Insufficient Funding: The Cause of Disadvantage for Asian American students

Andrew Nguyen

ASA 002 A03

Week 3

            Asian Americans Advancing Justice's Race Still Matters infographic provides interesting statistics which expose how much of a role race still plays in higher education. The most interesting statistic is that over 70% of white students attend schools comprised mostly of white students and over 69% of Asian American, Pacific Islander, Black, and Latino students attend schools comprised mostly of minorities. In other words, there is a clear separation between white and non-white students regarding what kind of school they attend. Additionally, more money is provided for white-dominant schools. I see this as main cause of the poor performance of Asian American students. The remaining non-white-dominant schools fail to provide Asian American students adequate education, not to mention the environment of these schools – dense with peers receiving the same poor treatment. Consequently, important classes are not offered, test scores drop below that of white students, the dropout rate increases, and UC eligibility decreases. If the issue of insufficient funding were eliminated, the performance of students in non-white-dominant schools would definitely improve. What are some ways to provide better funding or opportunities for Asian American, Pacific Islander, and other minorities in their schools so they could improve to the level of competence?