The headline in the Daily Mail article is misleading and link bait , but this paragraph brings up a lot of questions:

Questions that are not asked:

• Why do Black and Latino students do poorly on the standardized tests, compared to Asians?
• What percentage of the population is Asian, compared to everyone else?
• What is the typical income of the Asian students, compared to everyone else?

The article:
New York public schools segregation - Daily Mail 

This entire topic I covered last year, but it has come back again.  Hmm, I wonder what is driving this... 
NY Elite Tests Favor Asians?

Labels: Best Schools, New York, Racism

This weeks sale is:

Learning Chinese through Songs and Stories Sale:

Listening to Songs and Stories is a great way to Learn Chinese. Singing can help when learning a foreign language. Singing is a great way to learn a foreign language, and for those having a hard time, singing may make it much easier per a recent study. Singing seems to engage a different area of the brain and makes it easier to remember the words - nice change from flash cards. Plus singing makes learning Chinese fun!

				Bundle: Let's Sing Mandarin CD & Book #1, #2, #3
				Our Price: $44.99 Sale Price: $39.99 You save $5.00!
				(3 reviews) Great for small children with no Mandarin background! Sing in Mandarin Chinese and English Simplified Chinese Characters, Pinyin, and English lyrics Features familiar nursery rhymes and original songs Music provided, so you can play the piano while your child sings! 3 books, with CD. Each book features 16 songs.
				Chinese Children Songs Around The World, 12 CD's, Mandarin, #3
				List Price: $39.99 Our Price: $29.99 Sale Price: $24.99 You save $15.00!
				Children Songs Around The World 12 CD set, Mandarin Total of 194 songs Crystal Palace Great selection for children to sing along

Labels: chinese songs, learn chinese

Understanding the changes in the SAT, and what is driving it

My view if you understand why something is happening, such as the changes to the SAT, it's easier to figure out the how and what. My 2 cents on why the changes are happening to the SAT. The major one being the ACT was taking away market share.

1. The essay scores were a joke, and gave points more for length than the ability to write.
2. The ACT was taking market share away from the SAT, with more students taking the ACT in 2012 than the SAT.
3. Common Core Standards are now in the new SAT. The theory being the SAT will now be closer aligned to school curriculums. Common Core has been adopted by 45 states.
4. SAT's will no longer deduct points for wrong answers, so now you can guess!
5. The score is now going back to a maximum of 1600, from 2400.
6. The changes will not happen to 2016.
7. Many schools (over 800) have made submitting test scores optional, and there is just a .6% difference in graduation rate.
8. Only 8% of low income students get a bachelors by age 24.
9. The new test is supposed to make it harder for preparation classes to make a huge difference.

References:
College Board Shakes Up SAT - The Wall Street Journal
Education Standards Experts Blast SAT Changes - Breitbart News
Major changes coming to 2016 SAT test: Here's what, how and why - CNN
New SAT part of a changing admissions process - USA Today

Labels: academics, college, college admissions, SAT

I read about this a while ago, but got a bit busy to blog about it. I am glad it's dead.

My 2 cents on what happened:

1. Proposition 209 in 1996 banned the use of race or ethnicity in admissions for public schools in California.
2. Schools could get around the ban at a UC Level, through the use of a holistic method. Basically through your essay, if you said the right things you would get admitted. UC's also did everything they could to encourage minority students with special programs (I have a vivid memory of when my daughter mentioned a UC Berkeley Representative was at her High School, but would only talk to Black and Latino students, and no Asians). At a Cal State level, admissions is based on test scores and grades, due to lack of funding for a holistic methods.
3. After 209 passed, at the top UC's the amount of Asian (mostly Chinese and some Koreans) have increased. UC Berkeley is now 39% Asian, where the Asian percentage of California's population is 14.9%. African American at UC Berkeley is 3%, and the percentage of population in California is 6.6%. 13% of UC Berkeley's undergraduate is Hispanic, compared to being 38.2% in California.
4. SCA 5 is by a Latino Politician, Sen. Ed Hernandez from West Covina, who noticed the lack of Latino's in higher education compared to their percent of the population of California.
5. After the democratic controlled senate voted on a party line vote, the Chinese senators got an earful from their Chinese constituents who feared their children would be discriminated against in admissions.
6. UCLA and UC Berkeley to increase funding are letting in out of state and foreign students, who can pay full rate. 22% of UC Berkeley's undergraduate are foreign students for 2013.

My opinion, the real crimes are:

1. What a horrible job the K-12 system has been doing for many Black and Latino students.  
2. The amount of spaces at UC's have not kept pace with the increase in California population
3. The master plan for California's colleges is out of date.
4. The huge growth at Colleges of administrator salaries and numbers.
5. Many UC's not focused value for dollars spent by students. The cost to attend a UC is now around $30,000 per year. Tuition alone is $13,200 for CA residents, for non-residents it's $36,078.
6. College admissions has become a crap shoot, where the admissions decisions often don't make sense - one of my daughter's friends was admitted to UC Berkeley, but not UC San Diego...

References:

“Vote No on SCA-5” petition - Over 113,000 people have signed the petition for No on repealing 209.

Blue on Blue Race Politics in California’s Academia - The American Interest

Affirmative action amendment has some Asian-Americans furious - KPCC

Labels: affirmative action, college admissions, Mixed Race, Racism

I am surprised that Nogales is going to be closed for 24 months for the underpass to be created!

http://www.theaceproject.org/nogalessouth.htm

The Alameda Corridor is where underpasses and overpasses are put in to allow trains to go from the Ports of LA without delaying traffic. The project has improved the traffic a huge amount in Rowland Heights. My business used to be located near the under construction underpass on Brea Canyon, I remember the construction on Nogales at Valley, and now the underpass at Nogales and Gale is being worked on.

Personal opinion, this entire project has been done piecemeal, and because of that a lot of money has been wasted. It would have been smarter to just dig and place the entire route when possible underground, as was done in Reno. Instead some areas the railroad gets raised for a street level grade, other areas the street goes over on an overpass (Azusa), and other areas their is an underpass.

Labels: alameda corridor, rowland heights, traffic

What a mess, and I feel sorry for the parents. I find it very strange that a parent of the friend's daughter, would be willing to pay for a lawyer. The parents were also accused of Child Abuse by the daughter.

The question is once a child turns 18, do the parents still need to support their child, who is now an adult legally?

'Spoiled' teen Rachel Canning suing parents to support her after she ran away | Mail Online

Labels: legal, parenting, Parents

It seems everyday, driving around Rowland Heights, I almost have a car accident each day.

Some recent traffic issues I have seen:

1. Person making left turn, and turned wide on entrance / exit to McDonalds. I was making a right turn.
2. Running red lights. I can understand 1 or 2 cars, but 3 or 4?
3. Making a left turn on a street, and cutting it close. I go very slow on residential streets near corners to avoiding a head on collision.
4. Tail gating on the 60 freeway
5. Weaving in and out of traffic on Colima.
6. Not moving over to the right, when a Fire Truck has the siren on. Only when the fire truck gets behind a vehicle, and uses their horn, does the vehicle move over to the right.

Labels: rowland heights, traffic, transportation

Banana is a racial slur and it's strange that a Chinese newspaper used it to describe the departing US ambassador.

I don't understand why.

Pause, while I do a bit of research to figure out why this happened.

Banana's colors are Yellow the outside, but White inside. So Asian (Chinese), and American inside is how this would translate politically.

Gary Locke is third generation ethnic Chinese who was the US Ambassador to China for 2 1/2 years. His wife is a former TV reporter, and glamorous. Gary Locke grew up speaking Cantonese, so his Mandarin is not fluent.

China's government has an assumption, that is your ethnic Chinese, you are Chinese. That is why if your an  American Chinese doing business in China, you have fewer rights than a non ethnic Chinese doing business there. Examples are business people who have been jailed in China over business deals, where non ethnic Chinese do not have this danger.

If your ethnic Chinese it's assumed you will favor China's government's view. If you have another view on China, than the official view, your seen as a traitor. There may have also been an issue, where Gary Locke was seen as humble, and did not flaunt his wealth.

References:

The Gary Locke Effect: Does Race Matter for a US Ambassador? - The Diplomat

Here’s why the Chinese government hated Gary Locke - Washington Post

China says farewell to Locke with racial slur - Seattle Times

Chinese Media Outlet Uses Racial Slur at US Envoy - ABC News

Why Ambassador Locke Is Really Leaving Beijing: Seattle Has Better Coffee - Forbes

Does Gary Locke speak Chinese? - uPenn

China's awkward 'banana' slip - CNN Opinion

Gary Locke Interview - Newsweek    

Gary Locke for president? - MyNorthwest.com

Labels: Gary Locke, Racism, US Chinese Image