Nine years have taught me... Part II- Actual Lesson

If there is something to be told from previous post, it's that standardized test score does not measure a pupil's aptitude for pursuing knowledge, let alone using it as a criteria for determining a teacher's pay. If this were true and adopted nine years ago, my teacher would have been really poor and would probably be forced out of a job. But I did alright since; I got a job at Boeing right after college, and got accepted to a respectful law school.

I drew on my experience to prove one thing: Common standards in reading and math are irrelevant in the education reform debate. These standards are set by people whose beliefs are in the absolute meaning of the score metrics; however, school performance as evaluated by English and math scores does not show a student's alternative interest or ability; even within the standards themselves, metrics do not show correlation between English and Math score. Should a school be punished because of their below-average English performance or be rewarded from a higher-than-average math performance?

I admit my opinion is biased. It is so, because this is the only experience I know by heart. But so are the politicians' opinion; it will only be from their experiences they can possibly speak of. And just of how many of these politicians can relate to the low achieving children of the troubling school?

Nine years have taught me... Part I

I wanted to write a blog on my view on the education reform program such as "Race to the Top" purposed by President Obama. In doing so, I had to research perspectives from local schools, students, and of course, the politicians. The federal grants for these struggling school aren't of small amount- but $4.35 billion dollars- enough to completely overhaul school system of any state for good. "Race to the Top" program, with all its strings attached, in my humble opinion, is yet another quick and ineffective approach to fix failing schools.

Anyway, my finding is reserved for another blog. For now, here's an excerpt from my diary written nine years ago:

"...This week is the second week since the school starts. My sister had a test (actually, a group test), and they won the second place. I should be proud at her... but I jealous at her too...."

That was from nine years ago, one and half years after I came to the America. Consider the broken grammar an impressive improvement in English coming from someone who just began making sense of English words and sentences. Did I tell you that I was a junior in high school when I wrote that? Yep, I wrote like an elementary when I was in high school, preparing for SAT at the same time... I scored 320 on my SAT verbal eventually, a humiliating score knowing that I could get 200 just by leaving my name on the test. On the same year, I scored 5 on AP Calculus BC.

Hello Tuition!

I finally felt the financial burden of a higher education. For the first time in my life, I forked over a large sum of 10k to pay for my first quarter tuition.

The past few months were proven hard for me, for that my business hasn't gone as prosperous as I expected. As of September, as I packed and shipped my last order to my customer from Georgia, I made a decision to close down FU Wear Asia. It was a decision I knew I had to make soon.

Sitting on top of the kitchen counter were hundreds of fliers awaiting to be posted on bulletin board; locking away in the cabinet sat a stack of my business cards- a startling reminder of my past enthusiasm. The truth was that I cannot afford to spend my tuition money on this side hobby. When there is no steady steam of income, any hobby is costly, and any expense is magnified. The conservative part of me tells me, I need to quit.

No one likes to be a quitter, but I'd like to feel no shame in admitting that I shouldn't have crossed path with the fashion business. Liking fashion was one matter, actually succeeding in managing one was another. Now the business-deal is settled, however, I don't feel any relief from my money situation. It is not the immediate lacking of money that bothers me- my savings for the past five years have prepared me for times like this. I know in the not so far future, say three years, I will need to ask my family for money. I haven't asked since I graduated from high school; to a certain point, I forgot how to ask. I wonder, will my mom be willing to support her daughter's dream- a luxury my mother never owned? Will my dad be able to look beyond the cost of today and invest in my future? Will my sister, who is one year older than me, be following my path and expecting my parents to support her dream of pharmacy school too, if she chooses to pursue?

I don't have any answer. At times, my pride is too big to even sputter a sound of my questions. I will think about these when time comes. I will leave these to tomorrow. Because tomorrow will be another day.