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by Fred C. Wilson III
October 16, 2011
“No matter what other nations may say about the United States, immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery.”
-Clayton Cramer-
STANDARDIZED TESTINGS FOR APAs
Filipinos and other APA’S (Asian Pacific Americans) of varying ethnicities, traditionally ‘ace’ standardized tests. During my three plus decades as a teacher, Asian students in the schools I’ve worked generally walked away with handfuls (won many) of achievement awards, had the highest ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) scores per classroom, and either led or were among the top achievers in their classrooms. Thanks to hard-working success oriented parents Fil-Am children come to school well prepared and ready to work unlike so many non-Asian American children many of whom consider school an extension of recess.
I read an article in a Philippine publication (not this one) that accused schools back home of training students to excel in test taking skills yet ignore creative development. The fact that most if not all standardized tests are culturally biased in favor of White American males, Filipinos still manage to do quite well despite this limitation.
I believe the White dominated American educational institutions are aware of how well Asians test and are fearful and resentful. As a direct result the Federal government has awarded a walloping sum of $330,000,000 to two consortiums to develop a series of newer national examinations to ‘level the playing field.’ In this writer’s opinion standardized testing in theory is workable though there should be test sections that take into account the examinee’s racial and ethnic background.
Another problem with standardized testing is that many critics, me included, know that just because people are test smart don’t make them wise. Many test taking types are some of the most dull, unimaginative and uncreative people on Planet Earth. They can’t think outside their test scores. Academics have discovered that standardized tests kill creativity and innovation. This writer is one of the world’s worst test takers. There was never a standardized test I couldn’t flunk. I don’t get nervous; I’m not ‘test-shy,’ or a defeatist. I-just-don’t-test-well but you give me a ‘creative challenge’…BOOM! I got it! Standardized Tests stunt the creative process. China and other Asian countries are beginning to distance themselves from STs in a big way for the very same reasons I mentioned previously.
Distinguished Professor of Education Dr. Yong Zhao cited ‘the importance of arts education and nurturing individual talents and resiliency, all of which are damaged by the monolithic emphasis of high stakes testing.’ The Michigan State University educator further stated that China and other Asian countries are trying hard to distance themselves from standardized testing again for reasons mentioned. (Source: www.democraticunderground.com.)
APA’S AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Many of your ‘better’ (private universities) schools have legacy clauses. This means that when seeking admission to top notch schools students who’ve had alumni relatives (as in White) are given top priority. This practice can be discriminatory. Reader, ask yourself how many Asian kids do you know or even heard of who had rich parents who went to Harvard, Yale, U of C, Cal Tech years ago? Same goes for Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans. Minorities didn’t have the money (Many of us still don’t.) or were allowed to attend private schools.
Research shows the widespread use of legacy admissions is what’s responsible for the artificially low admission rates for Asian Americans. In contrast to perceptions that minority students receive a disproportionate amount of funding from affirmative action programs, recent data show that in fact, the vast majority of merit-based and private scholarships still go to White students.’ To learn more about Affirmative Action and Asians go to: www.asian-nation.org/affirmative-action. If I had the space to delve into this I would certainly do so but I don’t, so, again go to Asian-Nation’s website my source site.
THE ‘SPRATLY AFFAIR’ REVISITED
I pride myself in being ‘the firstest with the mostest’ to borrow a good quote from a nefarious fellow (Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest-founder of the Klu Klux Klan). A few years ago I wrote an article about the Philippine’s claim on the oil rich Spratly Islands. China wants these islands in a bad way. A growing number of Fil-Ams want the Aquino government to act more aggressively towards China. The Palace should be very careful in handling China.
Of all the empires in human history that rose then fell China is the only super power that never lost its empire. The 19th and early 20th centuries were temporary setbacks for China. With their growing military and economic strengths the Chinese dragon is back big time. For the Philippines to mess with China, would be like a child who took a hammer and slammed it on an elephant’s sore toe; not a smart idea. It’s what Jesus said in the Bible about a king going to war with 10,000 troops against another king with 20,000; the king with the little army would be wise to work out a peace deal with the one with more soldiers.
When I was researching this article I came across a comment made by a person who gave his opinion as to why we need China: ‘The U.S. needs China to buy our bonds. The Chinese own 20% of our T-Bonds. If they sold all of them the U.S. dollar would be dead as fried chicken. We must give China something in exchange the oil rich Spratly Islands perhaps? Europe won’t support us. They have their own money issues. China and the United States may or may not like each other but due to their interwoven economies they must remain on friendly terms to insure economic survival.’ Again as mentioned in many previous articles: MONEY TALKS! China will retain its most favorite nation status by virtue of it’s $$$$.
Time’s up; had to skip ‘BREAD AND CIRCUS.’ I guess I owe you. Before I go, let me leave you with this ‘The reason why they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it.’ Go to: George Carlin-The American Dream-You Tube and thank me later. Bye and GOD bless. (vamaxwell@yahoo.com)