FT: Affirmative action in education fails majority

Letter to the FT (July 12, 2023) I was a bottom one-percenter, literally born on the streets of China to peasant parents, grew up in poverty in the west and arrested multiple times as a teenager -- I also attended Princeton University ("The moral bankruptcy of Ivy League America", Opinion, July 6). Although the US Supreme Court ruled to disallow race-based affirmative action, the history of similar policies -- notably proposition 209 in California, which banned race as a factor for college admissions -- and the present climate in higher education suggest that the Ivy League establishment will find other (non-race based) ways to continue to get their desired mix of students, in which Asians still end up being the biggest losers. Luce points to favouritism for white people due to that group receiving 65 per cent of athletic scholarships -- however, this number is roughly in line with their share of the overall US population. That this argument even surfaced shows the skewed view many have, perhaps in part because of the higher proportion of black people in major US sports. Nevertheless, Luce is on point that the affirmative action debate in its present form does nothing for the…

PAW: Ice hockey and more / Baker Rink more than just a hockey heaven

Letter to the Princeton Alumni Weekly (March 8, 2023) IN RESPONSE TO:  For 100 Years Baker Rink Has Been Hockey Heaven It was great to read about the role that Baker Rink has played at Princeton over the years (Sports, January issue). I was part of the Noontime Hockey group when I was a student back in the early 2000s. I also played intramural hockey at Baker during my time. One year the team I organized (named “A Bunch of Grad Students”) won the championship, surprising our undergraduate opponents who thought that they would walk over us — we were a team of mostly Canadians. When I went back several years ago for Reunions, I made it a point to take my skates with me so that I could get back on the ice. The article did, however, forget to mention another notable activity at Baker Rink: broomball. Not sure of its status now, but back in my time it was the most popular intramural sport on campus, with perhaps two dozen teams registered. It was played in sneakers but on the ice, and with a “broom” and a large soft ball. The ice was a great equalizer, as athletic…

FT: Swedish PM’s Chinatown quip at odds with the data

Letter to the FT (September 7, 2022) If Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson were familiar with crime statistics by immigrant groups, she would not take the view that her country would be better off without its Chinatowns (“Sweden playground shooting shapes voter concerns”, Report, September 3). The Danes have collected (and published) data on criminality by immigrant groups. A 2016 study by the Danish national statistical office shows that first generation Chinese immigrants have criminality rates more than a quarter below the Danish average. Based on patterns for other East Asian immigrant groups and in other geographies, criminality rates will fall to less than half the level for the Danish population as a whole, for second generation Chinese immigrants. This phenomenon holds in Sweden as well. Not all immigration is equal. Kai L Chan Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Article as it appeared online. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2022. FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.

G&M: Namely…

Letter to the Globe & Mail (September 4, 2021) Re What’s In A Name? For ‘Gifted’ Programs, A Problem (Aug. 28): Back in the 1980s in Toronto, I was part of the “gifted” program in elementary school. I had visions of learning (age-relevant) advanced mathematics and science, or reading high literary work. However, the reality was that the program was characterized by talk about shapes, feelings, colours and everything other than advanced academic material. Rather than renaming the “gifted” program, it would serve students better if it actually nurtured academic excellence in a more rigorous way. Either that, or provide the program on a lottery basis (or to the underprivileged) if there is no essence of “gifted” in its delivery. Kai Chan Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Article as it appeared online. © Copyright 2018 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved.

PAW: Talent can be found everywhere

A letter to the Princeton Alumni Weekly (PAW). IN RESPONSE TO:  PRISON TEACHING INITIATIVE HELPS INCARCERATED STUDENTS EARN DEGREES   I went through the criminal justice system in Toronto when I was a teenager. Luckily I have no criminal record by grace of laws pertaining to young offenders in Canada. I was supposed to have spent six months in juvenile jail but was fortunate enough to have been sentenced to community service in lieu of prison time. Nevertheless, I did spend a brief period behind bars as part of that process. Most of the people in my prison block were childhood friends and friends of friends. (I grew up at a time when youth gangs were prevalent.) All were definitely street savvy, if not book smart. Indeed, many of the people in detention with me seemed just as sharp minded as people I would go on to meet a decade later as a graduate student at Princeton. Professor Jeff Dolven noted in the article (“Prison Teaching Initiative Helps Incarcerated Students Earn Degrees,” June 2021) that “much intelligence and talent and imagination is locked up in prisons.” I would add also that for the most part the talent is also wasted…

PAW: Measuring mobility

A letter to the Princeton Alumni Weekly (PAW). July 10, 2019 (Volume 119, Number 15) The article on economic mobility (Life of the Mind, May 15) seems to confuse economic mobility with economic growth. Most economists measure economic mobility as intergenerational movement along the income-distribution ladder (rather than by absolute incomes). That is, to what extent do offspring track their parents’ position on the income distribution ladder at similar age profiles. The fact that 90 percent of children born in 1940 ended up earning more money than their parents was a result of a post-war economic boom whose gains were broad across the population. That only 50 percent of those born in the 1980s earn more than their parents is largely because median income has stagnated since about 1980 in spite of growth in average income, due to increasing income inequality; i.e. growth has been mostly captured by the elite. Yes, economic mobility is lower now than before, but this is expressed through what economists call the income beta: how well an offspring’s position in income distribution is predicted by their parents’ standing. A higher beta (lower mobility) — what we see now relative to the past — means (broadly…

Toronto Star: Cycling one way to help needy

Letter to the Toronto Star (Wednesday, October 10, 2018) 10 people. 10 solutions for poverty, Oct. 8 Joe Mihevc’s idea to incorporate cycling solutions is fantastic in that it simultaneously tackles poverty, fitness and the environment. However, some people — especially those living in poverty — may not know how to ride a bike. I grew up in poverty and learned to ride as an adult. Unfortunately, if this skill is not taught at home it is unlikely to be picked up elsewhere, and learning after early childhood comes with a lot of stigma and embarrassment. This skill should thus be taught in early elementary school for those not fortunate enough to have already learned at home. It would help overcome the mobility issue that limits the options of the poor, a point that was almost universally mentioned by the 10 people in the article. Kai L. Chan, Montreal © Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. 1996 - 2018 Letter as it appeared online.

G&M: What a ‘majority’ says

Letter to the Globe & Mail (October 3, 2018) The Coalition Avenir Québec won a majority – 74 of 125 seats – in Monday’s election, but the results are a far cry from voters rejecting old-line Liberals and the Parti Québécois. Indeed, the Liberals and PQ together amassed some 41 per cent of the popular vote, more than the about 37 per cent garnered by the CAQ, which won just two ridings in Montreal. If anything, the election demonstrated again the “tyranny of the plurality” in the first-past-the-post system, which not only wastes the votes of many people, but also makes possible inane outcomes. It is time to incorporate some element of PR in our electoral system. Kai L. Chan, Montreal Article as it appeared online. © Copyright 2018 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved.

PAW: Living in Dubai

A letter to the Princeton Alumni Weekly (PAW) IN RESPONSE TO: VOICES: ‘A DEEPLY INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE’ There are many misconceptions and a general lack of knowledge of the Middle East by those outside of the region. It was thus refreshing to read Paulette Singley *98's take on her experience at the American University of Sharjah. I spent over five years in Dubai, having recently relocated (back) to Canada. Though the UAE -- of which Sharjah and Dubai are among the seven emirates that make up the federation -- are remarkably different than the rest of the Middle East, living there definitely opened my eyes to gain a better appreciation of that part of the world. Although there are serious issues in the neighboring countries, the UAE, and in particular Dubai, is a modern and liberal society with a highly diverse population that also counts a thriving Princeton alumni community. In my time in Dubai, there was no shortage of boozy parties or women dressed in seductive clothing. Most ironically, and a testament to the diversity and dynamism of the UAE, is that I now play less ice hockey and at a lower level while living in the Mecca of hockey (Montreal)…

Toronto Star: Let Toronto’s diverse voices speak on TTC

Letter to the Toronto Star (August 6, 2018) Why are Toronto transit users letting Seth Rogen speak for them?, August 2 Instead of importing a monolingual voice for the TTC, Toronto should embrace its diversity by making multilingual transit announcements. To celebrate our bilingualism we could add French as a secondary announcement on, say, the weekends, while on the weekdays we could rotate among the hundreds of languages spoken in the city, perhaps coinciding with cultural holidays. All this could be done using the voices of actual locals. This would be empowering to the many communities that call Toronto home. Kai L. Chan, Montreal © Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. 1996 - 2018 Letter as it appeared in the Toronto Star.