Extraordinary Circumstances - Part 2

Wednesday, March 10, 2021
The issue of our specialized (euphemism for elite) schools, where we left off, rightfully raises passions, maybe as much as comparing bagels.  Here is the gauntlet being thrown down.  "The Best Bagels Are in California (Sorry, New York)."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/dining/best-bagels.html

 

First of all, throughout this article, starting with the headline, reference is made to New York bagels.  Evidently, they are the Platonic ideal of bagels.  That ends the discussion as far as I am concerned.

 

Then, there is the sensitive subject of cultural appropriation.  The writer is named Tejal Rao.  While he claims to be "a former resident of New York City (Brooklyn)," what kind of name is Tejal Rao?  Even if he turns out to be a Sephardic Jew (of Iberian ancestry), bagels are the mother's milk of Ashkenazi Jews (of Central or Eastern European origin).  Can he be trusted?

 

Wait a minute -- he is a she (not important) and she is British (very important), a fact that she omits from her home page.  Compare https://www.tejalrao.com/ to

https://vilcek.org/prizes/prize-recipients/tejal-rao/

 

So, consider the source.  By the way, here is a Left Coast reaction to the issue.  https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/California-bagels-can-be-the-best-because-the-16012400.php

. . .

 

While bagels seem to be flourishing hither and yon, the pandemic has created a crisis in another vital food group -- Chinese restaurants.   https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/nyregion/chinatown-restaurant-closures-coronavirus.html

 

Jing Fong, 20 Elizabeth Street, has been one of my favorite destinations alone or in a group for many years.  While "[a]t least 17 Chinatown restaurants and 139 ground-floor stores have permanently closed during the pandemic," the closing of Jing Fong is like an airport left only with Piper Cubs after the 747 has taken off.  It was the largest restaurant in Chinatown, and probably the entire city, and also Chinatown's last remaining unionized restaurant.

 

Its size combined with the quality of its food made it an important gathering place for civic functions, for instance, my 70th birthday party and annual dinners of the Stuyvesant High School Parents' Association, an evident reflection of the prevailing student ethnic balance.  The group's 2016 Spring Feast "sold out the venue at Jing Fong restaurant with 960 people attending."  Where are you going to put those people?

. . . 

 

The crowds that I attracted to Jing Fong never reached 960, but two friends joined me for lunch today, Terrific Tom and Gentleman Jerry.  The temperature was 5 or 6 degrees cooler than yesterday, but still pleasant enough for comfortable outdoor eating.  We went to Pho Vietnamese Sandwich Shop, 141 West 72nd Street, which has a crude shelter covering a handful of tables. 

 

I've enjoyed their food before and it proved popular with the Boyz.  They each had a Banh Mi, the BLT of Vietnam ($12).  I had Bún Bò Chả Giò, grilled sesame beef and spring roll on rice vermicelli with scallion, fried shallots, cucumber, mint, cilantro, lettuce, pickled daikon (white radish), shredded carrots, chopped peanuts and a fried egg ($16.50).  It was delicious and you almost need two bowls to hold it all.   

. . .

 

There is a half-page advertisement in the New York Times today calling for the British government to hold a Unity Referendum for the people of Ireland, north and south.  Currently, Northern Ireland, with a population of just under 2 million, is part of the United Kingdom.  Although not a majority, Protestants outnumber Catholics.  The Republic of Ireland, with nearly 5 million people, is overwhelmingly Catholic.  It's hardly a surprise, therefore, that the British government does not favor a vote.

 

This is reminiscent of Vietnam in the 1950s.  After the French colonialists were defeated by the Viet Minh, the Communist-nationalist movement led by Ho Chi Minh, the Geneva Conference was held in 1954 to determine the future of Indochina.  Attending were the United States, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, France, the Viet Minh, the United Kingdom and representatives of the emerging states.  They signed the Geneva Accords, which temporarily divided Vietnam.  The Conference Final Declaration, issued by the British chairman of the conference, provided that a general election be held by July 1956 to create a unified Vietnamese state.  

 

When the time came, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem refused to hold the election, probably for the same reason that Ho Chi Minh eagerly sought it; popular support for the Viet Minh, now part of the North Vietnamese regime, was strong because of its success in defeating the French.  The role of our State Department and Secretary John Foster Dulles in this matter is still debated, whether they goaded Diem or merely tolerated his intransigence, but, at the very least, they failed to encourage compliance with the Geneva Accords.  And, with the collapse of French involvement, the U.S.A. was the main prop supporting the South Vietnamese government.

 

So, today, the British seem to be acting in regard to Ireland as the Americans acted in regard to Vietnam.  OK or maybe it was wrong then and it's wrong now?

. . .

 

Today’s Zoom agenda included a program by Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE).  Its mission statement has an important teaching: “Prior to World War II, German professionals were highly regarded internationally.  In many respects, they set the standard for a commitment to quality of practice and for independence from state and political influence.  Yet, leaders and practitioners in each of the professions, and often the institutions they represented, became intimately involved in designing, enabling and/or executing the crimes of Nazi Germany.” 

 

Should we introduce Republican elected officials to FASPE?

 

Thursday, March 11, 2021

If you have trouble appreciating the difference between Median and Average, look at this table of net worth in American households.

 

Age of head of family	Median net worth	Average net worth
Less than 35	$13900	$76300
35-44	$91300	$436200
45-54	$168600	$833200
55-64	$212500	$1175900
65-74	$266400	$1217700
75+	$254800	$977600

https://www.cnbc.com/select/average-net-worth-by-age-45-to-54/

. . .

 

New York City is not the only place wrestling with the issue of elite public schools.  Lowell High School in San Francisco, considered the best in the city, originated in 1856.  It has a competitive admission process based on a combination of standardized test scores, GPA, a writing sample, and extracurricular activities.  This is the sort of holistic approach that has been advocated for our specialized high schools instead of reliance upon a single test.  Yet, it resulted in a 2020 enrollment at Lowell that was roughly 50% Asian American, 18% white, 12% Latino, and 2% black, while the corresponding percentages in the overall San Francisco school population are 29% Asian American, 15% white, 32% Latino and 8% Black.  See  https://www.caschooldashboard.org/reports/38684783833407/2020 and

https://www.kidsdata.org/topic/36/school-enrollment-race/table#fmt=451&loc=265&tf=110&ch=7,11,726,85,10,72,9,73&sortColumnId=0&sortType=asc

 

Last month, the San Francisco Board of Education voted to replace the competitive process with a random lottery to eliminate the racially disproportionate results.  https://abc7news.com/sfusd-board-of-education-meeting-school-lowell-high-sf/10325219/

 

I remain in favor of elite public schools, but it seems that, for them to serve the needs of a democratic society, reform must come from the bottom up, not the top down.  Families and communities must promote academic success as, evidently, the tinkering of administrators cannot insure it.