Asian American parents in California are protesting against the state as it rolls out policies forcing school districts to abandon their merit-based admissions processes in favor of a "diversity lottery" system. They say that this might cause their children to b turned away from top-performing schools in favor of affirmative action policies.
The Asian American parents who have spoken out about this say that California and its progressives have declared war on Asians, the concept of meritocracy and Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) education.
Places all over California are already beginning to end meritocratic admissions processes. The San Francisco Board of Education, for example, voted to remove this longstanding merit-based process at Lowell High School. Board president Mark Sanchez said that the new system was being implemented due to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but many parents of the school's students do not believe it.
Members of the board said that merit-based admissions is "illegal" and even an "inherently racist construct" that is supposedly designed and centered around a "White supremacist framing." Board Vice President Gabriela Lopez even said that Lowell's supposedly racist attitudes are something that they need to handle for the long-term.
Over 60 percent of all the students at Lowell are of Asian descent. Eighteen percent are White, 11 percent Hispanic, 8 percent of two or more races. African Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Alaskan Natives constitute the remaining two percent of the school's population.
This ethnic distribution is apparently violating Lowell's diversity requirements, which demand that the school represent the ethnic proportions of the neighborhood it caters to. This would mean a massive reduction in the school's Asian American population in favor of letting in more White, Hispanic and African American students.
"The diversity dogma, which is not law, fails to account for personal differences, effort and choice," said Independent Institute writer K. Lloyd Billingsley. "With those factors in play, statistical disparities will be the rule, not the exception." (Related: Proposition 16: California voters reject proposition legalizing affirmative action.)
One African American parent tried to justify the new measure by calling Asians "stupid."
"Black people can't catch up technologically because the 'stupid Asians' are keeping Black people down out of fear they'd be overtaken," said the parent.
Asian American parents protest against Lowell High School
The African American parent's remarks were said during a protest staged by Asian Americans against Lowell's decision to scrap the admissions process, according to alternative news website Asian Dawn.
In an emotionally-influenced outburst, an Asian American parent responded: "Trust me, you'll never catch up. If you need to lower standards to get in, you'll never beat us." This almost caused the verbal altercation to develop into a physical one.
Another Asian parent yelled, "First you blame White people, now you blame us? Grow up! Study harder or go home!"
"I don't understand what merit has to do with racism," said Andrew Tang, a graduate of the San Francisco Unified School District. "Merit is all about individual abilities."
Oscar Davidorf, an eighth-grader at Lowell, said that he worked very hard to achieve the grades that he had. "I feel like my rights are being violated," he said.
Other students said that Lowell's very high standards played a major role in their future ability to get into a good university and do well in their respective careers.
Lowell, which by many accounts is considered the most sought-after high school in San Francisco due to its formerly prestigious merit-based admissions and high standards of retention. If Lowell decides to continue with this diversity lottery-based admissions system, it may see its records fall dramatically.
Furthermore, it may even be caught in violation of California's hard-won ban on affirmative action policies, which went into effect back in 1996.
Learn more about the many different policies being implemented by state and local governments in California that are causing many of its residents to turn away from the Golden State by reading the latest articles at Collapsifornia.com.
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