bounceswoosh
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I've had an Asian American ski instructor at Breck.
I'm just going to ask - fully recognizing that there are over 800 instructors at Breck, but I've seen very few non-whites - was it JJ?
I've had an Asian American ski instructor at Breck.
I think so. If he was teaching in 2005/6.
My honors classes consist of mostly Chinese-American, Indian-American, and Pakistani students....very few white students in the advanced science courses anymore.
This is quite interesting, out of curiosity, what do you attribute to the lack of white students in the advanced science courses there? It's great that it's more diverse, but I wonder why there would be the drop off in the white population in these classes too. I personally always found my high school honors and AP science/math classes to be racially diverse, but more heavily gender specific with a higher male to female ratio. College was the same way. The funny part is since I've been working in the industry, it always seems to be more women in the workplace than men, still somewhat racially diverse.. although I also do tend to see more men in the management types of roles in the same places.
Very simply: Family culture and values. Asian, Indian, Pakistani, Middle Eastern parents have a deep respect for education and the hard work that goes along with it. And for the most part, for teachers. They view education as something to be earned, while white families see education as something that is "given." I know I'm speaking in broad terms, but after 25 years, of teaching, I don't know how else to articulate it. I see a huge amount of entitlement with many of my white students that just do not exist with my "brown" students.
On our trip to the state science fair competition this year, 24/25 students were "brown." One was white. Same for my honors classes rosters, lists of students receiving awards, etc. With these statistics, there is simply no other explanation other than differences in culture/value placed on education.
At Christmas and the end of the year, it's common for me to get thank-you cards and small gifts (and some, not so small) from my Asian/Indian/Pakistani/Middle Eastern students. White students? Hardly ever.
The percentages of African American and Hispanic students taking higher level science courses is also increasing. Some of these students, to their parents' chagrin, struggle with juggling academic success and racial identity.....they still want to be "cool" and doing well in chemistry class is not "cool." Luckily, their parents do not put up with this mentality and want their children to grow up and succeed.
Interestingly, the lowest-level science courses now consist of predominantly white students. And their parents are completely disengaged from the educational process.
As far as gender, I see more and more female students in the science and technology courses than ever, to the point that honors courses have a higher proportion of females. Again, on our state science fair trip, we had 18 females and 7 males attend. My husband, who is a geology professor, has more female geology students attend graduate schools than males, every year.
A weird side note: I took a survey through Harvard University on unconscious bias. The result? I identify more with black people than with white people (I'm white). Not sure if that has to do with my education, books I've read, or that fact that I've spent many months (at different times) among black South Africans in their country. That said, I'd never pretend to know what it's like to be black, at all.
So what can the ski industry do? That I don’t know. Put more diversity in ads would definitely help but there’s so many hurdles within our own community that makes it hard thing to even want to try.
I also live in the most expensive public school district and it is the norm to pay for tutors not b/c your kid is doing poorly but b/c you want them to excel and be the top of the class.
The percentages of African American and Hispanic students taking higher level science courses is also increasing. Some of these students, to their parents' chagrin, struggle with juggling academic success and racial identity.....they still want to be "cool" and doing well in chemistry class is not "cool." Luckily, their parents do not put up with this mentality and want their children to grow up and succeed.
Interestingly, the lowest-level science courses now consist of predominantly white students. And their parents are completely disengaged from the educational process.
It does seem skewed, but it's my reality at school. If I could, I'd love to post the names of kids on my honors roster and who participated in science fair.....it's just remarkable to see how lopsided it is.This is very interesting. I myself grew up quite poor and I'm also the first person in my family to attend college. My parents put a very large emphasis on education being the way to a better life for me than what they had and financial freedom that they could only dream of at that time, but I had to navigate what that meant and the correct path to take because they hadn't had the same experiences or high level classes I embarked on so they couldn't offer much help or guidance beyond encouragement. I was very motivated to take in everything I possibly could and to excel at as high a level as I could all throughout my schooling. B's were not good enough, honors classes weren't good enough if there were advanced and AP options etc. My parents wanted me to attend a catholic high school at the time as I went to catholic school from K-8 grade, but I refused because the catholic high school didn't offer any AP classes. My trajectory was my own, but I was also very much taught to respect education and those in a position of authority, which includes any teacher or instructor I've ever had. It's baffling to me the things I hear nowadays from teachers of parents blaming everything on them if their child does poorly along with the entitlement that's been bred into this generations with helicopter parents that even tag along for job interviews, etc. I don't understand how one generation obviously worked hard to be in successful positions and places in life, yet they forgot that part and think their kids shouldn't have to do the same to be successful and that it should be handed to them. It's sad that students are not taking advantage of the opportunities in front of them at such a young age which can have large consequences for competing on a larger stage when applying to college and beyond that. Not to say that everyone should take the highest level science classes or needs to, but your example seems so severely skewed that it's pretty surprising and alarming to me as an outsider.
I don't think it's just your school, although there is undoubtedly a regional factor at work. My husband has volunteered with a non-profit set up to promote STEM education in North Carolina K-12 schools. They give out awards to teachers and students at an annual banquet. The award winners come from all over the state. Most of the students honored are non-white, predominantly Chinese-American or Indian-American. While many are from major metropolitan areas like Raleigh or Charlotte, there are some from smaller cities as well. For the Student Leadership award, 7 of the 10 winners from the last 10 years were girls.It does seem skewed, but it's my reality at school. If I could, I'd love to post the names of kids on my honors roster and who participated in science fair.....it's just remarkable to see how lopsided it is.
I don't think it's just your school, although there is undoubtedly a regional factor at work. My husband has volunteered with a non-profit set up to promote STEM education in North Carolina K-12 schools. They give out awards to teachers and students at an annual banquet. The award winners come from all over the state. Most of the students honored are non-white, predominantly Chinese-American or Indian-American. While many are from major metropolitan areas like Raleigh or Charlotte, there are some from smaller cities as well. For the Student Leadership award, 7 of the 10 winners from the last 10 years were girls.
I understood what you meant. I was just giving another example from a different region where people might not expect so many Asian-American students.Oh, I didn't say it was just my school....from attending regional/state/national events, I know it's a phenomenon pretty much everywhere. I just meant that's what I see at my school, since that's where I work. :-)
Interesting . . . titles in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. Clips of an Asian-American wife and mother with a white husband and their kid, sit-ski white woman, Hispanic man who likes fishing, and an African-American instructor with kids on the slopes. Wonder how they decided who should receive the video? (just musing, not expecting an answer)Well, this showed up in my In Box today.