Response Paper #2: Thoughts About the Lowell High School Admissions Controversy

A brief overview of the situation:

Lowell High School has long been considered a facility of great academic prestige and is often thought of as San Francisco's best public high school. Parents from all parts of the city aspire to get their children admitted into Lowell to take advantage of the purportedly higher quality of education that it offers. However, out of this past yearUs 1,928 applicants, only between 600 and 650 will be admitted. Because of the large number of prospective students who wish to attend Lowell, applicants are selected based on a score derived from tests and grades.
Chinese-American students tended to score higher on this scale than any other ethnic group. However, because of a court-monitored desegregation plan put in place in 1982, Lowell may not enroll more than 40 to 45 percent of any ethnic group. Therefore, because Chinese-Americans qualify for admission in such large numbers, they were required to attain higher scores than other ethnicities in order to be admitted. Chinese-American students were being penalized because of their ethnicity, while students of other ethnicities with lower scores were able to enroll at Lowell. Naturally, Chinese-Americans protested the unfairness of this policy.
These separate enrollment standards were recently abolished when the school board voted to create a single academic threshold for applicants of all ethnicities on February 28, 1996, with 20 to 30 percent of the slots set aside for disadvantaged and underrepresented minorities to comply with the desegregation plan. Naturally, parents whose children would have qualified under the old enrollment standards complained.

Response:

Being of Chinese-American descent myself, the entire Lowell High School situation is of particular interest. I believe that the article and the entire situation that the article deals with touches on many issues that are of relevance and concern to Chinese-Americans. I am talking not only about the situation involving Lowell High School admissions but about certain deeper issues around which the entire situation revolves.
The "model minority" theory appears to be less of a myth and more substantial given the facts from the Lowell case. We are given evidence that Chinese-Americans excel academically, a quality that fits the image of the model minority. The strong response by the Chinese-American community to the unfair admissions policy shows the importance of education to Chinese-Americans, an aspect of Chinese culture that traces its origins to Confucianism. The fact that education is important to Chinese-Americans is apparent.
What is more interesting to me is the Chinese-American community's response. Chinese-Americans were extremely vocal in protesting Lowell's admissions policy. A group of Chinese-Americans also filed a lawsuit against the school district to remove the 40 to 45 percent restrictions on ethnicity. Chinese-Americans (and Chinese in American) have had a long history of taking legal action as a response to discrimination, racism, etc., but the perception still exists of Chinese-Americans (and of Asians in general) being relatively quiet and passive.
It would be easier to attribute such activism to a handful of atypical, outspoken activists operating outside of the larger community, but the fact is that the Chinese-American parents were perhaps the most outspoken protesters. This appears to be indicative of a more modern/Western attitude among Chinese-Americans, one that encourages speaking up for one's rights, becoming more politically active and socially aware, and using the law to help one's cause rather than being afraid of it.
The Lowell case can also have more subtle reverberations that may negatively affect Chinese-Americans. The statistics that give evidence to the academic prowess of Chinese-Americans may serve to set unfairly high standards for these students, not only at Lowell but at all schools in general. The achievements of Chinese-Americans may also be thought of on a merely academic basis, given the perceptions that these statistics appear to instill/ reinforce/propagate. Those who try excel in non-academic fields may not be given the same consideration and respect that they would have received in a more academic field. I guess I'm afraid of Chinese-Americans being pigeon-holed into prescribed societal and vocational niches, making it difficult for them to gain acceptance, respect, and success in other areas.
The situation also created some conflict and polarization between parents and students of different ethnicities. Chinese-Americans were penalized under the old ethnic/tiered system for their academic excellence while others benefited. Chinese-American parents complained and often felt resentment towards white/black/latino students who were accepted instead of their children. The change to the new system of a single admissions standard drew protests from parents whose children would have been accepted under the old standard but not under the new, most of them being white/black/latino. This creates a situation of racial polarization out of an issue which is does not contain the diametrical opposition of races at the heart of the matter. The real issue is, I think, the admissions procedure and how it is decided which students are admitted, the problem being the focus on ethnicity as a factor rather than achievement and merit. This is beginning to sound like a prelude to a discussion about affirmative action, but I do not wish to entangle myself in such a touchy issue, especially since I do not have an opinion of any great conviction as to the matter, and because there is not the time nor the space to properly discuss it. The large emphasis on race and ethnicity stems from the desire for diversity, the 40 to 45 percent limitations set on any ethnic group. I do not have any answers as to how best to solve the situation so that all parties receive equal treatment, but I believe it may have to do with balancing diversity and opportunity with achievement and results.
When the skin is peeled back from the Lowell controversy, I believe that what lies in the center of it all is race and human nature. There will always be the issue of race so long as people continue to differentiate themselves along ethnic lines. The differential treatment of people along such visible lines creates controversy because it is only natural to do so. Perhaps in the future if/when all races are amalgamated so that we are not judged by the color of our skin nor so much by who/what we look like, and if Lowell High School is still standing when this day comes, admission will hinge solely on one's merits, performance, and opportunity, since the concept of race no longer exists. I doubt human nature will change at all.