Student threatened for pointing out that Asians do better than Hispanics academically

Associated Press:

A student's column in the Alhambra High School newspaper saying Hispanics lag behind Asians academically because they lack parent support has divided the campus and led to threats against the writer.

"He wrote an article saying that Mexicans are laggards," sophomore Janine Rubalcaba said Wednesday. "He can have his own opinion, but the school shouldn't let him write it. He should have kept it to himself if he thinks that about us."

Columnist Robin Zhou has been threatened with physical harm by other students, school authorities said. Teachers have discussed the column in class and one teacher, according to the Star-News, reportedly scrawled "Racist' on the article and pinned it on the chalkboard.

Despite the uproar, teachers and administrators said the senior's opinion piece was good for the school. Alhambra High School is 54 percent Asian and 38 percent Hispanic.

"There is much greater awareness now. My goal is not to sweep this under the carpet and get everything back like it was. This is something that needs to be discussed," principal Russell Lee-Sung said.

Zhou's "Nerd Rants" column in the March 22 issue of The Moor student newspaper said cultural factors such as "Hispanic parents who are well-meaning but less active" help explain the gap in academic performance between Asians and Hispanics.

"Is this suggesting that brown people cannot think on the level of white and yellow people? Absolutely not. But the difference is real, and it needs to be acknowledged and explained before it can be erased," Zhou wrote.

Journalism adviser Mark Padilla says it took a provocative column like Zhou's to stimulate a long overdue discussion. There was no argument about the achievement gap: the school's Hispanic students score significantly lower than Asian students on standardized tests.

While 44 percent of the school's Asian students take all the courses needed for admission to the University of California system, only 9 percent of Hispanic students enroll in all of them.

"It's interesting how the district's attempts at raising awareness of this achievement gap seems to have had a minimal effect on students, but one column can make a huge difference," Padilla said.

The principal met Wednesday with Padilla, Zhou and about 20 students to discuss the column and ways to narrow the achievement gap.

The Moor's next issue will include a four-page special section on the aftermath of the column with two pages devoted to letters from teachers and students.

Robin Zhou has learned a valuable lesson about journalism: you never get into trouble for saying politically-correct lies, only when you tell the truth.