"Too Asian" Critical Summary

In Findlay and Kohler’s controversial article “Too Asian” an insightful look is given into campus racial balance and its implications within Canadian universities and their students.   Findlay and Kohler stress that some institutions risk losing their reputations as “cultural mosaics” and instead becoming places of “many solitudes” or “deserts of communication” because they are overrun by one race.   One of their initial points is that cultural differences separate Asians from Caucasians academically, from the way they approach schoolwork to the way they choose a university.  
Findley and Kohler state,

“That Asian students work harder is a fact born out by hard data. They tend to be strivers, high achievers and single-minded in their approach to university…. White students, by contrast, are more likely to choose universities and build their school lives around social interaction, athletics and self-actualization – and, yes alcohol.”

These differences of course stem from the way one is brought up and the values instilled in them by parental figures and their culture not their race.   Findley and Kohler regard an “Asian” school as one that has come to be so academically focused that some students feel they can no longer compete or have fun because of there elite Asian counterparts.   Despite quotes from both University of Toronto’s president David Naylor and UBC president Stephen Toope stating that in fact racial imbalance is a “non issue” at their respective schools, the authors maintain that privately many in the education community worry that universities risk becoming too skewed one way.   The article gives little evidence that there are people concerned about the mix of students at Canadian universities; “a growing cohort of students” that are concerned, “students talk about it all the time”, several students are interviewed and retired guidance counselor expresses his opinion.   The only hard data is given in UBC’s 2009 survey which shows 43 per cent of it’s...