the involvement of asian parents

Some folks out there might relate to this... The New York Times has an interesting article on Asian parents and the kind of role they play in their kids' education. Namely, how involved they are outside of just pushing for that 4.0 GPA: School District Tries to Lure Asian Parents.

The story focuses on schools in Jericho, New York, where teachers and administrators began noticing an interesting cultural chasm: many Asian American parents, whose children now make up a third of the district's enrollment, only showed up on campus when their children were in trouble.

Take, for instance, Jericho High School's 90-member orchestra, which had become about 70 percent Asian American (let's face it—pretty typical), but still played for a mostly white audience at concerts with many empty seats. Where are all the Asian parents?

It's not that they don't care... it's just that they don't understand. A lot of Asian parents, having come from a culture where performing well on tests was the only school activity that really mattered, don't see much point in making sports games, back-to-school nights and PTA meetings a priority.

Does this situation sound familiar? Now Jericho is trying to lure Asian parents into the schools with free English classes and a multicultural advisory committee. The PTA has been trying to recruit more minority members and groom them for leadership roles.

That said, I really have to give credit to my mom. Looking back, she was busy as hell, but always tried to squeeze in time to make it to my extracurricular activities and parent-teacher conferences. She didn't always make it on time, but she tried for my sake. Props, Mom.