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–[Macleans]<\/strong>\u2018Too Asian\u2019?
\n–[Toronto Star]<\/strong> Asian students suffering for success (Asian students being forced into university: Maclean\u2019s)
\n–[National Post]<\/strong> Tasha Kheiriddin: Asian students have something to teach
\n–[Toronto Life]<\/strong> Maclean\u2019s asks if U of T is \u201ctoo Asian\u201d
\n–[CityNews.ca]<\/strong> College Culture Shift: Is There Resentment On Campus?<\/strong>
\n–[VANCOUVER NEWS1130]<\/strong> Report: Students avoid colleges they think are “too Asian”, Students say it’s not about racism
\n–[Toronto Star]<\/strong> Chinese Canadian Council slams The Star and Maclean\u2019s for story about east Asians on campus<\/p>\n

\n

too_asian.jpg
\n(PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW TOLSON\/ SIMON HAYTER)<\/p>\n

Too Asian\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada
\nBy Stephanie Findlay and Nicholas Kohler | November 10th, 2010 | 9:55 am<\/p>\n

A term used in the U.S. to talk about racial imbalance at Ivy league schools is now being whispered on Canadian campuses. <\/p>\n

When Alexandra and her friend Rachel, both graduates of Toronto\u2019s Havergal College, an all-girls private school, were deciding which university to go to, they didn\u2019t even bother considering the University of Toronto. \u201cThe only people from our school who went to U of T were Asian,\u201d explains Alexandra, a second-year student who looks like a girl from an Aritzia billboard. \u201cAll the white kids,\u201d she says, \u201cgo to Queen\u2019s, Western and McGill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexandra eventually chose the University of Western Ontario. Her younger brother, now a high school senior deciding where he\u2019d like to go, will head \u201ceither east, west or to McGill\u201d\u2014unusual academic options, but in keeping with what he wants from his university experience. \u201cEast would suit him because it\u2019s chill, out west he could be a ski bum,\u201d says Alexandra, who explains her little brother wants to study hard, but is also looking for a good time\u2014which rules out U of T, a school with an academic reputation that can be a bit of a killjoy.<\/p>\n

Or, as Alexandra puts it\u2014she asked that her real name not be used in this article, and broached the topic of race at universities hesitantly\u2014a \u201creputation of being Asian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussing the role that race plays in the self-selecting communities that more and more characterize university campuses makes many people uncomfortable. Still, an \u201cAsian\u201d school has come to mean one that is so academically focused that some students feel they can no longer compete or have fun. Indeed, Rachel, Alexandra and her brother belong to a growing cohort of student that\u2019s eschewing some big-name schools over perceptions that they\u2019re \u201ctoo Asian.\u201d It\u2019s a term being used in some U.S. academic circles to describe a phenomenon that\u2019s become such a cause for concern to university admissions officers and high school guidance counsellors that several elite universities to the south have faced scandals in recent years over limiting Asian applicants and keeping the numbers of white students artificially high.<\/p>\n

Although university administrators here are loath to discuss the issue, students talk about it all the time. \u201cToo Asian\u201d is not about racism, say students like Alexandra: many white students simply believe that competing with Asians\u2014both Asian Canadians and international students\u2014requires a sacrifice of time and freedom they\u2019re not willing to make. They complain that they can\u2019t compete for spots in the best schools and can\u2019t party as much as they\u2019d like (too bad for them, most will say). Asian kids, meanwhile, say they are resented for taking the spots of white kids. \u201cAt graduation a Canadian\u2014i.e. \u2018white\u2019\u2014mother told me that I\u2019m the reason her son didn\u2019t get a space in university and that all the immigrants in the country are taking up university spots,\u201d says Frankie Mao, a 22-year-old arts student at the University of British Columbia. \u201cI knew it was wrong, being generalized in this category,\u201d says Mao, \u201cbut f\u2013k, I worked hard for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Asian students work harder is a fact born out by hard data. They tend to be strivers, high achievers and single-minded in their approach to university. Stephen Hsu, a physics prof at the University of Oregon who has written about the often subtle forms of discrimination faced by Asian-American university applicants, describes them as doing \u201cdisproportionately well\u2014they tend to have high SAT scores, good grades in high school, and a lot of them really want to go to top universities.\u201d In Canada, say Canadian high school guidance counsellors, that means the top-tier post-secondary institutions with international profiles specializing in math, science and business: U of T, UBC and the University of Waterloo. White students, by contrast, are more likely to choose universities and build their school lives around social interaction, athletics and self-actualization\u2014and, yes, alcohol. When the two styles collide, the result is separation rather than integration.<\/p>\n

The dilemma is this: Canadian institutions operate as pure meritocracies when it comes to admissions, and admirably so. Privately, however, many in the education community worry that universities risk becoming too skewed one way, changing campus life\u2014a debate that\u2019s been more or less out in the open in the U.S. for years but remains muted here. And that puts Canadian universities in a quandary. If they openly address the issue of race they expose themselves to criticisms that they are pro\ufb01ling and committing an injustice. If they don\u2019t, Canada\u2019s universities, far from the cultural mosaics they\u2019re supposed to be\u2014oases of dialogue, mutual understanding and diversity\u2014risk becoming places of many solitudes, deserts of non-communication. It\u2019s a tough question to have to think about.<\/p>\n

Asian-Canadian students are far more likely to talk about and assert their ethnic identities than white students. \u201cI\u2019m Asian,\u201d says 21-year-old Susie Su, a third-year student at UBC\u2019s Sauder School of Business. \u201cI do have traditional Asian parents. I feel the pressure of finding a good job and raising a good family.\u201d That pressure helps shape more than just the way Su handles study and school assignments; it shapes the way she interacts with her colleagues. \u201cIf I feel like it\u2019s going to be an event where it\u2019s all white people, I probably wouldn\u2019t want to go,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of just drinking. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t like white people. But you tend to hang out with people of the same race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catherine Costigan, a psychology assistant prof at the University of Victoria, says it\u2019s unsurprising that Asian students are segregated from \u201cmainstream\u201d campus life. She cites studies that show Chinese youth are bullied more than their non-Asian peers. As a so-called \u201cmodel minority,\u201d they are more frequently targeted because of being \u201ctoo smart\u201d and \u201cteachers\u2019 pets.\u201d To counter peer ostracism and resentment, Costigan says Chinese students reaffirm their ethnicity.<\/p>\n

The value of education has been drilled into Asian students by their parents, likely for cultural and socio-economic reasons. \u201cIt\u2019s often described that Asians are the new Jews,\u201d says Jon Reider, director of college counselling at San Francisco University High School and a former Stanford University admissions officer. \u201cThat in the face of discrimination, what you do is you study. And there\u2019s a long tradition in Chinese culture, for example, going back to Confucius, of social mobility based on merit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demographics contribute to the high degree of academic success among Asian-Canadian students. \u201cOur highly selective immigration process means that we get many highly educated parents, so they have similar aspirations for their children,\u201d says Robert Sweet, a retired Lakehead University education prof who has studied the parenting styles of immigrants as they relate to education. Sweet\u2019s latest study, \u201cPost-high school pathways of immigrant youth,\u201d released last month, found that more than 70 per cent of students in the Toronto District School Board who immigrated from East Asia went on to university, compared to 52 per cent of Europeans, the next highest group, and 12 per cent of Caribbean, the lowest. This is in contrast to English-speaking Toronto students born in Canada\u2014of which just 42 per cent confirmed admission to university.<\/p>\n

Diane Bondy, a recently retired Ottawa-area guidance counsellor, notes that by the end of her 20-year career, competition among some Asian parents had reached a fever pitch. \u201cAsian parents do their homework and the students are going to U of T or they\u2019re going to Queen\u2019s,\u201d says Bondy, who points out that \u201cAsians get more support from their parents financially and academically.\u201d She also observed that the focus on academics was often to the exclusion of social interaction. \u201cThe kids were getting 98 per cent but they didn\u2019t have other skills,\u201d she says. \u201cTheir parents would come in and write in the resum\u00e9 letters that they were in clubs. But the kids weren\u2019t able to do anything in those clubs because they were academically focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students can carry that narrow scope into university, where they risk alienating their more fun-loving peers. The division is perhaps most extreme at Waterloo, where students have dubbed the MC and DC buildings\u2014the Mathematics & Computer Building and the William G. Davis Computer Research Centre, respectively\u2014\u201cmainland China\u201d and \u201cdowntown China,\u201d and where some students told Maclean\u2019s they can go for days without speaking English. Writes one Waterloo mathematics graduate on an online forum: \u201cI once had a tutorial session for the whole class where the TA got frustrated with speaking English and started giving the answer in Mandarin. A lot of the class understood his answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad said if you don\u2019t go into engineering, I won\u2019t pay your tuition,\u201d says Jason Yin, a Taiwanese software engineering student at Waterloo. \u201cThey are very traditional. They believe school is about work, studying, go home and studying some more.\u201d Hard-studying Waterloo lends itself particularly to those goals. \u201cWe had a problem getting students out of their bedrooms,\u201d says Nikki Best, a former residence don who sits on Waterloo\u2019s student government, who explains they \u201cdidn\u2019t want to get behind in their grades because of coming out to social events.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say Asian students form any sort of monolithic presence on Canadian campuses. \u201cThe mainland China group tends to stick together,\u201d says Anthony Wong, 19, a Waterloo software engineering student. \u201cWe can talk to them,\u201d says Jonathan Ing, also 19 and in Waterloo\u2019s software engineering program, \u201cbut we don\u2019t mingle.\u201d Complains Waterloo student Simon Wang, a Chinese national who is frustrated by the segregation at Waterloo: \u201cWhy bother to come to Canada and pay five times as much to speak Chinese?\u201d Meanwhile, Calgarian Joyce Chau identifies as \u201ccompletely whitewashed,\u201d a \u201cbanana\u201d: \u201cI look Asian but I\u2019m white in all other respects.\u201d Chau, a 19-year-old UBC business student, lived in residence her first year, where she met the majority of her (white) friends. \u201cIt\u2019s harder to integrate into a group with Asians\u2014you may or may not get introduced,\u201d says Chau, who accepts the segregation as just \u201cpart of the university experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such balkanization is reflected in official student organizations: there is little Asian representation on student government, campus newspapers or college radio stations. At UBC, where the student body is roughly 40 per cent Asian, not one Asian sits on the student executive. Same goes for Waterloo. Asian students do, however, participate in organizations beyond the university mainstream, and long-standing cultural clubs function as a sort of ad hoc government. \u201cAfter you graduate you won\u2019t care about student government, but you\u2019ll care about your club,\u201d says Stan He, president of the Dragon Seed Connection, an on-campus Chinese club with over 300 members. (His business cards feature both dragon and robot motifs.) The Dragon Seed offers its members social functions, tutoring help, volunteer opportunities, poker and mah-jong tournaments, and special holiday parties\u2014including at Halloween and Christmas. It even has an exclusive partnership with Solid Entertainment, a promotions and events-planning company that sponsors massive fundraising events and gives Dragon Seed exclusive selling rights on campus. He says that the dozen or so Asian clubs at UBC serve well over 4,000 students and cater to the whole spectrum of cultural identification\u2014from \u201cwhitewashed\u201d to \u201cHonger,\u201d a once-pejorative term now adopted by students with Hong Kong backgrounds. The Dragon Seed lies somewhere in between\u2014\u201cWe\u2019re the middle ground,\u201d He says. \u201cWe have international students, but we all speak English.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or take the Chinese Varsity Club. With upwards of 500 members, it\u2019s the largest student social club at UBC. The executives say they\u2019ve captured a niche market: Chinese commuter students from the outlying Richmond, Burnaby and North Vancouver communities who hope to find a social network at the big school. \u201cStudents from high school already hear about us from older brothers and sisters,\u201d says Peter Yang, the 21-year-old accounting student who is the club\u2019s VP external. \u201cYou want to break out of the cycle of studying and being lonely,\u201d says Brian Cheung, its president.<\/p>\n

The impact of high admissions rates for Asian students has been an issue for years in the U.S., where high school guidance counsellors have come to accept that it\u2019s just more difficult to sell their Asian applicants to elite colleges. In 2006, at its annual meeting, the National Association for College Admission Counseling explored the issue in an expert panel discussion called \u201cToo Asian?\u201d One panellist, Rachel Cederberg\u2014an Asian-American then working as an admissions official at Colorado College\u2014described fellow admissions officers complaining of \u201cyet another Asian student who wants to major in math and science and who plays the violin.\u201d A Boston Globe article early this year asked, \u201cDo colleges redline Asian-Americans?\u201d and concluded there\u2019s likely an \u201cAsian ceiling\u201d at elite U.S. universities. After California passed Proposition 209 in 1996 forbidding affirmative action in the state\u2019s public dealings, Asians soared to 40 per cent of the population at public universities, even though they make up just 13 per cent of state residents. And U.S. studies suggest Ivy League schools have taken the issue of Asian academic prowess so seriously that they\u2019ve operated with secret quotas for decades to maintain their WASP credentials.<\/p>\n

In his 2009 book No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal, Princeton University sociologist Thomas Espenshade surveyed 10 elite U.S. universities and found that Asian applicants needed an extra 140 points on their SAT scores to be on equal footing with white applicants. Scandals over such unfair admissions practices have surfaced in recent years at Stanford, Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley and elsewhere. Hsu, the Oregon physicist, draws a comparison between Asian-Americans and Jewish students who began arriving at the Ivy League in the first half of the last century. \u201cYou can find well-documented internal discussions at places like Harvard and Yale and Princeton about why we shouldn\u2019t admit these people, they\u2019re working so hard and they\u2019re so obviously ambitious, but we want to keep our WASP pedigree here.\u201d<\/p>\n

To quell the influx of Jewish students, Ivy League schools abandoned their meritocratic admissions processes in favour of one that focused on the details of an applicant\u2019s private life\u2014questions about race, religion, even about the maiden name of an applicant\u2019s mother. Schools also began looking at such intangibles as character, personality and leadership potential. Canadian universities, apart from highly competitive professional programs and faculties, don\u2019t quiz applicants the same way, and rely entirely on transcripts. Likely that is a good thing. And yet, that meritocratic process results, especially in Canada\u2019s elite university programs, in a concentration of Asian students.<\/p>\n

The upshot is that race is defining Canadian university campuses in a way it did not 25 years ago. Diversity has enriched these schools, but it has also put them at risk of being increasingly fractured along ethnic lines. It\u2019s a superficial form of multiculturalism that is expressed in the main through segregated, self-selecting, discrete communities. It would behoove the leadership of our universities to recognize these issues and take them seriously. And yet, that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s not happening. Indeed, discussions with Canada\u2019s top university presidents reveal for the most part that they are in a state of denial.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a non-issue,\u201d wrote U of T president David Naylor in an email. \u201cWe\u2019ve never had a student complain about this. In fact, this is a false stereotype, as we know that Asian students are fully engaged in extracurricular activities. So the whole concept is false.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Cheryl Misak, the U of T\u2019s VP and provost, puts it: \u201cWe have a properly diverse mix, with no particular group extra prominent\u2014we\u2019re the rainbow nation and we\u2019ve got every sort of student and everyone is on merit.\u201d Waterloo president Feridun Hamdullahpur echoes a similar sentiment. \u201cThere is a great tendency in our society to learn more about other nations and other cultures,\u201d he says. \u201cUniversities are the hotbed of these kind of activities. If you want to see more economic and political diversity, I think they star.\u201d<\/p>\n

These positions arguably represent a missed opportunity. Universities have the potential of establishing real cultural change. It makes sense that the head of the Canadian university with perhaps the highest number of Asian students is the most candid and the most concerned. Indeed, Stephen Toope has, since his arrival in 2006 as UBC president, made the issue central to his agenda\u2014including outreach and newspaper op-ed pieces touting the importance of making the university campus a meeting place not only of diversity but also of dialogue.<\/p>\n

Among Canadian universities, UBC is one of the few institutions that publishes the ethnic makeup of its student body. Toope says that the university\u2019s Asian student population is not \u201cwidely out of whack with the community,\u201d although the stats tell a slightly different story. According to a 2009 UBC report on direct undergraduate entrants, 43 per cent of its students self-identify as ethnically Chinese, Korean or Japanese, as compared to 38 per cent who self-identify as white. Although Vancouver is a richly diverse city, according to data from the 2006 census, just 21.5 per cent of its residents identify as a Chinese, Korean or Japanese visible minority.<\/p>\n

Toope says drawing the various communities present on Canadian campuses into a common medium can be challenging. \u201cAcross Canada it isn\u2019t always the case that you\u2019re seeing as much engagement from the new communities as perhaps we should,\u201d he says. Toope uses the experience of Turkish immigrants in Germany as a cautionary tale\u2014\u201cthere are groups that never find a way to participate in the broader community.\u201d Such circumstances persist precisely because the issue of race is not attacked head on. \u201cI don\u2019t want to pretend that just because you have people from different backgrounds they\u2019re going to interact\u2014they\u2019re not,\u201d Toope says. \u201cWe have to actually create mechanisms, programs and opportunities for people to interact. A university is one of the places that has the greatest capacity to work through demographic change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toope points us in the right direction. It\u2019s unfair to change the meritocratic entry system, so all universities can do\u2014all they should do\u2014is encourage groups to mingle. Though it\u2019s true that universities\u2014U of T and Waterloo included\u2014do have diversity programs and policies for students, newer, fresher ways are needed to help pry the ethnic ghettos open so everyone hangs out together. Or at least they have the chance to. The white kids may not \ufb01nd it\u2019s too Asian after all. Alexandra, who chose to go to Western for the party scene, found she \u201chated being away from home\u201d and moved back to Toronto. In retrospect, she didn\u2019t like the vibe. \u201cSome people just want to drink 23 hours a day.\u201d Alexandra says she still has friends at Western who live in an \u201call-blond house\u201d and are \u201cstick thin.\u201d Rachel, Alexandra\u2019s friend, says Western suits them\u2014\u201cthey work hard, get good grades, then slap on their clubbing clothes.\u201d But it didn\u2019t suit Alexandra. She now studies at U of T.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www2.macleans.ca\/2010\/11\/10\/too-asian\/<\/p>\n

\n

Asian students suffering for success<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published On Wed Nov 10 2010<\/p>\n

Louise Brown, Education Reporter <\/p>\n

Long admired for raising academic superstars, parents of Asian background are coming under fire from their own community for pushing their children into university programs for which many have no real interest or talent and often quit in distress.<\/p>\n

At a recent conference hosted by and for the GTA\u2019s Asian community, Chinese-Canadian educators and professionals warned some 300 parents in Mandarin, Cantonese and English to stop giving their children no other choice than professional courses such as engineering, medicine, accounting or pharmacy \u2014 programs for which some are so ill-equipped and uninterested they drop out, fail, get suspended for cheating or suffer depression and acute anxiety.<\/p>\n

And this growing Asian presence on campus is sparking concerns about the cultural balance within Canada\u2019s ivory tower, according to a report in Maclean\u2019s magazine\u2019s latest university rankings, released Wednesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is such extreme pressure from immigrant parents on children, especially east Asian, that many of them collapse under the pressure \u2014 it\u2019s shocking,\u201d said conference co-chair Maria Yau, research coordinator with the Toronto District School Board, who moved to Canada in 1995 from Hong Kong. Her son is bucking the trend by studying liberal arts at Niagara College in hopes of becoming a kindergarten teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe east Asian community needs a wake-up call that we know won\u2019t be popular,\u201d said Yau. \u201cEven though our children always seem to have high enough marks to get into university, the hidden truth is that they don\u2019t always have the independence or social skills to survive once they\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a staggering 72 per cent of Toronto\u2019s 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 \u201ctoo Asian,\u201d according to the article in Maclean\u2019s 20th annual university guide, on newsstands Thursday. <\/p>\n

While acknowledging the topic may seem racist, Maclean\u2019s suggests the growing profile of students of Asian heritage on many campuses is fuelling resentment among some non-Asian students and even concerns among some university administrators about the demographic make-up of their student bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn \u2018Asian\u2019 school has come to mean one that is so academically focused that some students feel they can no longer compete or have fun,\u201d the article says, quoting non-Asian high school students who say they wouldn\u2019t choose the University of Toronto because it\u2019s largely Asian. <\/p>\n

U of T provost Cheryl Misak told the Star she finds such comments \u201crather alarming, and I am heartened they have not surfaced in any substantial way at the U of T.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article quotes non-Asian undergraduates complaining their Chinese and Korean classmates don\u2019t mingle with others \u2014 a charge conference co-chair Nicole Wong reluctantly admits rings true. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our young people get good enough marks to get into university, but they have low confidence and no friends to talk to and no way to express their feelings and no connection outside their community,\u201d said the founder of Markham-based Across U-Hub, a group that promotes activities to encourage Asian youth to get to know people of other backgrounds. <\/p>\n

The group co-hosted the conference \u201cEast Asian Parents: Multiple Pathways to Success.\u201d Chinese-Canadian professors, educators and professionals urged parents to let their children consider community college, skilled trades or even liberal studies at university.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In contrast, east Asians have the lowest rate of attendance at community college \u2014 only 8 per cent, compared to 14 per cent for Canadian-born. <\/p>\n

Yau said it\u2019s not \u201cnatural\u201d for any group to have so many students heading for university. \u201cCan they really all be qualified or emotionally ready for that kind of learning?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wong notes the Confucian tradition of respect for hard work and obedience \u201coften overlooks creative skills and leadership and social skills. The focus on studying makes problems for our youth; if they get 95 per cent, parents will ask what happened to the other five per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sociology professor Eric Fong told parents at the conference the east Asian students he teaches at the University of Toronto tend to memorize the textbook but rarely speak up in class. \u201cYes, they get good marks, but that is all I know about them,\u201d which makes it tough to write letters of reference. He urged parents to encourage their children to reach beyond their social circles to get to know classmates and professors.<\/p>\n

Recent university student Vivian Lo told the conference she had studied medicine, only to hit a bleak job market so she took a job in reporting that led to college studies in architecture that landed her a government job she loves assessing the architecture of medical buildings.<\/p>\n

To the parents she said, \u201cThere is nothing to lose in trying new things.\u201d <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/article\/888368–asian-students-being-forced-into-university-maclean-s<\/p>\n

\n

Tasha Kheiriddin: Asian students have something to teach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tasha Kheiriddin November 11, 2010 \u2013 2:58 pm <\/p>\n

Recently, two articles focusing on students of Asian background , one in the Toronto Star, the other in Maclean\u2019s magazine, have caused controversy among academic and social circles alike.<\/p>\n

The reports discussed the fact that these students are academically outperforming their non-Asian peers and gaining greater representation in Canadian universities. The Chinese Canadian Council slammed the pieces for \u201cfear mongering\u201d and stoking an \u201cus versus them\u201d mentality, because they cited concerns some students and university administrators had about this trend.<\/p>\n

While the press should not shy away from reporting any issue, whether it involves race or not, the question then becomes what \u2013 if anything \u2013 will be done with the information presented. In the last century, data on the percentages of Jewish students in universities was used to justify admissions quotas, designed to reduce their presence. This resulted in rampant discrimination: for example, Jewish enrolment at McGill University declined from 25% to 12% of the student body between 1925 and 1935. South of the border, Ivy League schools used questions about an applicant\u2019s private life to screen for \u201cJewishness\u201d \u2013 and restrict their admissions as well.<\/p>\n

The same risk now applies to students from Asian backgrounds. The Maclean\u2019s piece documents the existence of restrictive admissions practices in the United States: according to a survey of 10 elite American universities by Princeton University sociologist Thomas Espenshade, Asian applicants already need an extra 140 points on their SAT scores to be on equal footing with white applicants. The magazine notes that to date, Canadian universities do not discriminate in this way. But with many schools seeking to create a \u201cmulticultural\u201d atmosphere on campus, the possibility of quotas entering the picture should not be ignored.<\/p>\n

The answer isn\u2019t to fear or restrict Asian Canadians students, it is to emulate them \u2013 and their families\u2019 emphasis on education. Parents involved in their kids\u2019 schooling? Caring about their career choices? Pushing them to succeed? Good for them. If all parents invested as much time and money in their kids\u2019 future, the state wouldn\u2019t need to fund early childhood intervention programs, or dream up new schemes for educational daycare, to compensate for a lack of stimulation at home. Schools would have higher standards, as parents would demand more of them. And kids would be less likely to get into trouble, since they would spend more time with their books instead of at the mall or in front of a Playstation.<\/p>\n

Sure, parents shouldn\u2019t do their kids\u2019 homework for them, but they should supervise it, to make sure it actually gets done. And yes, kids should be involved in more than just academics \u2013 sports, music, the arts, student affairs \u2013 but there is no sign that Asian students forego all outside interests in favour of studying. Andy Mark, executive director of the Chinese Canadian council in Toronto, made this observation: \u201cthe trouble with (the Toronto Star) article is that is portrays Asians as academic-based automotons, learning machines that won\u2019t interact with anything but a book. But no one is capable of that in four years of university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participation in campus life involves more than just going to class. But it also involves less of what many university students are regrettably known for: binge drinking and hard partying. Instead of griping that Asian kids get the top spots in school, parents and children of other backgrounds \u2013 European, Indian, Caribbean, and others \u2013 should buckle down and hit the books.<\/p>\n

National Post<\/p>\n

http:\/\/fullcomment.nationalpost.com\/2010\/11\/11\/tasha-kheiriddin-asian-students-have-something-to-teach\/<\/p>\n

\n

Maclean\u2019s asks if U of T is \u201ctoo Asian\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

by John Michael McGrath November 10, 2010 at 5:03 pm <\/p>\n

Apparently, the arrival of excellent students is a problem in Canada\u2019s universities. The 20th edition of Maclean\u2019s University Guide issue hits newsstands tomorrow, asking, among other things, whether Canada\u2019s top post-secondary institutions are being disrupted by an influx of high-achieving, hard-working students. This would normally not be a controversy, but the weekly magazine is focused on one kind of student (those of Asian descent) and one university (University of Toronto).<\/p>\n

When Alexandra and her friend Rachel, both graduates of Toronto\u2019s Havergal College, an all-girls private school, were deciding which university to go to, they didn\u2019t even bother considering the University of Toronto. \u201cThe only people from our school who went to U of T were Asian,\u201d explains Alexandra, a second-year student who looks like a girl from an Aritzia billboard. \u201cAll the white kids,\u201d she says, \u201cgo to Queen\u2019s, Western and McGill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexandra eventually chose the University of Western Ontario. Her younger brother, now a high school senior deciding where he\u2019d like to go, will head \u201ceither east, west or to McGill\u201d\u2014unusual academic options, but in keeping with what he wants from his university experience. \u201cEast would suit him because it\u2019s chill, out west he could be a ski bum,\u201d says Alexandra, who explains her little brother wants to study hard, but is also looking for a good time\u2014which rules out U of T, a school with an academic reputation that can be a bit of a killjoy.<\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t aware of U of T\u2019s reputation as a killjoy, what with the high density of bars and clubs a short distance from the downtown campus.<\/p>\n

The article isn\u2019t entirely about U of T; Waterloo and UBC also get mentions as hard-working schools where white kids just can\u2019t keep up with those Asians. Of course, there is a nasty side to all of this. One Asian student talks about getting yelled at by a white parent for taking her son\u2019s spot in university. (Gee, multiculturalism isn\u2019t flawless\u2014stop the presses.)<\/p>\n

Part of the problem is that when discussing this stuff, it\u2019s easy to make rookie mistakes, like when the Toronto Star, bouncing off the Maclean\u2019s article, contrasts \u201cChinese-Canadians\u201d with \u201cthose born in Canada,\u201d as if many, many people weren\u2019t both. Maclean\u2019s, using the same data, was much more careful in its wording.<\/p>\n

At least nobody\u2019s gone for the cheap laugh and joked that Maclean\u2019s let Rob Ford guest-edit the university issue. Oh, wait.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.torontolife.com\/daily\/informer\/the-new-normal\/2010\/11\/10\/maclean%E2%80%99s-asks-if-u-of-t-is-%E2%80%9Ctoo-asian%E2%80%9D\/<\/p>\n

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College Culture Shift: Is There Resentment On Campus?<\/strong><\/p>\n

2010\/11\/10 | CityNews.ca Staff <\/p>\n

How much of a role does ethnicity and heritage play when a student is deciding what university to attend?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the question being asked in the new issue of Macleans magazine. <\/p>\n

The magazine examines what it says is growing resentment over the increasing number of Asian students enrolling at certain Canadian universities, like the University of Toronto, Waterloo and UBC.<\/p>\n

In U.S. academic circles, there has been an unfortunate expression \u201ctoo Asian.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some students, the feeling is they are unwilling to sacrifice campus life to go up against highly competitive Asian students.<\/p>\n

\u201cU of T is known to be very academic-based and academic-focused. The people who usually come here are very concerned about that, where maybe other ones there are also the student life and the parties,\u201d said University of Toronto student Casey Eisenberger.<\/p>\n

This article hits newsstands Friday.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.citytv.com\/toronto\/citynews\/life\/family\/article\/99708–college-culture-shift-is-there-resentment-on-campus<\/p>\n

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Report: Students avoid colleges they think are “too Asian”
\nStudents say it’s not about racism<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Ackermann Nov 10, 2010 06:59:50 AM <\/p>\n

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s getting harder to make the grade at many Canadian universities and some students think they know why. A new report in Macleans magazine suggests some campuses have become “too Asian.”<\/p>\n

Some students tell Macleans it’s not about racism, but about the fact that many white undergrads are simply unwilling to sacrifice their time, freedom, and “full university experience” to compete academically with Asian students; both those born in Canada and those who have come here from somewhere else.<\/p>\n

We spoke with an Asian student attending UBC, who admits he and his peers feel resentment. But he adds he has worked hard for his marks and his seat at the university, and feels it’s simply unfair to be categorized by race.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.news1130.com\/news\/local\/article\/127235–report-students-avoid-colleges-they-think-are-too-asian<\/p>\n

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Chinese Canadian Council slams The Star and Maclean\u2019s for story about east Asians on campus<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 10, 2010<\/p>\n

Louise Brown, DUCATION REPORTER <\/p>\n

The Chinese Canadian National Council has condemned an article in Wednesday\u2019s Toronto Star for what it calls \u201cfear mongering\u201d and stoking an \u201cus versus them\u201d mentality by citing concerns about high numbers of students of east Asian background at Canadian universities.<\/p>\n

The story referred to a report in the latest Maclean\u2019s university guide titled \u201cToo Asian?\u201d that quotes some non-Asian students\u2019 concerns that some universities have a largely Asian student body. The Star story also reported on a recent conference by and for families in Toronto\u2019s Chinese community, which encouraged parents to let their children consider options other than university, rather than focusing on professional schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can find you white parents who are pressuring their kids to go to university too \u2014 Canadians all tell their kids, \u2018Don\u2019t smoke, don\u2019t do drugs, stay in school\u2019 and they encourage them to go to university; what\u2019s wrong with that?\u201d asked the Council\u2019s executive director, Victor Wong. \u201cWhat really bothers me is the Maclean\u2019s headline, \u2018Too Asian?\u2019 What does that mean? Not Canadian?\u201d <\/p>\n

The non-profit group was formed in 1980 in response to a television documentary that warned students of Chinese background \u201ctaking over\u201d some university campuses, Wong said. <\/p>\n

Andy Mark, executive director of the council in Toronto, noted \u201cthe trouble with this article is that is portrays Asians as academic-based automotons, learning machines that won\u2019t interact with anything but a book. But no one is capable of that in four years of university.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there pressure from parents (on kids to go to university)? Probably. Is it at a higher rate (among east Asians)? Maybe \u2014 but some of the commentary in this article is definitely racist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent York University sociology graduate Chase Lo warned this kind of story \u201ccreates a moral panic but oversimplifies the issue. The push to university is reflective of society in general; it\u2019s unfair to say only Asian immigrant parents are focusing on university.\u201d <\/p>\n

Wong said he didn\u2019t want to \u201cdiscourage any public discussion of these issues and sometimes all of may push our kids too hard. But I encourage journalists to look at other streams of students and avoid stereotypes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of the concerns the Star quoted about academic pressure on students came from members of the GTA\u2019s east Asian community. <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.parentcentral.ca\/parent\/education\/article\/888848–chinese-canadian-council-slams-the-star-and-maclean-s-for-story-about-east-asians-on-campus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

–[Macleans]\u2018Too Asian\u2019? –[Toronto Star] Asian students suffering for success (Asian students being forced into university: Maclean\u2019s) &#82…
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