City: Santa Clara
Interns Training in 2019 National Leadership Conference
1) Why is College Admission controversial?
Asian particularly Chinese culture attach great importance to education as a means of enhancing a person’s worth and career. China’s imperial civil service examination played an important role in Chinese history of education. It created a group of well-educated officials serving the country. Many Asian American parents, both rich and poor, are willing to make great sacrifices to have their children attend and graduate from elite colleges.
The admission policies of Harvard (and other elite universities) are not transparent and have higher bars for AAPI applicants, requiring them to have higher SAT scores, scoring them lower on personal traits and in general placing higher “barriers” on them.
2) Does an elite college degree set you up for life?
Many parents think that a degree from an elite college will make a lifetime difference for the graduate. However, for most students, it simply doesn’t matter, according to many and notably, a paper by Stacy Dale, a mathematician at Mathematica Policy Research, and Alan Krueger, an economist at Princeton University*
Other researchers have concluded that “C” students do better than “A”s later on in life. C’s are not necessarily less intellectually capable, they just do not place such a high value on letter grades. Furthermore, C’s are not afraid to fail and are willing to be innovative and think outside the box.
3) How does the University of California handle “Diversity”?
In the early 1970s, Allan Bakke sued the UC Davis Medical School for their quota system. His case went to the Supreme Court which ruled 5-4 that “quota” is unconstitutional while promotion of “Diversity” is allowed.
The University of California has a policy of admitting all students graduating in the top 9% according to their admission index.
* https://www.nber.org/papers/w171592019.05.24
1． What is Affirmative Action?
It all started with the Civil Rights Movements that changed the Immigration Act which allowed Asians and other non-Europeans immigration to the US. In 1961 President Kennedy signed EO #10925, strengthened in 1965 by President Johnson with EO #11246 which requires government employers to take “affirmative action” to “hire without regard to race, religion and national origin” to prevent employers from discriminating against members of disadvantaged groups. In 1967, gender was added to the anti-discrimination list. Affirmative Actions are important in leveling the playing field in the workplace and in College Admission. The latter has been a divisive issue for Asian Americans!
2．Has Affirmative Action benefited Women and Minorities?
From 1972–1993, % of Female:
– Architects from 3% to 19%;
– Doctors from 10% to 22%;
– Lawyers from 4% to 23%;
– Engineers from less 1% to nearly 9%;
– Chemists from 10% to 30%;
– College faculty from 28% to 42%.
Similarly, it has benefited African and Hispanic Americans, many have entered the executive ranks. Now Women and minorities are running for the Presidency of the US.
3．How can Asian Americans take advantage of Affirmative Action?
Up to recently, Asian Americans did not have political savvy nor power to take advantage of Affirmative Action. In 2006, Candidate Obama signed a six-part questionnaire from 80-20 PAC promising to evaluate data on Asian American and level the playing field.
As a result, Obama appointed many Asians, notably, Steven Chu to run the Department of Energy, Gary Locke as Ambassador to China, Preet Bharara as US Attorney, Denny Chin to 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Kal Penn and Hines Ward as Public Liaisons and tried but failed to appoint Goodwin Liu to 9th Circuit Court.
Moderated by Chuck Ng, Director of Community Outreach and Development for Civic Leadership USA (CLUSA), this panel focused on the importance of civic leadership at local, state and national levels. C.C. Yin, Founder of APAPA (Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs), which is currently strongest in California, is actively expanding his organization to additional states. Anthony Ng, Executive Director of CLUSA, emphasized that social enterprises must make money to provide scalability, even if they are non-profits. Amy Kwok, Founder and CEO of PenguinSmart, spoke about using medical technology to do social good in her work with children who have communication delays. Margaret Conley, Executive Director of Asia Society Northern California, organizes events in 14 centers worldwide to bridge understanding between Asia and the U.S, despite the headlines in the news about China-U.S. relationships. David Wu, the former congressman from Oregon, described the government as “not very good at innovation,” and cited the involvement of the private sector in the successful rollout of Obamacare.
The energy level at the conference was high, with the noticeable buzz in the hallways and conference rooms. The attendees “loved the agenda” and the opportunities to network with entrepreneurs and investors, and looks forward to an even larger vent next year.
The forum closed with a performance by the top 10 Indian American dancers from the Abhinaya Dance Company, who gave an interpretation of “I Have a Dream,” the life of Martin Luther King and his leadership in the African American community. The performance reflected American multi-ethnic diversity, and the challenges minorities face in gaining civic leaders
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The forum closed with a performance by the top 10 Indian American dancers from the Abhinaya Dance Company, who gave an interpretation of “I Have a Dream,” the life of Martin Luther King and his leadership in the African American community. The performance reflected American multi-ethnic diversity, and the challenges minorities face in gaining civic leadership.
The panel of Asian American Community Leaders
The panel discussion moderated by Joel Wong, the editor of CLUSA, provided the viewpoints of established community leaders, with a focus on political involvement. Cathy Peng, CEO of ROCS Global, spoke about the low voting turnout of Chinese Americans and her work with United China to improve this form of civic participation. Angelica Cortez, Founder of LEAD Filipino, works with Filipino to build coalitions with the first and second generation students, as well as with other Filipino organizations. Soma Chatterjee, the Diversity Ambassador for India Currents, cited the successful election of Mason Fong, who is the first Asian to serve on the Sunnyvale city council. Soma also stressed that media coverage is a powerful force for building awareness.
All community leaders stressed the importance of civic participation and building coalitions among groups. Getting involved requires showing up consistently at meetings, and getting to know others.
