Asians too good at school, Maclean’s says
Posted on 10. Nov, 2010 by Anupa in Canada, Race, Toronto
Here’s a good one from ParentCentral.ca:
With a staggering 72 per cent of Toronto’s Chinese-Canadian students applying to university compared to 42 per cent of those born in Canada, some are starting to ask if Canadian universities are becoming “too Asian,” according to the article in Maclean’s 20th annual university guide, on newsstands Thursday.
Is this promoting stereotypes or bringing cultural realities out into the open? Also, there’s no definition for what “Asian” or “East Asian” means until later in the article, when the author specifies Chinese and Korean. Are you Chinese or Korean? Do you think schools are becoming too Asian? Would you prefer it that way? Do you think that conferences put on by Chinese-Canadian educators will make a difference?
I’d also like to point out this:
Of some 20 per cent of Toronto public high school students of east Asian background, fully 85 per cent of their parents say they expect their children to go to university, according to a 2008 TDSB survey, compared to 78 per cent of South Asian parents, 59 per cent of white parents and 49 per cent of black parents.
78 per cent is just as high as 85 per cent, and less than half is more than the cusp of a problem. Let’s address attitudes toward post-secondary education in all of Toronto’s immigrant communities.
Jef
Nov 10th, 2010
Does “east Asian” really need defining? Serious question, it’s a pretty clear term to me.
And is 78 per cent really just as high as 85 per cent? Ask an east Asian parent. (*bike horn*)
Re: your last sentence, I think these articles ARE an attempt to address this issue more evenly across the different communities. There have been lots of articles about poor performance/interest/engagement regarding black kids and post-secondary (and even secondary) school systems. It’s rarer that we see a story like this about the bigger slice of the pie chart.
Sometime, I’d like to see a piece about our ethnic white communities. I know that’s an even vaguer term than east Asian, but growing up in the neighbourhood I did, I’m interested in knowing the stats on, say, Portuguese. Which could even extend to the Portuguese-speaking diaspora — Brazilians, East/West Africans.
A good number of my Italian friends from childhood went straight to work from high school, or did the college route (aka community college in the States), according to my extensive Facebook research. A lot of them did quite well for themselves that way, starting businesses, joining family businesses. The idea that ethnic whites are blue collar is every bit assumed as much as east Asians going to Uni…if anyone’s read/written a piece looking at that stuff, send a link.
Anupa
Nov 10th, 2010
I mean, the only confusion it begets is that the article later refers specifically to Chinese and Korean. So Japanese kids don’t feel the same pressure? Mongolian?
And yes, good point about ethnic white communities. Which is actually something I was implying by using the term “immigrant” communities instead of minority or visible minority (aside from the fact that I dislike those terms).
Simon
Nov 10th, 2010
I enjoy the fact “Asians” and “smart asians” are separate tags.
To me, isn’t the lead of this story really “only 59% of white parents and 49% of black parents expect children to attend university”?
Isn’t that something more worth exploring than why every campus food court now sells sushi?
Last I checked the problem was kids not getting enough education. I am, frankly, the least bit worried about the ones who get too much or get educated in a field they don’t love with all their hearts.
Dust
Nov 10th, 2010
Is this promoting stereotypes or bringing cultural realities out into the open? I think it does both. I’m sure the article reinforces stereotypes where they exist, but at the same time, the stats do reveal some facts about our community’s demographics.
I find the idea that something can become “too asian” offensive and inherently racist. Canadian culture values and promotes diversity over assimilation. The idea that something can be ‘too asian’ implies that there should be a limit on diversity. I say simply allow the competition in the application process to determine who is offered admission in Universities. Recently we learned that women outnumber men in post-secondary institutions. Would it be okay to say that there are too many women in Universities?
I don’t see a problem in our universities. Give it a generation. I’m sure there will be a demographic shift and everyone will find another race to hate on.
-d
Canadian
Nov 10th, 2010
This bothers me:
“With a staggering 72 per cent of Toronto’s Chinese-Canadian students applying to university compared to 42 per cent of those born in Canada, some are starting to ask if Canadian universities are becoming “too Asian.””
Does that mean that I’m not Canadian?! I was born and raised in Canada, and I’m Chinese….
anon
Nov 11th, 2010
The Macleans article was since taken down but you can read the text here:
http://www.ehdtstudios.com/2010/11/too-asian-canada-macleansca.html
Jef
Nov 11th, 2010
Anupa: Actually, the mention of Chinese and Koreans wasn’t about pressure, it was tied to the groups being xenophobic or whatever. That could have been some lazy paraphrasing on the writer’s part. Or it could have been on purpose — Japanese-Canadians are known for their high inter-racial marriage stats, and Mongolians etc don’t really have a large enough community here to be considered “keeping to themselves.”
But yeah, take your pick: it’s lazy, or it’s dumb. It’s not like people look at groups of white university students and wonder why they choose to hang out with each other. Is U of T too Asian, or is Queen’s too white? That whole angle of the Maclean’s piece is stupid.
Simon: “Last I checked the problem was kids not getting enough education.” Definitely a fair point, but the idea that too much parental/cultural pressure on kids can be harmful isn’t something I think should be totally dismissed. Especially coming from a parenting newswire.
Dust: Word. (p.s. At a glance I thought you wrote “everyone will find another race to HIT on,” which was funny.)
Canadian: I feel you.
‘Too White?’: the Maclean’s magazine archives | The Ashcan
Nov 11th, 2010
[...] Yesterday’s article from Maclean’s about certain universities being “Too Asian” was a lot of fun, wasn’t it? Even Jezebel got in on it. It seemed like the mag’s website even took the offending article down sometime last night, but don’t worry, it’s back. Because you can’t take fun like that away from us! [...]