In case you missed it, Asian Americans just crossed an educational milestone. For the first time, Asian Americans will form the largest group at one of the country’s best magnet schools. From the Washington Post:

At Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in the Alexandria area this year, more than 2,500 applicants vied for 485 seats. Asian American students got 219, or 45 percent of the total, while white students got 205, or 42 percent. About 38 percent of the school’s students were Asian American in the past school year.

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The success of Asian American students reflects the educational commitment found in many immigrant communities, particularly for second-generation students fluent in English and encouraged by upwardly mobile parents who came to the United States for higher education or professional positions.

However, only 4 percent — a paltry 19 students — of TJ’s entering class were African American or Latino:

The demographic imbalance in top public magnet schools has become a sensitive issue, however. Black and Hispanic students often are vastly under-represented. Many of the schools struggle to reflect the diversity of the wider population while maintaining a transparent admissions process with uniformly high standards.

Magnet schools offer a critical gateway to success. While it will not be easy, all schools must develop a long-term strategy to ensure that every student can succeed:

Minority advocates and education experts say raising black and Hispanic enrollment at T.J. must be a long-term effort.

“If you have been behind the eight ball since kindergarten,” an admissions policy or a middle school preparation program is not going to help much, said John Johnson, a member of the minority student oversight committee. He said parents and communities must push as soon as possible to put students on a faster academic track.

I agree.

– Gautam Dutta

Update (July 11): For a different take check out 8Asians.com.

Posted by gautam on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 6:31 pm.