like 75%, versus a split of 45/45/10 or something like that. Obviously, Irvine is not as diverse as a place like Tustin, which has not just two major ethnic groups, but more like 3 sizeable ethnic groups. That was a reason why we chose to live in the Tustin Unified School district by the way.

Are you saying that Asians are not interested in hanging out with non-Asians? Maybe its a bit of that, but also a little bit of non-Asians don't want to hang out with Asians. Friendships are a two way street.

In my personal experience, as an American born and raised in the US, but from immigrant parents, that Asians have been one  of the minority groups who have best assimilated to mainstream US culture. Look at out-marriage rates amongst different racial and ethnic groups, for one.

Maybe your beef is with the immigrant parents of these kids? But isn't that understandable for  recent immigrants who come as adults to gravitate toward people who share a common language, food and customs?  I don't see how that's any different from any other enclaves of recent immigrants from other parts of the world. A century or two ago, Italians, Irish, Germans, Swedes, and Jews did the same thing until their kids grew up and moved out of "the old neighborhood", and more recently, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Russians, other Eastern Europeans are doing the same thing (I am from NYC which has tons of these ethnic enclaves).

Chinese have been immigrating to the U.S. since the late 1800s. I have extended relatives that served in World War II for the US and are buried in Arlington National cemetery.

The fact that there are so many Asian parents on this board bemoaning the fact that they are living in a place that's "too Asian" --doesn't that say something about the extent to which they DO want their kids to assimilate to mainstream US culture?

 
nyc to oc said:
peppy said:
The thing  that I struggle with more than a "lack of diversity" is interacting with a majority population as an out-group. The in-group/out-group dynamics can differ vastly between ethnic/cultural backgrounds. At times it can be disheartening when some populations show virtually zero interest or interactions with an out-group.
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I'm not quite sure what you mean by this.
Do you mean, you're not sure how to handle being in a situation where you are a minority? E.g. if you are white (which I don't even know if you are), but find yourself in a situation where whites are not the majority?  So now you how know it feels to be the "out group." where the customs of your own group are not the default standard for what is "normal/normative?" Irvine is not even that skewed. Asians are only SLIGHTLY more numerous than whites in Irvine, but no group has a clear majority (its a plurality with no group >50%). There can be more than one standard of "normal" or normative by the way.

In some other places in the U.S., if there's 10-25 percent minorities of all colors, that's considered "diverse" as long as whites are still in the majority.
I don't see how that's more diverse for one group to be like 75%, versus a split of 45/45/10 or something like that. Obviously, Irvine is not as diverse as a place like Tustin, which has not just two major ethnic groups, but more like 3 sizeable ethnic groups. That was a reason why we chose to live in the Tustin Unified School district by the way.

Are you saying that Asians are not interested in hanging out with non-Asians? Maybe its a bit of that, but also a little bit of non-Asians don't want to hang out with Asians. Friendships are a two way street.

In my personal experience, as an American born and raised in the US, but from immigrant parents, that Asians have been one  of the minority groups who have best assimilated to mainstream US culture. Look at out-marriage rates amongst different racial and ethnic groups, for one.

Maybe your beef is with the immigrant parents of these kids? But isn't that understandable for  recent immigrants who come as adults to gravitate toward people who share a common language, food and customs?  I don't see how that's any different from any other enclaves of recent immigrants from other parts of the world. A century or two ago, Italians, Irish, Germans, Swedes, and Jews did the same thing until their kids grew up and moved out of "the old neighborhood", and more recently, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Russians, other Eastern Europeans are doing the same thing (I am from NYC which has tons of these ethnic enclaves).

Chinese have been immigrating to the U.S. since the late 1800s. I have extended relatives that served in World War II for the US and are buried in Arlington National cemetery.

The fact that there are so many Asian parents on this board bemoaning the fact that they are living in a place that's "too Asian" --doesn't that say something about the extent to which they DO want their kids to assimilate to mainstream US culture?
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You may want to google about ingroups and outgroups, as I will probably not do a very good explaining the concept (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingroups_and_outgroups). The group definition would be much more refined than just "white" or "asian" as it is based on cultural background (e.g. differences between countries, or even within countries between regions). Some groups are more willing to trust members of an out-group or be neutral towards them, others are more weary and suspicious of someone in an out-group. There seems to be a relationship with to where the group falls in the individualistic/collectivist spectrum.

All I'm saying is that if you are in a social interaction and perceived as a member of an outgroup, with some groups it can be rather difficult to be treated in an inclusive manner.

As far as diversity goes, 538 had a pretty interesting take on diversity and the segragation-integration index (where Irvine happens to come up on top)

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-diverse-cities-are-often-the-most-segregated/
 
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