JEDI aka Equity, Diversity, Inclusion + Justice.

 I was at a conference years ago (well actually it was right before Covid so it feels like years ago) where during a happy hour type mixer, cocktails in hand, a group of academics discussed Equity and Inclusion at our respective colleges. One professor who teaches in Los Angeles said,  "Our school calls it JEDI training- adding Justice to the mix".   Cool acronyms can go a long way.  

Education is so much more thoughtful and overall different than when I was in school; elementary, where there were only a handful of Asian kids and we were all derogatorily called "chinks" no matter that you were from Vietnam or Japan; where the majority of the black kids at my snooty white high school got bussed in from outside the suburbs of St. Louis county.

Since I began teaching remote from home Zoom, I have two distinct sets of students:  The American Domestic section full of excuses and time management issues and the other one.  The Asian class who are disciplined beyond imagination, and where not understanding the language does not hinder their learning. I see the stark differences between the two and it's all about the education.. Not because of the student's race or ethnicity.  The American Asian students are not as disciplined as the Asian students from Asia.  The freedoms of democracy is harming our children's education.  We have too many rights and too many excuses. 

I've been wondering about the stark differences between the education system here and in Asia and realize that we spend so much of our time and brain space trying to get to square one and leveling the playing field.  Where as in Asia, where there is a homogeneous student body, they don't have to deal with these issues in their curriculum- thus leaving more space for academic learning not just social/emotional topics.

There is a lot of problems and solutions that are hard to implement here- 

For example, it's crazy to think that one standardized test when you are  4 or 10 or 13 years old can determine which school you will go to.  Instead why is it not possible to have all schools be at the level of the testing to get into schools?

I am glad we worked our asses off so my kid could go to a school where the principle is open and approachable. But we had resources not everyone has.  They are discussing changing the entrance criteria for admission, but think it will be a long long time before it can change.

A little snippet of the email from our principle: