If you missed this excellent article in the Los Angeles Times (as I had until a reader sent it to me), go read it now.
It discusses, very well, what happened in a multicultural southern California high school when an Asian-American student wrote a well-researched column for the school paper about the achievement gap between Asian and Hispanic students.
John, more interesting than the politically correct outrage the student faced is some of the science the remainder of the article presents.
Quoting:
The first variable wasn’t parental involvement, as Zhou concluded, but something more subtle: parental expectation. Steinberg asked students what was the worst grade they could get without their parents getting angry. For Asian children, it was a B-plus; for Latino and African American children, it was a C.
WOW! If it is “expectations” more than “involvement,” then race preferences (lower expectations for an entire group) are exactly the opposite of what is needed. That’s a powerful indictment of preferences — I’d like to see the study now.
Chetly – Good point! I made a similar point in criticizing Claude Steele’s theory of “stereotype threat,” here: