With regard to the secondary school education of Chinese-Americans in Boston.
Various statistics demonstrate that this ethnic group actually receives an inferior secondary school education compared to that of the general population.
In fact approximately thirty-eight percent of this ethnic group have not received a high school diploma.
And their poverty rate and incarceration rates are higher than those of other ethnic groups.
And particularly that of whites in this city.
Now, uh, the question is should the U-S government actually intervene.
Or, um, i_ and if s_ if the government do- does int- intervene what measures should actually be int_ undertaken.
First of all, re- regarding the various pros and cons of, uh, intervening.
Well with, ah, can I start again.
I am sorry.
Yes.
Right now.
Try.
Okay.
With regard to the secondary school education of Chinese- Americans in Boston.
Various statistics demonstrate that this ethnic group actually receives an inferior education compared to that of other ethnic groups in this city.
Particularly that of whites in this city.
Uh, now the a_ the question is, is then raised, should the U-S government actually do something about this.
And, if so what measures should be implemented.
First of all with regard to the various, uh, pros of, of intervention.
Intervening can actually increase G-D-P.
For example, if, um, we_ if, uh, Chinese-Americans are, are, i- educated then, then this is going to produce a better skilled work force.
And this could potentially increase G-D-P.
A second advantage is that this could actually then increase savings and investment.
For example if the Chinese-Americans are better educat_ better educated they would then have more disposable income.
And then they, uh, des_ then spend more, more of their money on investing in the U-S economy.
A third advantage of intervention is that this would then enable the United States to better compete economically on an international level.
With a now unified Europe and, a very strong Japan as we enter into the next century.
With regards to the the various cons of, uh, intervention.
There're also, um, various cons.
First of all_ first of all, there's als_ there's the dis_ factor of discrimination.
For example, how can the U-S actually intervene, and actually intervene with regard to one ethnic group.
When the- they're, um, using taxpayer funds from the general population.
The- there's, um, there's argument here for discrimination.
And second argument, is that the United States has limited resources.
And they cannot possibly respond in every such problematic situation.
A third factor is that, uh, from an economic standpoint, market forces could actually correct for such problems in the econ- economy.
In other words, that companies would actually, themselves invest in the education of Chinese-Americans.
So that they would then have a better skilled workforce.
However, studies demonstrate that the con_ for_ as far as the cons are concerned the market has not in_ corrected itself.
Amer_ the americ_ force have not corrected for such problems in, um, in terms of the Ch_ the education of Chinese-Americans.
And, uh, actually that_ from an economic standpoint this would potentially, and actually probably benefit the U-S economy.
Now, now that, uh, we're jus_ now that we've shown what can be gained then.
Ho- how, how ca_ what kind of measures can be undertaken.
Now that is the question.
First of all... we should provide for immediate needs.
By immediate needs i, I mean provide for clothing, for books.
The maintenance of schools and etceteras.
That is the first goal.
Second, we should provide E-S-L classes for the parents.
In fact, um, the_ many of the parents of Chinese-Americans, ma- many of them do not speak, English.
Or, rather do_ spoo_ speak proficient English.
And that inter- interferes with their, um, their participation in the education system of their children.
And, uh, parental participation in their children's education has actually sh_ been shown to be a major factor in the educational success of their children.
So, yes our classes, preferably held at night, would probably benefit the, uh, children as a matter of fact.
Uh, a third thing is that we could, uh, increase, we could increase the standarda_ standardization in the curriculum.
Right now, uh, it is very much up to, the teachers as far as what they teach in the classroom.
So that, one high school diploma earned at one institution, is very different in, in the terms of the education received.
As compared to the, uh, diploma received at a, at another institution even in the same, uh, city.
So that needs to be changed.
So we could standardize curriculum there.
Anoth- another thing is that we can in- increase the, uh, teaching standards.
We can increase teaching standards, and we could possibly provide tutoring for needy students.
Tutoring sessions could, uh, occur during study session.
Which most high schools typically have.
And, uh, these sessions could be held on a daily basis.
An- and at the same time they could also provide the teachers who are teach_ who are seeking a certificate with increased experience.
So, it could be a benefit for both parties.
Now the money for these various proposals could come from a corporate tax increase.
A slight one, however, of approximately two percent.
This would then generate, app- approximately twenty-million dollars in, um_ and, and then, then these propositions could be implemented.
Another thing is that, there could be much more accurate assessment system ri- than we have right now.
And that they curriculum could become more vocation oriented.
Or more practical than it is at present.
And in terms of priorty i, I would place, uh, priority for the immediate needs as being the first.
Second thing we could do as a second step, is starting up the E-S-L classes.
The third thing, in terms of priority, would be the, uh, increase teaching standards and tutoring.
The fourth would be to increase, uh, standardization in the curriculum.
And the fifth would be, uh, to provide a more accurate assessment system.
It is in this order because it's in the order of what would probably take the shortest amount of time.
And what's immediately needed and then wh_ towards, towards what would be_ would take a greater period of time.
So this is what I think should be done.