Jeremy Lin on Academic Pressure

Food for thought during exam time.

Incredibly, there have been haters responding to Lin's deeply personal account of his own struggles.  Well, screw those people.  I for one am grateful that he shared his vulnerability and offered a space to discuss the sometimes overwhelming pressure to perform, be it academically, athletically, or any other form.  You know, the fact that someone is prominent and successful does not mean that his or her psychological pain and lived experience are any less real or significant.  Let us all make an effort to be better, kinder, and more compassionate to each other, OK?

Nerd News: Diversity Initiatives vs. Asian Americans

Yet again.  One could do an entire case study on Stuyvesant in NYC:

These challenges have a bearing on K-12 schools, too, suggesting that the the bamboo ceiling may be even lower than once thought. Stuyvesant, one of New York City’s nine specialized public high schools, doesn't consider race in its admissions process; students only need take a standardized test to apply. Still, the policy has come under fire because of the student demographics that result: 73 percent of 'Stuy's' current students are Asian, while 22 percent are white. Just 2 percent of the school's population are Hispanic, and 1 percent is black.

LOL: A Prank for the Principal

Take a look (and listen!) to what the seniors of Santa Barbara High School did.

Nerd News: 9th Grader Runs For School Board

Nice to see young people taking an interest in their education ...

Nerd Notes: 3 Thoughts About Education

Take a look:

1. The high school achievements arms race
2. Kindergarten done horribly wrong
3. "My students don't know how to have a conversation."

Nerd News: Is March Madness in the Curriculum?

Sometimes the temptation is just too great.

Question: "Will Asians Kill Race Preferences in California?"

KILL THEM WITH FIRE.  Schadenfreudelicious phrase in the story: "spontaneous Asian-American backlash."  Let me tell you something, people: Do NOT screw with Asians with it comes to getting a good education.  (But what do I know, right?  According to all the race-preference academic crowds, I'm just a white girl.)

Kentucky High Schoolers Sing "The Star-Spangled Banner"

I fear I've been too negative today on this blog, so here's something really wonderful:

According to Neatorama, this is the context:

The Kentucky All State Choir performs at the Kentucky Music Educators Association conference in Louisville every year, and hundreds of the best high school singers from across the state stay in the same hotel. Last year they were at the Hyatt, which has an 18-story atrium. It is a tradition during the conference that at 11PM (curfew time), everyone comes out of their rooms to sing "The Star Spangled Banner." The performance was captured in its entirety on video. This tradition has been going on for at least twenty years, maybe longer.

The 2014 conference just ended.

Nerd Fun: Odd College Mascots

Nerd News: Private Tutors in South Korea

A few thoughts.

Chinese Nerd News: Exams, Cheating, and Riots, Oh My!

*facepalm*

Nerd News: Florida's New Plan for Racially-Based Educational Goals

OK, how is this not both stupid and blatantly raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacist?

The Florida State Board of Education passed a plan that sets goals for students in math and reading based upon their race. On Tuesday, the board passed a revised strategic plan that says that by 2018, it wants 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of black students to be reading at or above grade level. For math, the goals are 92 percent of Asian kids to be proficient, whites at 86 percent, Hispanics at 80 percent and blacks at 74 percent. It also measures by other groupings, such as poverty and disabilities, reported the Palm Beach Post.

There's so much wrong with this that I don't even know where to start. The Florida State Board of Education sucks, and you can quote me on that.  

Follow-Up: New York's Stuy Entrance Exam Controversy

I had noted the controversy here.  Here's a follow-up in the form of gentle reader and Stuy alum Eric's comment on the NAACP "othering" Asians in the Stuy entrance exam kerfuffle. Here's a blurb:

The NAACP isn’t contesting the neutrality of the exam. ... their claim is based on the result. The problem is the NAACP’s solution calls for race-based disparate treatment, which is a worse civil rights violation than disparate impact. 

I’m not angling towards separation. I’m calling out the NAACP for separating Asians. I agree that we should be able to trust the NAACP to guard the interests of Asian children – not ‘other’ and sacrifice Asians in order to favor other minority groups.  

You know what’s insulting? Read the NAACP complaint and see how it marginalizes Asians with the rhetorical trick of grouping together “either whites or Asian Americans”.

Nerd News: Another Day, Another Anti-Asian School Policy Kerfuffle

I'm used to hearing stuff like this from California, where several lawsuits have taken place and all (and I still remember Saint Bill Clinton of the Dems once saying that if not for race-based quotas, UC campus populations would be mostly Asian ... as if that would be a bad thing, Bubba, based on pure merit by test scores and such), but this new story is from New York City where the NAACP is involved in a flap over Stuyvesant High School.  The claim is that the entrance exam is "racist" (whatever that means right now according to whomever is using it to their advantage), but the practical goal seems to be taking places from Asian students and redistributing them to black and Latino students.

You know, when I was young and ignorant and filled with more pie-eyed idealism than facts, I had a vague thought that affirmative action was a good thing.  Then I grew up and realized that it screws over people who are qualified in order to give their places to people who aren't, and that instituting quotas turns human beings into mere numbers, that setting up two sets of criteria is innately unjust, and that the whole thing had become corrupted by identity politics and race-baiters.  The whole point to education, as I see it, is to push yourself to excellence as a way to get ahead in life, and I see this as especially applicable to children of immigrants (like myself).  Many of these families aren't rich.  Mine wasn't.  Education is the first, best way to improve yourself and your prospects in life.  The intrusion of identity politics into this is a travesty matched only by the Gramscian corruption of public education.

Mandatory Mandarin Lessons in Georgia Public Schools?

What?  As usual, my objection is to the "mandatory."  Something else: it's involved with funding from the Chinese government.  Hmmmm.

20 Classrooms From Around the World

As school is about to start all over the country, do take a look at these classrooms from 20 different nations.

Disgustingly Cute Nerd News: A Graduation Gift 13 Years in the Making

Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

Nerd News: A Different Kind of Commencement Speech

Here's an actual commencement speech that takes a different approach!  Here's a teaser: "... we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement."

UPDATE: Video.

Nerd News: Too Much Cheering at Graduation = No Diploma

Oh, come on!  This is stupid.

Perhaps This Would Be Less Hilarrible If We Consider It "Stereotype-Busting"

You know that stereotype of Canadians being sweet, polite Boy Scouts?  Never mind.

Seriously, you almost have to be impressed by the sheer lunatic bad behavior of it all.  As the snarky headline says: "Two Canadian Youth Lacrosse Teams Had The Most Insane Sports Fight Ever: Complete with bare-knuckle boxing, spearing, flipping off parents in the crowd, fighting referees, and both benches clearing."

Way to go, Coquitlam Adanacs (I have no idea what that even means) and Nanaimo Timbermen.