'Too Asian?' Article in MacLeans: Do You Think it is Racist?

THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Some one plaese sue Macleans.

The article is reporting on what is taking place in the U.S. and Canada, and what  people are thinking about it. Some individuals and practices may be racist, but presenting a current situation that involves race to its readers for thoughtful discussion doesn't make Macleans racist.

Is it racist or provocative? I say provocative. As a parent of two wonderful Asian Canadian kids I think MacLean's has done us a service by pulling back the curtain on Euro-Canadian society and exposing that society as closet racists.If my fellow white Canadians are taking the easy road because it's too hard to compete with Asians then I am sadden by the continued decline in our drive to do better. If the Havergill elite find it too hard to go to U of T (where they would only hang out with other privileged students any way) to get a good education then let them flock to McGill or Western. Soon you won't see McGill on the list of best schools in the world.The article describes how in the US Asian students need a SAT of 140points over Euro students to be considered on equal footing.Access to education and jobs should be based on merit period. My pigheaded opinion.This was my Asian wife's response to the provocative news coverage on the MacLean's article "oh sure and when our kids go to interview for a job there is a guarantee that race won't play a part in the decision?". I believe part of the reason why people perceive that Asian children are driven is because Asian parents have experienced and continue to believe that there is unspoken racism in our society.Until the day comes when our multicultural cities (it's really only large cities that are multicultural) are truly run through meritorious regimes then people are going to look out for their own.My wife and I are doing our best to involve our children in as many sport and community activities as we can but even in my humble 12 generation Euro family academics came first and if your grades slipped you quit sports.

Certainly disturbing,but no less disturbing than using a bell curve against American blacks versus US and Canadian whites for decades, Hey THANKS LIBERALS!  

Poverty, bullying, drugs, divorce, crime and other of aspects of one persons life affects their performance.

Now Canadian whites against the Asian Canadians, all politically correct when it comes to a persons race. Load O Crap!

UBC Medical Students  have  a large proportion of Asians who wish to be medical doctors, say over other races. Is that bad?

Some friends who were competing for a coveted spot were upset, but on the other hand, if high marks are an indication who becomes a resident of not, then so be it. We need the most qualified, who gives a rats ass what colour they are.

One one hand Asian parents from Asia though, speaking from personal experience put exceedingly harsh pressure on their Canadian born kids. While everyone wants their kid to succeed, Asian parents just want more from their kids.  Kids comply out of respect, though some I know  find it a killer in the working world, that goes for all races. I dont think Asians are any better at Math or other subjects than everyone one else, but just seem to want to buckle down and want it more with the help of their parents who will ensure they succeed.   Many a time I hit the Tim Hortons at 2am and see a dozen Asians students in there studying, laptops out and nary a word spoken. Gotta give credit where credit is due.

Asians, in particular East Indians,  have a large support group within their families, grandparents living with the family instead of being shuttered off to an old age home. That is a lot of help when the Asian grandparents help raise the child, teaching them values etc instead of daycare.  Ya gotta compare apples with apples here,   Lets face it mainstream Canadians of the lily white set, may see their grandparents once in a blue moon. 

Our parents, at least the ones from the  Hippie 1960s and Disco Stu 1970s seem to lost touch in reality all altogether, as their parents from the 1940s and 1950s knew the value of hard work and studying.  East Asians parents who scraped by to make a living seem to be a throwback to that era of the 1950s.

Asians typically Asians earn higher IQ scores than white Americans, especially in the verbal intelligence areas. African-Americans typically earn IQ scores one full standard deviation below those of white Americans.

The IQ difference between African-Americans and whites remains at all levels of socioeconomic status (SES), and is even more pronounced at higher levels of SES.

Recent narrowing of the average IQ gap between black and white Americans (about 3 IQ points) is attributed to a lessening of low black scores and not an overall improvement in black scores on average.

The debate over genes versus environment influences on the race IQ gap is acknowledged.

Guess using the Bell Curve even Good ole Bubba can be a rocket scientist. all be it not a very good one.

After all when watch Family Guys Peter Griffin do math!

Nothing Racist about it, though many are put off on Asians in schools, jealousy over their intelligence isn't their fault, its their parents, who brought them up right.

We used to have that, at least I did being a child of the 60s, with parents who worked their butt off to make sure I succeeded, I instilled those values in my kids today, who are all university grads, with my son still in school. So yeah we had some awful fights, especially with my two girls, but I persisted, they may not have wanted it more, but I did!

This Maclean article confirms once again that Canadian society is one that is silently discriminatory against all those who are visible minorities. Given the White, privileged backgrounds of the authors, I actually not at all surprised by their cultural stereotypes and racist remarks about Asian students. Indeed, what I see is a sense of entitlement from mainstream Canadians. Initially, Asian immigrants and students were seen as admirable because of the so-called “model minority” stereotype of being hardworking and self-directed – assigned to us by maintstream Canadians. However, as Asians become greater competition to White students for spots in universities and the workforce, mainstream Canadians suddenly refer to them as “robotic, quiet, and out of place.” As an individual from an immigrant family, I have worked hard all my life to overturn all stereotypes placed upon me by the Canadian majority. I am a twenty-something-year-old who just completed my Masters of Education at UofT. I have fine social skills, am well-spoken, and I always try my best to model the character traits of hardwork and integrity for my Grade Six students. Asian students are such high-achievers simply because we have too much to lose. Our parents left their places of origins so that we may have greater opportunities for quality education and socio-economic success. Perhaps, instead of questioning whether Canadian post-secondary institutions are overly Asian, the authors and others who support this article should reflect upon how their own sense of entitlement has failed them and led them to fall behind their Asian counter-parts. For the sake of equity and diversity – values that our Canadian government promote – we should instead be asking “WHY DOESN’T THE FACULTY AND ADMINSTRATIVE STAFF REFLECT THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE STUDENT POPULATION AT UNIVERSITIES SUCH AS UOFT AND WATERLOO?” I am so sick of the perpetual double-standard for Whites and non-Whites in all areas of life. If leading national magazines continue to publish such racist and meaningless articles, Canada will never become the harmonious nations we Canadians believe it to be.

This is my view on the Macleans article: blindlightbulb.tumblr.com/post/1556492535/macleans

Most white people demand privilege. In Singapore a white American woman flat out told a professional from India that he should leave his slot to a western expat and go back home to serve his country! Basically immigration should be a one-way street according to many white people. They have the right to work in Asia, but Asians should not have the right to work out west. When it suits them whites use Asians to fight against Affirmative Action. Asians can compete, so why cant you, they ask the black people. However, when it comes to too much Asian competition they want to restrict Asian admissions or Asians in work place and say that only the well rounded should be admitted. In the final analysis, most white people around the world are looking for privilege and special favors because of their skin color and this article just re-emphasizes that point. A cat wants milk, dog wants a bone and white people want privilege. However, having said that, Canada is among the least racist country in the world. In far flung, mostly white communities such as Manitoba and Newfoundland you hardly notice any racism. They are among the friendliest people on the face of the earth! You want racism come down to Alabama...for poor man's racism you can visit Cullman, for rich white people's anti-Asian racism try Mountain Brook. If you really want racist white people meet the whites pulling their kids out of schools in Cerritos, Milbrae or other Asian majority communities in California, and moving to mostly white communities and these are the whites who use Asians against blacks when it suits their purpose..ie., arguments against affirmative action!  

-- This is an article inciting racism against students of Asian ancestries, thus it is racist. -- Here's one of the letters I've sent to Macleans, with a question that they can not answer:Macleans,I don't think you answered the question, if my question is not clear, let me rephrase my question here, just one question.The article's sub-title is 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada'. Now, in the article we can see that obviously the university authorities dismissed the idea of the universities being 'too Asian'. Here you can find the quotes here{...“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 Asian students, my question is, where did you 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 is thinking about this stuff? Who is talking about this?Before this article titled 'Too Asian' published on Macleans, I never heard of or read anything about this 'Too Asian' issue. Could you explain, where did the 'worries' came from?-- Also in another letter, I've suggested that they should fire the two authors, Stephanie Findlay, and Nicholas Kohler, and their editor-in-chief for such racist crap....And just by looking at the subtitle of the article, 'Worries that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada', it's very clear what the authors of this article really have in mind. Probably they should have made it even clearer by saying that they 'Hope that efforts in the U.S. to limit enrollment of Asian students in top universities may migrate to Canada'! The two authors of this article are racially biased, they are lack of common senses and the basic qualities of being professional journalists who are responsible for our society. This is one reason, which is fairly enough, to fire these authors as staff working for Macleans. And 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....

what's most annoying of them besides the article itself, is that they won't let any more comments on their main article site. They should just take the article, itself, down instead of letting people comment more on it. Feels like the writers wrote this article out of anger - perhaps - and now they can't take the lash they got for doing so. 

Of course it is racist.. Didn't they say somewhere in the article "it is not being racist"? Only racist people say that to make themselves feel better.

So only racist people say something isn't racist? That is just plain weird. Do non-racist people charge around hrieking that everything is racist then?

fuck these racists  Stephanie Findlay and Nicholas Kohler 

The University of Victoria was apparently one of the institutions singled out for this.My son graduated from UVic with distinction and a double major in Engineering Computing Science and History in 2009.One of his 2nd year history assignments was a term paper on the Imperial Chinese Civil Service Exam system.Asian students often sought him out for C. Sc. team assignments. His command of written English was exceptional among engineering students and he consistently got top marks on tests and assignments. So much for Asians raising the bar for euro-Canadian students.He opted to go to the Engineering / Science convocation instead of Humanities. On of the Doctorates in Mechanical Engineering went to a Navy Officer from China, who wore his white Navy uniform under his graduation robe.My daughter graduated from UVic with distinction this year, double major in Earth and Ocean Sciences and in Chemistry. She has maintained friendships with high achieving Asian students going back to the Gifted Program in High School."Too Asian" didn't pose problems for either of my oldest children to keep up at UVic.I have seen people from Central Canada express reservations about Vancouver and BC in general not looking "Canadian". Time to get over that.I was in Toronto for an IBM DB Admin course during a very steamy week in May 1990. For some reason I was booked into a hotel by the North York Civic Center and ended up taking the subway and bus to Consumer's road. One day I worked my way past full seats and an aisle full of standing passengers to the back of the bus, where I found an empty seat beside someone who looked like he was from Haiti. Darned nice of all those Toronto folks to leave 1 empty seat for a guy from BC, or was that racism in action? Dozens of people standing in heat on that huge articulated bus, but 1 empty seat beside a black guy.

That is racism to the maxI can care less the number of times they mention they are not trying to be 'racist' in the article, most of the points they made are just unacceptable and unfair to Asian students. Some points even came out of nowhere!I've been tutoring math for years. Asians (Both Canadian and non-Canadian) DO work harder than the local white students, and they DESERVE to be where they are today.Whoever wrote that article must have written it out of jealousy. Just because we work harder for something doesn't mean we have to be racially insulted like that.Maclean should really be sued for what they said

I think that this article reflects more poorly on the white students than the Asians ones. It demonstrates that they are spoilt, entitled and damn lazy. I am not mad at Macleans for publishing this article, I actually thank them. It shines a great light on the so called tolerance of 'Canadians'.

Wow, people really need to learn how to READ. No where in the article does it say that Asian Canadians are 'taking white people's spots.' What it's pointing out is that some schools are becoming racially homogenous (Western - primarily white and Waterloo - primarily Asian) and that ain't a good thing. In a diverse place, no healthy school should be 'Too Asian' just as no one wants schools to be 'too white'. Get over it.

It true in some way of the article. But not all true he should do more research and get more fact and think carefully before he type that information up. I am Canadian born Chinese. I never sacrifice of time and freedom. I still have time to be involve in school, life, and at home. You just need to know how to balance.  Some Chinese like to study because they are nerd. Some like to be active. Some people study because of pressure at home. Some people want to study because they want a brighter future and success in life. Some just want to attend a certain college and university. Anyone can get into university unless they have some learning or mental disability.  If you had time for entertainment then you had time for study and homework. 

Okay I'm sorry guys, but the basic content of what is said it totally true. That being said, I do think some comments made in the article go too far. I don't think those two students should have had their voices posted in print as they clearly don't have the world experience to be in any kind of publication such as this. Having gone to a school that is 70% Asian (I'm white), I've found that our community people have come to be proud of their cultural background and embrace it. Everyone realizes the reality that some schools are more popular for those of a certain background, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Also, this argument of taking away spots from other 'Canadian' students requires more backing to have effect in my opinion. Do any of these students have some unfair advantage? No. Is it impossible for Canadians to compete? No. Do they have something to offer Canada by being in a Canadian University system? Yes yes yes. They are as much the leaders of tomorrow as anyone else.