Why are Asian-Americans so successful in America?

But you don't blame slavery. Or Jim Crow. You think that it's been a few decades, so what the hell? Pull those bootstraps.

OK, then. It's not the fact that they got a bit of a raw deal getting started. And it's not bad DNA.

What is it then?

 

His point: "It's whitey's fault."

 

Yep.

 

How about a culture that, in 2015 no less, STILL scorns them for "turning their back" on it by succeeding (or trying to succeed)? That scorns them for trying to get the fuck away from every bad influence or every bad person they encountered along the way.

Does that happen ANYWHERE else?

 

Yes. Most middle schools in America.

Why do those attitudes exist within the African-American community? Well, it could be their bad DNA. Or it could be the fact that public policy, including slavery and Jim Crow, has placed the community in a position that shapes its attitudes regarding success and failure.

Which is it?

 

Maybe black people should spend less time singing and dancing and more time turning televisions into watches. /reggiewhite

 

Sorry, DW, you're arguing from a place of ... well, I would say ignorance, but let's go with shallowness ... here. It's a convenient tale -- we created a culture that was destined to fail -- and it certainly sparks chubbies among leftish wonks, who envision themselves creating a new and better culture. But it doesn't hold water. For starters, the culture to which you allude isn't exclusively, or even predominantly, African-American. Go hang out with some rednecks from Appalachia -- hell, watch a few episodes of Justified -- and tell me how slavery and Jim Crow led to those people living their lives that way.

 

I'm not saying that slavery and Jim Crow are the only forces that can lead a subculture into a cycle of poverty. Rural Appalachians, obviously, have had their own forces to contend with that have led them to this place. But it would be an awfully big coincidence if African-Americans trailed as they do in nearly every major and minor societal indicator, and it wasn't largely due to the fact that they began their journey in this country on a slave ship.

 

Billy Ray Cyrus schools us.

 

Jesus Fucking Christ. I. Don't. Know. And Neither. Do. You. But what I do know is that the answer is quite a bit more complex than the simple-headed black and white "slavery" or "shiftless..." either/or terms in which you've been trying to frame this discussion. Slavery does not explain why Asian kids do better academically than white kids, does it? Then what does?

And I guess the only real point of that anecdote was to suggest that cultural priorities make a difference, sometimes it's not about "pulling up the bootstraps" as much as where the bootstraps are directed. A culture that places a higher value on athletic accomplishment is probably gonna produce more athletes, one that values musical accomplishment will probably have more musicians, and yes, one that places a higher value on study will probably do better academically--is this really some sort of controversial statement? And, based upon my admittedly unscientific, purely anecdoctal, experience in the Asian households I've known, my observation has been that they seem to place more emphasis on studying, and less on the other things, than the average household in other cultures. Which just mayyyybbeee ...might help explain the mystery of why they do better academically.

 

There's no doubt.

But how did these cultures get that way? That's what piques my interest. Why don't African-American households emphasize academics? You can't just say it's "cultural" and call it a day. They got this way somehow, and the answer matters.

 

Let's not completely dismiss this notion.

As we can see playing out right now in both New York City and Chicago, White, urban, liberals do not want their precious snowflakes to have to sit next to African-American kids in school:

Parents had questions about how the strong academic track record at Ogden, 24 W. Dalton St., would be affected by its merger with Jenner, 1119 N. Cleveland Ave.

They also wondered what might happen to some beloved teachers and how it would be decided which students would go where. But much of the discussion revolved around safety concerns parents had about potentially sending their kids to Jenner, a school in a low-income area that used to house the Cabrini-Green housing complex.

"People buy houses to live in a certain area, send their kids to certain schools," said Deba Ghosh, economist and father of an Ogden student. "They don't buy homes so they can be involved in some experiment."

Jenner elementary resides in a neighborhood with a notorious past but a hopeful future, neighbors said. Public row houses are a block away from the school, but even closer is a housing and commercial development that will house mixed-income families, a sign of good things to come, neighbors said.

Still, the stigma around the Cabrini-Green area shined through in the meeting.

"It's very concerning for a mom to send her child to a faraway school and not be sure if they will come home," said one mom who asked not to be named.

School Merger Plan Would Mix Gold Coast and Cabrini-Green Students



At Public School 8 in Brooklyn Heights, the auditorium’s stage is crowded with music stands that were stored there when the music room had to be turned into a first-grade classroom.

The prekindergarten program was cut because of lack of space. And with the school operating far above capacity, 50 families who live within its zone — which also includes Dumbo and much of another Brooklyn neighborhood, Vinegar Hill — were placed on a waiting list for kindergarten last spring.

To the city, the solution for the overcrowding at P.S. 8 seemed obvious: move those two neighborhoods from P.S. 8’s zone and into that of P.S. 307, which is nearby and has room to spare. The proposal, however, has drawn intense opposition, and not only from the families who would be rezoned from the predominantly white P.S. 8 to the mostly black P.S. 307. Some residents of the housing project served by P.S. 307 also oppose the rezoning, worried about how an influx of wealthy, mostly white families could change their school.

For all its diversity, New York City, by some measures, has one of the most segregated school systems in the country, in part because many elementary schools are effectively closed off to children who live outside their zones. And although the Brooklyn rezoning is mainly a response to crowding, it is becoming a real-life study in the challenges of integrating just one of the city’s schools.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/n...llide-in-a-plan-for-two-brooklyn-schools.html