Everyone in our region and many beyond has heard of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ). A public magnet school in Fairfax County, Va., it is always rated among the top 10 or 20 high schools in the nation — and it packs off scads of students to the most selective colleges every year. Admission is highly competitive. Last year, more than 2,500 eighth-graders applied for 485 seats in the freshman class.
It was considered front-page news in this week's Washington Post that for the first time, TJ's incoming class will have a plurality of Asian-Americans at 45 percent. White students will comprise 42 percent, while African-American and Hispanic students will make up two percent each (the rest are called "other"). All students in Fairfax County (and some in surrounding regions) are eligible to apply, and the corresponding ethnic percentages in the county are white (67.9 percent), black (9.9 percent), Asian (15.9 percent), and Hispanic (12.9 percent). These ethnic categories are not hard and fast. The Hispanic category, for example, can include people of any skin color providing their ancestry is from the Spanish-speaking world. And a certain number of students at Thomas Jefferson (bless them) decline to identify themselves ethnically at all.
But in these touchy times, this sort of news is bound to ruffle feathers. The Post story suggests that the Fairfax County School Board is planning to review the school's admission policy. A spokesman told me that they are always reviewing their admission criteria.
There are periodic complaints that too few blacks and Hispanics are admitted, and now perhaps some members of the white majority will whine that more of their darlings should be offered those plum spots. The game of racial and ethnic spoils has no rules and no limits. If it's a contest of who can shout the loudest or apply the most pressure, there is no logical end of the corruption that is possible.
As a parent of white male students in Fairfax County, I've had occasion to size up the competition. Attending the awards ceremony in the spring at our high school (not TJ) for example, the Asian students carried off a huge number of the awards in nearly all subjects and completely flattened everyone else in math and science. It's so unfair. These Asian students, some of whom only arrived in this country within the past 10 years, combine natural ability with prodigious work habits. As Stephen and Abigail Thernstrom reported in their book "No Excuses," "Only a quarter of white students in middle school spend more than an hour daily on homework, but half of all Asian-American children do so." The authors quote an Asian immigrant child as explaining, "Every day (our parents) tell us 'Obey your teachers. Do your schoolwork. Stay out of trouble. You're there to learn, not to fight. Keep trying harder. Keep pushing yourself. Do your homework. After you have done that you can watch TV.'"
And how does America reward these hard-working students? We've erected barriers to their advancement. At every level of higher education, informal quotas keep the number of Asian students down.
To find out more about Mona Charen and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
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Great article Mona.
Have you perhaps ever heard of Stuyvesant High School in New York City? My alma mater (circa mid 90's) and strikingly similar to the school you refer to in Fairfax county. The numbers at my school were even more skewed in the way you speak:
60% Asian
30% White
2% Black & Hispanic
8% Other (Ditto: bless their hearts. I myself always identitfied as an other too...)
Stuyvesant consistently ranks as one of, if not the top schools in the country. Entrance is based strictly on an exam (covering math, reading, writing, logic, etc...) and determines whether a prospective student gains entrance to one of NYC's three "specialty" high schools (Bronx Science & Brooklyn Tech being the other two lower on the tier, good schools as well).
Literally tens of thousands of NYC 8th graders take this exam and they only accept approximately 700 people. It has nothing to do with grades, recommendations, money, lineage, neighborhood, class, race, gender (Stuyvesant is actually 55-60% Female typically, in case anyone cares). It's strictly if you can excel on this skills test (or not).
We can debate the value of a single test being so important or recognize that not everyone is a good test taker (but may still be a good student). I think that can be put aside for the moment however and we can say that "merit" is the true goal of these top high schools. If it just so happens that Asians or females or whomever work harder, study harder, learn to take tests... then they deserve and have earned a chance at top flight (and incidentally free) education.
Quit whining and study indeed!
Get your kids off the computers, TV's, games, etc... and put a darn book in their hand. I didn't come from a rich family (or even middle class frankly), but I was encouraged to have a love of the written word from a young age. It started with the Daily News sports section (biggest 4 year old Yankee fan of course, but where you start is irrelevant) and continued with books such as the Narnia series, Judy Bloom, Beverly Clearly, et al.. til I was 11 years old, locked in a room (by choice) polishing off Stephen King's The Stand.
I dont relate that to impress anyone, but rather I truly believe that if our kids read, our country succeeds. It opens up all the doors, gives you all the keys... and is pretty handy when taking scantronic bubbles tests too (hint, 2 answers are almost always obviously wrong).
Reading is power, reading is fundamental. Whether its math, science, art, history, gym (ok, not gym maybe) it's a gift that'll serve you all your life.
If some groups are underrepresented at these particular public schools, then we should take steps to improve circumstances in those communitys. Not lower the bar on merit. "Elite" is a dirty word in today's political climate, but none the less, elite is a good thing and should always remain where it belongs: at the top.
The only question is can we get most or all of our kids there? I think yes... just ask the Japanese, Korean and Chinese kids who typically dominate our merit institutions.
Thanks again for the interesting read Mona, keep it up!
Cheers,
Matt Biondo
NYC
Comment: #1
Posted by: Matt
Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:58 AM
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