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> “I co ming offise to day AAAAaaaa?” --E-mail from a Vietnamese student. She got an A in my trigonometry class, dominating the other students despite not know

> “I co ming offise to day AAAAaaaa?” --E-mail from a Vietnamese student. She got an A in my trigonometry class, dominating the other students despite not knowing much English. Yes, she did work in a nail salon, and no, she didn’t graduate the equivalent of high school in her native country. What does a nail salon have to do with your point?

analog31 2y ago
Probably that she was working a day job in order to pay for college, like my mom.
- johnea 2y ago
  And she's Vietnamese. Which is an immigrant nationality associated in the US with working in nail salons.
  - devilbunny 2y ago
    Thanks to Tippi Hedren! When Vietnamese refugees arrived in the US after the fall of South Vietnam, Ms. Hedren (Melanie Griffith's mother) visited a camp outside Sacramento. The women of the camp expressed interest in her manicured nails, so she suggested that learning how to do nails would be an excellent career for them - relatively little English is required, so lack of fluency was a minimal barrier. She had her personal manicurist flown up to the camp to teach an initial class of 20 women, and after they had been trained, she helped them get licenses and jobs. And that's why so many nail salons in the US are Vietnamese-owned and -staffed.
johnea 2y ago
The point is that the student is an immigrant, working in addition to college, who barely speaks english, and who still Aced the course while the idiot muricans were busy using twerk tick and 1/2 failed. If after reading the article, this was your take away question, you'd probably fail the remedial class too...
- neilk 2y ago
  The nail salon thing is a stereotype in North America, but maybe not relevant in other countries.
  - asimovfan 2y ago
    It is in germany
- fragmede 2y ago
  If after reading the guidelines, that was your takeaway closing sentence, you'd probably also fail the remedial class. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - geomark 2y ago
    The recursive nature of your reply should not be lost on HN readers. :)
- galdosdi 2y ago
  nitpick: this blog post was written in 2013, so they were wasting their time watching TV or browsing facebook, not on "twerk tick" (I assume you sarcastically meant tiktok) major point that is not a nitpick but is related: Since 2013, especially since the pandemic, most educators I've talked to agree it's gotten significantly worse. It was bad then and it's awful now. The reality is if you can add, subtract, multiply, divide, estimate, convert between, and understand the real world meaning of fractions, decimals, and percents, let alone apply it to real world situations like which bag of flour has a cheaper unit price, you are in a minority of american adults.

analog31 2y ago

Probably that she was working a day job in order to pay for college, like my mom.

johnea 2y ago
And she's Vietnamese. Which is an immigrant nationality associated in the US with working in nail salons.
- devilbunny 2y ago
  Thanks to Tippi Hedren! When Vietnamese refugees arrived in the US after the fall of South Vietnam, Ms. Hedren (Melanie Griffith's mother) visited a camp outside Sacramento. The women of the camp expressed interest in her manicured nails, so she suggested that learning how to do nails would be an excellent career for them - relatively little English is required, so lack of fluency was a minimal barrier. She had her personal manicurist flown up to the camp to teach an initial class of 20 women, and after they had been trained, she helped them get licenses and jobs. And that's why so many nail salons in the US are Vietnamese-owned and -staffed.

johnea 2y ago

The point is that the student is an immigrant, working in addition to college, who barely speaks english, and who still Aced the course while the idiot muricans were busy using twerk tick and 1/2 failed. If after reading the article, this was your take away question, you'd probably fail the remedial class too...

neilk 2y ago
The nail salon thing is a stereotype in North America, but maybe not relevant in other countries.
- asimovfan 2y ago
  It is in germany
fragmede 2y ago
If after reading the guidelines, that was your takeaway closing sentence, you'd probably also fail the remedial class. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- geomark 2y ago
  The recursive nature of your reply should not be lost on HN readers. :)
galdosdi 2y ago
nitpick: this blog post was written in 2013, so they were wasting their time watching TV or browsing facebook, not on "twerk tick" (I assume you sarcastically meant tiktok) major point that is not a nitpick but is related: Since 2013, especially since the pandemic, most educators I've talked to agree it's gotten significantly worse. It was bad then and it's awful now. The reality is if you can add, subtract, multiply, divide, estimate, convert between, and understand the real world meaning of fractions, decimals, and percents, let alone apply it to real world situations like which bag of flour has a cheaper unit price, you are in a minority of american adults.