Lowell High School: So This Is Diversity?
Since San Francisco’s Lowell High School is getting news for hosting tomorrow’s private indoctrination session lecture for students by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, we decided to reacquaint ourselves with a school that once was great.
With a rich history, dating back to 1856, the school spawned many successful individuals. In the first two quarter centuries since 1900, a few famous names include: Walter Haas (Levis), Carol Channing (actress), William Hewlett (HP computers), Don Fisher (Gap) and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, just to name a few.
More recently, they can point to comedian Margaret Cho.
(But, actually, she got kicked out for 0.60 GPA, and her parents were no happy)
Looking at their list of Major Donors, it’s an impressive roster of Who’s Who in San Francisco, including Richard Blum, wealthy developer and husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Truth be told: From 1900 to the early ’70s, Lowell was primarily filled with Jewish students because it offered rigorous education in a non-parochial setting. By achieving excellence, they continued raising the academic caliber and made it so successful.
So, what does the school look like today?
According to Lowell’s 2003-2004 Profile, we learn the following:
Lowell High School has an ethnically diverse student body whose families represent a wide range of socio-economic levels.
ETHNIC DISTRIBUTION (2003-2004 – SFUSD)
-
African-American 2.4%
Chinese 55.4%
Filipino 4.8%
Japanese 1.1%
Korean 1.%
Latino 4.5%
Native American 0.4%
Other Non-White 13.2%
(Vietnamese, Cambodian, Indian, etc.)
Other White 16.7%
If you add up all “Asian” students (including “Other Non-White”), you get 75.5%.
Add to that 4.5% Latino and 2.4% black (and don’t forget the 0.4% Native American, which almost didn’t qualify for an honorable mention), you get a whopping 82.8% non-white student population. (Can’t really call them “minorities” with these numbers)
And this they consider “ethnically diverse?” Right.
Wonder what Lowell’s Principal Paul Cheng or Dean of Students Janet Tse thinks of the current student body.
Well, at least we know what most Chinese parents think. In an old edition of ColorLines, we find Jeff Chang explaining what it means to be On the Wong Side:
By all accounts, San Francisco’s Lowell High School is one of the nation’s top public high schools. To many, especially Asian Americans, attending the highly competitive magnet school is a symbol of achievement and a source of pride.
. . .More important, Lowellâ€â€the state’s top feeder school into the University of California systemâ€â€is seen as a door to that increasingly scarce resourceâ€â€access to elite universities. The school has long been the site of bitterly contested battles over educational access.
In February [of 1999], a small group of Chinese Americans, supported by anti-affirmative action right-wingers, won a settlement in a lawsuit over Lowell’s admissions policiesâ€â€overturning three decades of integration efforts in San Francisco’s schools. As a result, 50 percent fewer blacks and Latinos will enter Lowell next yearâ€â€including only a handful of black males in an entering freshman class of over 600.
Looks like they don’t have to worry about things anymore.
Ain’t it funny how “minorities” use the rhetoric of “celebrating diversity” while advancing their own agendas? It’s all good ’til one race gets ahead of the other.
According to AsianWeek:
The San Francisco Unified Schoold District (SFUSD) is in the first stages of drafting and eventually executing the plan, which was mandated by the 1994 lawsuit Ho v. SFUSD. District parents Carl Ho, Charlene Wong Loen, and Jane Chen charged the school district and the NAACP of discriminating against their children based on race. This was a backlash against the 1979 suit NAACP v. SFUSD that settled in a 1983 “consent decree†that integrated public schools in San Francisco. The 1979 case set a precedent that required schools not to exceed 45 percent of any race/ethnicity in one location. Students were bused from home districts to schools in other districts to offset racial majorities.
Angered that students were pushed aside from their first, second, and third choice of schools, Chinese parents filed a class action suit that would eliminate the quotas. The parents won the case and SFUSD is currently phasing out desegregation in public schools.
It’s all about social-engineering. Nothing more.
So, we wonder: what will Cindy Sheehan tell the students?
We’ve got a pretty good guess.
But more importantly, how does the alumni feel about Lowell High School using their students’ time (and tax payers’ money) to sponsor the event?
Feel free to let them know:
Lowell High School
1101 Eucalyptus Drive
San Francisco, CA 94132
(415) 759-2730 (TEL)
(415) 759-2742 (FAX)
sch697@muse.sfusd.edu (E-MAIL)
Phone: (415)759-7830
Email: lowellaa@lowellalumni.org
Website: www.lowellalumni.org
San Francisco Unified School District
555 Franklin St.
San Francisco, California 94102
(415) 241-6000 (TEL)
Website: www.sfusd.edu
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November 17th, 2006 at 2:40 am
Your whining is possibly the most irritating part of this ludicus attempt at intellegent thought. Firstly, you’re attacking LoweLL as if it has wronged you in some way. You pretend to defend other minorities such has African Americans and Latinos, when in reality it is easy to see that you are a reck necked, skin headed hill billy, and you are merely looking out for the white population of students. You whine as if somehow, Asian students did something to rig the system to get accepted into LoweLL, which is a FINE institute. Well they did do something, and it’s called hard work. Students get accepted into LoweLL based on academic performance and merit. Perhaps caucasian students are just not performing up to standards? Instead of whining about how a few white kids can’t get into LoweLL, you should be focusing on the fact that in virtually every other high school in the country, the demographics are completely opposite. You do not get to whine about having 17% white students at LoweLL until you fix the fact that in Nashville or Talahasee there are less than 1% of Asians. Acceptance is based on merit, and face it, the 55% Chinese population DESERVE to be there, as well at the 17% of white students. I truely hope that this has offended you, as your article has offended me.
November 17th, 2006 at 9:30 am
No offense taken. In fact, thanks for proving our point. Your colorful yet inarticulate response shows that you are deluded by stereotypes (”reck [sic] necked, skin headed hill billy” - nice) and incapable of seeing reality for what it is: just the facts. You are emotional but irrational. Perfect example as a product of public education. There’s a reason why analytical skills are no longer encouraged: vote Democrat.
Oh, by the way, students don’t get into school just based on merit: they get in based on race. But that’s another matter. Keep reading.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I agree that the first poster should not have called you ignorant hicks. But explain to me the fairness of having a system in which Chinese students have to score higher on a test to get into the school, when African-American and Hispanic students don’t, and explain to me why aiming to get rid of this wrong. Yes, it’s self-interest on behalf of those Chinese students who don’t get in with test scores that would have sufficed for those of other races. But as I’m sure most conservatives would agree, self-interest isn’t automatically negative. After all, isn’t that patriotism is? Self-interest on behalf of the country?
January 7th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
*aiming to get rid of this IS wrong. Sorry.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
what does the essay have to be when you go to lowell high scholl school?
November 16th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Add to that 4.5% Latino and 2.4% black (and don’t forget the 0.4% Native American, which almost didn’t qualify for an honorable mention), you get a whopping 82.8% non-white student population. (Can’t really call them “minorities” with these numbers)
What can I say? I agree that they’re obviously not minorities in the school. What does that tell us? Asians are just better academically than Non-Asians. Even Asian parents are better than Non-Asian parents. They act and they succeed in getting their children in.
The age of conservatives is over. Welcome to the new era. :)
November 16th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Jews, Asians, and everyone else are created equal. It’s disturbing that you highlight the accomplishments of Jewish people while you belittle Asian people. Whenever you complain about an issue with race/culture attached, you will always be the losing argument.
November 16th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I would like to ask if during the course of your research for this piece if you were able to look up previous entering freshman admission standards and criteria for the various ethnicities. Was an examination of population trends in San Francisco also considered in your analysis of the applicant classes? Another possible cause for the change since the 70s could be related to the rise of private schools that cater to parents who are apathetic about the public school system.
Another question I had was whether your post is advocating the reinstatement of a quota based system? Doesn’t that run counter to the idea of a merit based educational system or is it more of a comment related to the upcoming speech by a person of dubious fame?