Some people think Asian education culture just means studying hard. These books describe what it is in practice. White parents flee these schools because it’s not what they want for their kids—that’s an observation, not a value judgement. I think we should try to understand why.
Asians outnumber whites at Harvard, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and many other schools. The last ethnic succession in higher ed on this scale was in the 1960s. The effects then were massive. It basically created “The Sixties.” We should expect changes of similar magnitude this time.
Eric Kaufmann had a good essay on this in Tablet with lots of graphs: “One of the big stories of the next half-century will be how the transition from a Jewish- to an Asian-inflected elite will affect the country’s culture and identity.” tabletmag.com/sections/news/…
But what if that means more Mamdanis? Boomers have this idea that Asian students are less woke than average but I don’t think anyone under 40 believes that. Maybe the recent campus Third Worldist protests are a glimpse of what the future holds.
Teen summer jobs are another difference—see below. Do you think teens should spend their summers scooping ice cream and lifeguarding or on test prep and other resume builders? The latter crowds out the former in an admissions arms race. Personally I think that’s bad.
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