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11.20.2007

asian parents sue tutoring program for discrimination

Three Chinese parents in Brooklyn are filing a federal lawsuit challenging a popular city-run tutoring program on the grounds it discriminates against Asians: IN 'WRONG' MINORITY. The Specialized High School Institute helps prepare gifted but "underrepresented" minorities take the competitive exam to get into top city high schools like Stuyvesant or Brooklyn Tech. But the parents say it's unfair and illegal for the Department of Education to limit elegibility to Blacks and Latinos. The Department, however, has always insisted anyone who qualifies for a free lunch could apply.

Peggy Foo-Ching begs to differ. She says her 12-year-old daughter's application last year was ignored, and that rules were changed to bar her daughter from participating. According to the Post, a Department of Education internal memo obtained by lawyers trying the case apparently indicated that eligibility criteria excludes whites and Asians. You get in the way of an Asian parent trying to give their kid an educational edge, and somebody's going to get in trouble...