Relevance of API Score in the context of selecting High School

We are all aware of API score being the guidelines for being a good or a bad school. It’s a fact that API scores and certain demographics go hand in hand. Most of the school that has a high API score has predominantly Asian population that historically has placed high value to academics. In most of the Asian countries only a good education can guarantee a good career.

However, if you look objectively, there are some serious questions about the desire of making your kids go through the same stressed environment through which most of the 1st generation of immigrants have gone in their own country. America is a capitalist economy while most of the Asian countries were either a colony of some empire or a socialist economy. The resources are plentiful in US while back home there is a huge scarcity of resources. For one seat in IIT there are more than 3000 competitors. There were more than lakh applicants for 26 seats in AIIMS, New Delhi.

The situation in US is completely different. You can literally start a career after you are barely out of High School. You can have tons of opportunities to make money without even graduating from high school. The opportunities are only limited by your imagination. No job is considered menial. A truck driver who has a passion in driving can earn the same compared to an engineer considering an early start for the career of a truck driver. In other words the options are limitless. This sort of thing was unthinkable while we were in High school back in India. The only career was a Doctor or an Engineer etc. But times have changed. With the opening of the Indian economy in 1991, the career opportunities are coming to people who are barely out of their college and in few instances out of their high schools. This trend is going to increase as India will keep on integrating with the developed world economies.

I do believe that as a 1st generation immigrant parent we have a responsibility to balance our own desire through our kids versus giving them the freedom to choose what they want. Personally, I would tilt towards making them understand the pros and cons of their choice and leave it to their judgments but at times I also would be strict and may impose my will if I see that their choice belies rationale. As my wife says being a good human being is far more important than being the topper.

I would not like to get into the rat race of getting my kids into schools having relatively superior API scores. I consider that API score has more of an economical value than anything else. A good API score will demand a premium on real estate in US. A good API score will have mostly well to do families who will always want their kids to come first. I would rather have my kid’s personality be shaped by providing them life’s lesson rather than putting them in stressful environments and making them compete if they don’t naturally show a flair for such competition. Let them enjoy their young years with a broad guidelines that help them to stay on course without being tormented to come first in schools that thrive on such competition and hence have higher API scores

Today, I was in the orientation class of High School considering that Tanya would be going to High School next academic year. The Principal of Milpitas High School in response to my question told me that you need to have good SAT scores and good academic records to get into decent college rather than having the best API schools to graduate from and thereby running the risk of burning yourself out before 4 crucial years of College.

While neither the Indian system of education that puts high level of stress on the children’s nor the relaxed way of teaching in the US are a good example of a balanced education system, I do believe that quality parental supervision and sharing of life’s lesson while stressing disciplined approach to study will eventually triumph because that’s where the equilibrium is. Let’s not get disoriented by the sabre rattling of getting your kids admitted to only in a school with highest API rankings. Didn't we come out of ordinary schools but still are relatively succesful?

I would be interested to know if you have a different opinion…