Race at the Top: Asian Americans and Whites in Pursuit of the American Dream in Suburban Schools

"The suburbs hold a privileged place in our cultural landscape not just for their wide, manicured lawns and quiet streets, but often for their high-quality schools. These elite enclaves are also historically white, and they have allowed many white Americans to safeguard their privilege by using their kids' public school educations to secure places at top colleges. But nonwhite parents also see the advantages to be had by sending their kids to those excellent suburban schools, and, increasingly, those that can afford to are finding ways to move in, all in hopes of helping their kids get a leg up as they apply to college and prepare for careers. In Getting Ahead, Staying Ahead, Natasha Warikoo takes us into an elite suburban high school in the Northeast she calls Collegiate High, examining the ways that white parents react when Asian American kids start beating their children at the meritocracy game. Asian American kids whose parents have moved into the Collegiate school district are pushed to succeed in the school's top-notch academics, and they often wind up taking spots at the top of the class previously held exclusively by white students. After generations of privilege and success, white parents don't just take this lying down. Instead, they go to the school with complaints that the academic environment has become too rigorous, petitioning the principle to mandate less homework. The academic climate, they declare, is bad for kids' mental health. Above all, they find new ways of gaining advantages, pushing their kids to excel in extracurriculars like sports and theater and diminishing the importance of top academic performance at the school. Even when they are bested, white families in Collegiate work hard to change the rules in their favor so they can still remain the winners in the meritocracy game."--
An illuminating, in-depth look at competition in suburban high schools with growing numbers of Asian Americans, where white parents are determined to ensure that their children remain at the head of the class. The American suburb conjures an image of picturesque privilege: manicured lawns, quiet streets, and—most important to parents—high-quality schools. These elite enclaves are also historically white, allowing many white Americans to safeguard their privileges by using public schools to help their children enter top colleges. That’s changing, however, as Asian American professionals increasingly move into wealthy suburban areas to give their kids that same leg up for their college applications and future careers. As Natasha Warikoo shows in Race at the Top, white and Asian parents alike will do anything to help their children get to the top of the achievement pile. She takes us into the affluent suburban East Coast school she calls “Woodcrest High,” with a student body about one-half white and one-third Asian American. As increasing numbers of Woodcrest’s Asian American students earn star-pupil status, many whites feel displaced from the top of the academic hierarchy, and their frustrations grow. To maintain their children’s edge, some white parents complain to the school that schoolwork has become too rigorous. They also emphasize excellence in extracurriculars like sports and theater, which maintains their children’s advantage. Warikoo reveals how, even when they are bested, white families in Woodcrest work to change the rules in their favor so they can remain the winners of the meritocracy game. Along the way, Warikoo explores urgent issues of racial and economic inequality that play out in affluent suburban American high schools. Caught in a race for power and privilege at the very top of society, what families in towns like Woodcrest fail to see is that everyone in their race is getting a medal—the children who actually lose are those living beyond their town’s boundaries.