Minnesota collects data on K-12 student performance. We understand the intent is to measure the performance of schools in teaching our children. In the last decade, a study funded by the federal government concluded that the data should be “disaggregated”, broken into sub-populations to ensure that resources are spent on the areas and students where they are most needed and can have the biggest impact.

Taken to its extreme, data disaggregation can be used to determine which ethnic groups within our society will be granted special privileges in the belief that the result will be greater equality of educational outcomes and greater diversity within our workplaces.

On September 25, Chuck Li, President of the Chinese-American Alliance, will speak at our dinner program. In the picture to the right, Chuck Li is standing third from the right, next to Jeff Johnson and Doug Wardlow.  He will tell us why he and many other Chinese-Americans in Minnesota do not believe that ethnic identity should be the basis for setting school policies, assigning education resources, or defining student quotas.

He will be joined by Dongfeng Qi, Sheng Zhong, Sifang Wu, Lijin Xu and Jun Yang of Education Policy Observers to describe why they believe that focusing on ethnic identity avoids the real causes of poor educational performance. It risks dividing us along ethnic and racial lines and does not promote the common good.

Our September 25 program will be held in the Fellowship Hall of the Calvary Lutheran Church, 6817 Antrim Rd, Edina, MN 55439. The evening will begin at 6:00 pm with an opportunity to welcome our presenters and greet one another after the summer break. At 6:30 pm, we will make available a light meal of sandwiches, chips, dessert, and a beverage.

Please RSVP at the bottom of this page to let us know if you will join us for a light meal or if you will be coming just for the presentation. The presentation will start at 7:00 pm.

Posted by David Clynes on ,