No thread about Korean-Americans could be complete without Tim Kang.
Posted on 07/11/2012 4:21:26 PM PDT by La Lydia
Eleven-year-old Woosuk Kim sees his mother only three or four times a year...Woosuk's father brought him and his little brother to America two years ago to attend Hancock Park Elementary, a public school in Los Angeles. The boys' mother stayed in South Korea to keep working.
Goose families prefer to migrate to English-speaking countries. ...And in the U.S., one of the favorite "port of entry" schools is Hancock Park.
"I would say that we have a very significant Korean population," says Principal Ashley Parker. "They start first grade, second grade — we have new fifth-graders coming from Korea."
A generation ago, Hancock Park was predominantly Jewish. Now it's 37 percent ethnic Korean. The school doesn't track the students' citizenship, so it's impossible to know how many are Korean nationals; but they've become a significant population in this school...
Still, given the painful budget cuts in Los Angeles public schools, there has also been some grumbling.
"They were feeling like, wait a second, you know, why are these families driving up in these expensive cars and dressing so well — they should be giving to the school,' " Cooper says. "So there was a little bit of animosity. You felt it at the meetings; you didn't feel it on the playground so much..."
In some other countries, like New Zealand, goose families are charged to attend public schools. Cooper says she wouldn't want to see that in the U.S.
"It doesn't sound like a very American way to go," she says. "It's a free country with a free public education, and if you start charging people, they're going to start feeling more like visitors. They're not going to be invested in the school and the country in the same way."...
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
At least with the Korean kids in the room, somebody is actually getting educated.
Koreans come here, educate themselves, obey the laws, maintain their families, and work like dogs to get ahead and make substantial contributions to the nation’s economy.
American needs far more people like them, and FAR fewer of... uh... the other kind.
Oh, and by the way - they go through the process, they DO NOT sneak across the border.
I coulda been a millionaire if I had the work ethic of a Korean!
The Korean kids should probably be teaching.
Also, unlike the more numerous Black and Hispanic people they have no minority status..
No thread about Korean-Americans could be complete without Tim Kang.
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