本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛To Louise Brown (Education Reporter), and whom it might concern,
This is regarding to the article titled, 'Asian students suffering for success', published on November 10, 2010 on Toronto Star.
I'm writing to express my deep concerns about the motives behind the article that you've written and published.
I'm writing to protest against your publishing of the article which is misleading and which incites racism against students of Asian ancestry and their parents;
I'm writing to protest against your publishing of the article which also suggests the instigation of rule changes in the Canadian universities so as to make the admission process unfair for hard-working students of Asian ancestry;
I'm writing to request for your formal apology for this wrong-doing;
I'm writing to request that you take corrective actions commensurate to the damages you've done by publishing this article;
I'm writing to request the resignation or firing of the author of this article, because of your sympathy and promotion of racism;
I'm writing to request the resignation your editor-in-chief who is responsible for publishing this racist article for the lack of judgments and tolerance to racism;
In my opinion, your article selectively quoted sources that are racially biased, misleading, and without consideration of the context of each source, and mixed irrelevant materials together to create yet another piece of work to mislead people's opinions, to promote racism, and to suggest racial discrimination against hard-working students of Asian ancestry.
In your article, you quoted materials from two sources:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. An article titled 'Too Asian?', with subtitle 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada', which is published in the latest issue of Maclean's University Rankings;
The main idea of this article published by Maclean's, is that there are too many 'Asian students', to a point that it caused some resentment among certain people, thus causing so called 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada'.
It's very obvious that, most of the arguments in this article are based on biased, anecdotal opinions and subjective judgments of the authors and anonymous persons, rather than based on validatable facts. Just as you've noted as in your article on Toronto Star,
{
...
“An ‘Asian’ school has come to mean one that is so academically focused that some students feel they can no longer compete or have fun,” the article says, quoting non-Asian high school students who say they wouldn’t choose the University of Toronto because it’s largely Asian.
The article also quotes non-Asian undergraduates complaining their Chinese and Korean classmates don’t mingle with others.
...
}
However, also noted in your article on Toronto Star is that, U of T provost Cheryl Misak told the Star she finds such comments “rather alarming, and I am heartened they have not surfaced in any substantial way at the U of T.”
And Maclean's article did acknowledged that, the university authorities immediately dismissed the idea of the universities being 'too Asian'. Here you can find the quotes here in the article:
{
...
“This is a non-issue,” wrote U of T president David Naylor in an email. “We’ve 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.”
As Cheryl Misak, the U of T’s VP and provost, puts it: “We have a properly diverse mix, with no particular group extra prominent—we’re the rainbow nation and we’ve got every sort of student and everyone is on merit.” Waterloo president Feridun Hamdullahpur echoes a similar sentiment. “There is a great tendency in our society to learn more about other nations and other cultures,” he says. “Universities are the hotbed of these kind of activities. If you want to see more economic and political diversity, I think they star.”
...
}
Since the university authorities know more than anyone else about the issues on campus, and they have no concern over the problem of having these students of Asian ancestry, my question is, where did authors of the article get the idea about 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada'? Who started talking about this stuff?
Before this article titled 'Too Asian' published on Macleans, and your article published on Toronto Star, I have never heard of or read anything about this 'Too Asian' issue in Canadian universities. Can you explain, where did the 'worries' came from? I did wrote twice to Macleans and asked this simple question and they can not answer.
I think just by looking at the subtitle of Maclean's article, 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada', we can easily see what the authors of the article really have in mind. They should have been more straight-forward by saying that they 'HOPE that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada'!
I can only see in Maclean's article, 'Too Asian?', that hard-working students of Asian ancestry are blamed for their hard-working and their success in the academic arena.
As I've told Macleans, which in their reply they said they agree, here are some basic facts:
- Most, if not all, of the so-called 'Asian' students are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, thus they have the same right of education as do the other Canadian citizens and permanent residents;
- These students are competing with other students under the same rules;
- Some students, including these successful students of Asian ancestry, fair better in schools and universities because they are smarter, or work harder, or being smarter and work harder at the same time;
If our society truly value equal opportunity for all citizens, then race, skin color and ethnicity should not matter. As long as the participants are competing on the same starting line and following the same fair rules, why is there a problem at all?
After reading Maclean's article, I can only conclude that the article is racially-biased and it serves the purpose of nothing else than inciting racism against hard-working students of Asian ancestry in the schools and universities.
As I've suggested to Macleans, they should fire the two authors of that article, as they are racially biased, they are lack of common senses and the basic qualities of being professional journalists who are responsible for our society. Also I suggested that the editor-in-chief who let this racist article slipped through the reviews and published should be fired too for his/her lack of judgments and tolerance to such a work of racism.
It's so sad that in year 2010 in Canada, a country which is highly touted as multi-cultural, our main-stream media still come up with such work of racism. It is a shame!
By echoing what Maclean's has said in their article, 'Too Asian', you, Toronto Star has allowed yourself to downgrade to the same level as does Macleans, which is deplorable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Personal opinions expressed by participants during a conference, “East Asian Parents: Multiple Pathways to Success”, which is hosted by and for the GTA’s Asian community;
- It was suggested that 'Asian parents' should give their children more choices than just professional courses such as engineering, medicine, accounting or pharmacy. Parents are urged to let their children consider community college, skilled trades or even liberal studies at university.
As an example given in your article, TDSB staff, Maria Yau's son, is bucking the trend by studying liberal arts at a college.
- Maria Yau said, “Even though our children always seem to have high enough marks to get into university, the hidden truth is that they don’t always have the independence or social skills to survive once they’re there.”
- “A 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,” said the founder of Markham-based Across U-Hub, a group that promotes activities to encourage youth of Asian ancestry to get to know people of other backgrounds.
- Your article suggested that: 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. In contrast, east Asians have the lowest rate of attendance at community college — only 8 per cent, compared to 14 per cent for Canadian-born.
Maria Yau said it’s not “natural” for any group to have so many students heading for university. “Can they really all be qualified or emotionally ready for that kind of learning?”
- Wong notes the Confucian tradition of respect for hard work and obedience “often 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.”
- 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. “Yes, they get good marks, but that is all I know about them,” 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.
Well, I agree with most of the comments from the participants, however here are my opinions that I want to make clear:
- Yes, parents shall help the students to consider more options to decide which is best for them, ie., science/engineering studies vs. liberal studies, studying in a university vs. a college.
What the conference participants are trying to say is that it's advisable for the students to expand their horizon and explore a wider field of study, not just science and engineering, not just in universities. This is irrelevant to and can not be used to support the arguments of 'too Asian issue' in the Canadian universities as suggested in that Maclean's article.
Trying to mix the conference's idea and Maclean's racist idea in their article 'Too Asian?', coupled with the opening in your article, '...parents of Asian background are coming under fire from their own community for pushing their children into university programs...', is obviously misleading.
Here I can only see that you are echoing the racist comments in Maclean's article and that you are trying whatever you can to support the idea of racism against Asian students in the Canadian universities, even by mixing irrelevant, and even misleading materials.
- One of Maria's Yau's comments is true, in that not all students have the independence or social skills to survive in the universities. However it should also be clear that this will apply to students from all ethnic groups, not just students of Asian ancestry! In reality, students from all ethnic groups, not just Asian students, face the similar problem.
I believe the way Your article took Maria's comments out of its original context, and mixed it together with Maclean's article, 'Too Asian?', has confused lots of readers, and has mislead many people to believe that only the 'Asian students' have the problem. This is wrong.
- I think Across U-Hub is doing a great job in encouraging the youth to connect with people from other communities, I feel the youth of Asian ancestry in Markham area are very lucky.
However, in your article the existence of U-Hub is used to support your or Maclean's argument that 'Asian youth'/ 'Asian students' don't mingle with others. Seriously, do you know what you are talking about?! I think there are similar challenges among all young people to get to know people from other cultural / ethnic backgrounds, this problem doesn't just exist in 'Asian youth' community. What the youth need is help, not discrimination based on their race and ethnicity!
Once again, based on the way you select materials to support your arguments, I can only see that you were trying to manipulate the reader's opinions and promote racism against the youth/students of Asian ancestries.
- The fact that 'East Asian parents' have the highest percentage in hoping to sending their children to the universities, should be one reason that these parents be applauded, rather than condemned!
All sensible parents would hope that one day their kids would have higher education, no matter which ethnic group or race they are from. The reason is simple, formal higher education is the key to attain the skills and experiences necessary to contribute to the well-being of the society. Why is there anything wrong for the parents bearing such hopes?
Attacking East Asian parents for the hope of a brighter future is just ridiculous! I seriously think some people blame them out of jealousy.
Once again, the students of Asian ancestry are being blamed for their hard-work here, and their parents are blamed for supporting their hard-work here. Instead blaming them, everyone should learn from these students of Asian ancestry, and their parents, and compete on a fair ground, instead of whining, and blaming other's success because of his/her own laziness and the failure as a result!
What Maria Yau said here, 'it’s not “natural” for any group to have so many students heading for university', is wrong! To calculate the 'natural' percentage of students attending universities on an ethnic group's population among the whole population is wrong!!
Once again, as long as the participants are competing on the same fair ground, why should race, skin color and ethnicity matter? If everything else is the same, yet some ethnic group is not faring well in sending kids to the universities, it only tells that they are not working hard enough! You should think why your children can't compete with other children, instead of blaming the other children and their parents for their success!
And even if it's true that some of the students are not fully prepared for the advance learning in universities, or even post-graduate social life, so what? Just let them accept the failure, accept the reality, it's purely the choices made by the students and their families, it's their own problem, not yours. As Canadians we have basic rights to make our own choices in our lives, as long as we are following the rules and obeying the laws, you as a by-stander have no right to interfere. Just mind your own business!
- Yes, parents shall give the youth more encouragement, instead of setting goals impossible to reach; parents shall encourage the youth to develop creative, leadership and social skills. I agree with all these. That's why I think we as a society should help the youth by creating a supportive environment.
Once again I can see here in your article that you are promoting the stereotype, that students/youth of Asian ancestry are lack of creative skills and leadership and social skills. This is wrong.
From what I've read in your article, you are echoing the racist thinking of Maclean's article, 'Too Asian?', and by combining that article with other sources in a misleading way, you went even further to promote the racism against students and youth of Asian ancestry. This is very unacceptable, consider you are supposed to be a journalist and media professional and responsible to our society!
Because of this article of racism nature that's published on Toronto Star, I seriously doubt if it is a publication that is up to basic standards.
You should apologize, take corrective actions, and resign with dignity.
Yours truly,
XXXXXXXXXXXX更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
This is regarding to the article titled, 'Asian students suffering for success', published on November 10, 2010 on Toronto Star.
I'm writing to express my deep concerns about the motives behind the article that you've written and published.
I'm writing to protest against your publishing of the article which is misleading and which incites racism against students of Asian ancestry and their parents;
I'm writing to protest against your publishing of the article which also suggests the instigation of rule changes in the Canadian universities so as to make the admission process unfair for hard-working students of Asian ancestry;
I'm writing to request for your formal apology for this wrong-doing;
I'm writing to request that you take corrective actions commensurate to the damages you've done by publishing this article;
I'm writing to request the resignation or firing of the author of this article, because of your sympathy and promotion of racism;
I'm writing to request the resignation your editor-in-chief who is responsible for publishing this racist article for the lack of judgments and tolerance to racism;
In my opinion, your article selectively quoted sources that are racially biased, misleading, and without consideration of the context of each source, and mixed irrelevant materials together to create yet another piece of work to mislead people's opinions, to promote racism, and to suggest racial discrimination against hard-working students of Asian ancestry.
In your article, you quoted materials from two sources:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. An article titled 'Too Asian?', with subtitle 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada', which is published in the latest issue of Maclean's University Rankings;
The main idea of this article published by Maclean's, is that there are too many 'Asian students', to a point that it caused some resentment among certain people, thus causing so called 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada'.
It's very obvious that, most of the arguments in this article are based on biased, anecdotal opinions and subjective judgments of the authors and anonymous persons, rather than based on validatable facts. Just as you've noted as in your article on Toronto Star,
{
...
“An ‘Asian’ school has come to mean one that is so academically focused that some students feel they can no longer compete or have fun,” the article says, quoting non-Asian high school students who say they wouldn’t choose the University of Toronto because it’s largely Asian.
The article also quotes non-Asian undergraduates complaining their Chinese and Korean classmates don’t mingle with others.
...
}
However, also noted in your article on Toronto Star is that, U of T provost Cheryl Misak told the Star she finds such comments “rather alarming, and I am heartened they have not surfaced in any substantial way at the U of T.”
And Maclean's article did acknowledged that, the university authorities immediately dismissed the idea of the universities being 'too Asian'. Here you can find the quotes here in the article:
{
...
“This is a non-issue,” wrote U of T president David Naylor in an email. “We’ve 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.”
As Cheryl Misak, the U of T’s VP and provost, puts it: “We have a properly diverse mix, with no particular group extra prominent—we’re the rainbow nation and we’ve got every sort of student and everyone is on merit.” Waterloo president Feridun Hamdullahpur echoes a similar sentiment. “There is a great tendency in our society to learn more about other nations and other cultures,” he says. “Universities are the hotbed of these kind of activities. If you want to see more economic and political diversity, I think they star.”
...
}
Since the university authorities know more than anyone else about the issues on campus, and they have no concern over the problem of having these students of Asian ancestry, my question is, where did authors of the article get the idea about 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada'? Who started talking about this stuff?
Before this article titled 'Too Asian' published on Macleans, and your article published on Toronto Star, I have never heard of or read anything about this 'Too Asian' issue in Canadian universities. Can you explain, where did the 'worries' came from? I did wrote twice to Macleans and asked this simple question and they can not answer.
I think just by looking at the subtitle of Maclean's article, 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada', we can easily see what the authors of the article really have in mind. They should have been more straight-forward by saying that they 'HOPE that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada'!
I can only see in Maclean's article, 'Too Asian?', that hard-working students of Asian ancestry are blamed for their hard-working and their success in the academic arena.
As I've told Macleans, which in their reply they said they agree, here are some basic facts:
- Most, if not all, of the so-called 'Asian' students are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, thus they have the same right of education as do the other Canadian citizens and permanent residents;
- These students are competing with other students under the same rules;
- Some students, including these successful students of Asian ancestry, fair better in schools and universities because they are smarter, or work harder, or being smarter and work harder at the same time;
If our society truly value equal opportunity for all citizens, then race, skin color and ethnicity should not matter. As long as the participants are competing on the same starting line and following the same fair rules, why is there a problem at all?
After reading Maclean's article, I can only conclude that the article is racially-biased and it serves the purpose of nothing else than inciting racism against hard-working students of Asian ancestry in the schools and universities.
As I've suggested to Macleans, they should fire the two authors of that article, as they are racially biased, they are lack of common senses and the basic qualities of being professional journalists who are responsible for our society. Also I suggested that the editor-in-chief who let this racist article slipped through the reviews and published should be fired too for his/her lack of judgments and tolerance to such a work of racism.
It's so sad that in year 2010 in Canada, a country which is highly touted as multi-cultural, our main-stream media still come up with such work of racism. It is a shame!
By echoing what Maclean's has said in their article, 'Too Asian', you, Toronto Star has allowed yourself to downgrade to the same level as does Macleans, which is deplorable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Personal opinions expressed by participants during a conference, “East Asian Parents: Multiple Pathways to Success”, which is hosted by and for the GTA’s Asian community;
- It was suggested that 'Asian parents' should give their children more choices than just professional courses such as engineering, medicine, accounting or pharmacy. Parents are urged to let their children consider community college, skilled trades or even liberal studies at university.
As an example given in your article, TDSB staff, Maria Yau's son, is bucking the trend by studying liberal arts at a college.
- Maria Yau said, “Even though our children always seem to have high enough marks to get into university, the hidden truth is that they don’t always have the independence or social skills to survive once they’re there.”
- “A 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,” said the founder of Markham-based Across U-Hub, a group that promotes activities to encourage youth of Asian ancestry to get to know people of other backgrounds.
- Your article suggested that: 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. In contrast, east Asians have the lowest rate of attendance at community college — only 8 per cent, compared to 14 per cent for Canadian-born.
Maria Yau said it’s not “natural” for any group to have so many students heading for university. “Can they really all be qualified or emotionally ready for that kind of learning?”
- Wong notes the Confucian tradition of respect for hard work and obedience “often 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.”
- 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. “Yes, they get good marks, but that is all I know about them,” 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.
Well, I agree with most of the comments from the participants, however here are my opinions that I want to make clear:
- Yes, parents shall help the students to consider more options to decide which is best for them, ie., science/engineering studies vs. liberal studies, studying in a university vs. a college.
What the conference participants are trying to say is that it's advisable for the students to expand their horizon and explore a wider field of study, not just science and engineering, not just in universities. This is irrelevant to and can not be used to support the arguments of 'too Asian issue' in the Canadian universities as suggested in that Maclean's article.
Trying to mix the conference's idea and Maclean's racist idea in their article 'Too Asian?', coupled with the opening in your article, '...parents of Asian background are coming under fire from their own community for pushing their children into university programs...', is obviously misleading.
Here I can only see that you are echoing the racist comments in Maclean's article and that you are trying whatever you can to support the idea of racism against Asian students in the Canadian universities, even by mixing irrelevant, and even misleading materials.
- One of Maria's Yau's comments is true, in that not all students have the independence or social skills to survive in the universities. However it should also be clear that this will apply to students from all ethnic groups, not just students of Asian ancestry! In reality, students from all ethnic groups, not just Asian students, face the similar problem.
I believe the way Your article took Maria's comments out of its original context, and mixed it together with Maclean's article, 'Too Asian?', has confused lots of readers, and has mislead many people to believe that only the 'Asian students' have the problem. This is wrong.
- I think Across U-Hub is doing a great job in encouraging the youth to connect with people from other communities, I feel the youth of Asian ancestry in Markham area are very lucky.
However, in your article the existence of U-Hub is used to support your or Maclean's argument that 'Asian youth'/ 'Asian students' don't mingle with others. Seriously, do you know what you are talking about?! I think there are similar challenges among all young people to get to know people from other cultural / ethnic backgrounds, this problem doesn't just exist in 'Asian youth' community. What the youth need is help, not discrimination based on their race and ethnicity!
Once again, based on the way you select materials to support your arguments, I can only see that you were trying to manipulate the reader's opinions and promote racism against the youth/students of Asian ancestries.
- The fact that 'East Asian parents' have the highest percentage in hoping to sending their children to the universities, should be one reason that these parents be applauded, rather than condemned!
All sensible parents would hope that one day their kids would have higher education, no matter which ethnic group or race they are from. The reason is simple, formal higher education is the key to attain the skills and experiences necessary to contribute to the well-being of the society. Why is there anything wrong for the parents bearing such hopes?
Attacking East Asian parents for the hope of a brighter future is just ridiculous! I seriously think some people blame them out of jealousy.
Once again, the students of Asian ancestry are being blamed for their hard-work here, and their parents are blamed for supporting their hard-work here. Instead blaming them, everyone should learn from these students of Asian ancestry, and their parents, and compete on a fair ground, instead of whining, and blaming other's success because of his/her own laziness and the failure as a result!
What Maria Yau said here, 'it’s not “natural” for any group to have so many students heading for university', is wrong! To calculate the 'natural' percentage of students attending universities on an ethnic group's population among the whole population is wrong!!
Once again, as long as the participants are competing on the same fair ground, why should race, skin color and ethnicity matter? If everything else is the same, yet some ethnic group is not faring well in sending kids to the universities, it only tells that they are not working hard enough! You should think why your children can't compete with other children, instead of blaming the other children and their parents for their success!
And even if it's true that some of the students are not fully prepared for the advance learning in universities, or even post-graduate social life, so what? Just let them accept the failure, accept the reality, it's purely the choices made by the students and their families, it's their own problem, not yours. As Canadians we have basic rights to make our own choices in our lives, as long as we are following the rules and obeying the laws, you as a by-stander have no right to interfere. Just mind your own business!
- Yes, parents shall give the youth more encouragement, instead of setting goals impossible to reach; parents shall encourage the youth to develop creative, leadership and social skills. I agree with all these. That's why I think we as a society should help the youth by creating a supportive environment.
Once again I can see here in your article that you are promoting the stereotype, that students/youth of Asian ancestry are lack of creative skills and leadership and social skills. This is wrong.
From what I've read in your article, you are echoing the racist thinking of Maclean's article, 'Too Asian?', and by combining that article with other sources in a misleading way, you went even further to promote the racism against students and youth of Asian ancestry. This is very unacceptable, consider you are supposed to be a journalist and media professional and responsible to our society!
Because of this article of racism nature that's published on Toronto Star, I seriously doubt if it is a publication that is up to basic standards.
You should apologize, take corrective actions, and resign with dignity.
Yours truly,
XXXXXXXXXXXX更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net