Is that what ‘racial equity’ has come to mean?

There are too many Asian kids in New York City’s unique and selective “exam schools,” intended for high achievers, that city’s leaders are saying.

Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal reports that progressive mayor Bill de Blasio “wants to scrap the admissions test to achieve more racial balance in the classroom.”

He has decried the outcomes as evidence of “massive segregation.”

Asian students, who comprise only 16% of the New York’s public school system, were awarded a majority of the openings, 51%. Riley continues:

But black and Hispanic students of previous generations were accepted to the city’s exam schools at significantly higher rates than today. 

It is not systemic racism but changes in black cultural behaviors in recent decades that offer the more plausible explanation for widening racial gaps in education and other areas.

The Asian student outcomes we see year after year aren’t the result of luck or “privilege.” They stem from hard work and a culture that prioritizes learning. Research shows that Asian kids read more books, watch less television, and study longer. In poorer families, money goes toward test-prep instead of $200 sneakers. … “For Chinese immigrants,” [a researcher writes], “education for the next generation is close to a religion. It opens the path to a good life.”

Blaska’s Bottom Line: Sometimes it’s more about achievement than race. Then again, say that in Madison and you get this kind of blowback on your Facebook page:

Anyone know this Karl Essert guy? (Asking for a friend.)