Asian American Cultural Center

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I went to visit the Magic Dragon Preschool at the Asian American Cultural Center with my two kids and met with the president/CEO Amy Mok to see if they would attend the school coming fall.



As a parent, I had hoped to find a place of serenity with patience, compassion, and tolerance. I was faced with scornful judgment (i.e., that I am an unfit parent just because my children wanted to be held and not play with the toys in the room) from her within minutes of meeting. She also divulged the fact that she has many troubles with parents who don’t share her philosophy and that she wanted them, the kids, out – something that should not be said to a stranger upon meeting them in a few minutes.



As an educator, I had expected to seek a strong emphasis on scholarship and a celebration of diversity. Upon asking for concrete curriculum in the classrooms, Amy Mok was vague by only mentioning the "key concepts" and got very defensive and changed the topic to disciplining children. She even denied us an opportunity to tour the campus before we made an informed decision.



As an Asian, I had wanted to be treated with dignity, respect, and common grounds. Amy Mok was "proud" that her school is 90% white people with "blond hair blue eyes." I have a strong feeling that if I were a Caucasian, I would be treated differently, better no less. This type of “inverse discrimination” is more hurtful than anything else.



There is something to be said about common courtesy also. As busy as a director is, when you have a scheduled meeting with someone it should be uninterrupted. She was on the phone, went outside to talk to a few kids that just happened to walk into the door, and went to take a change of schedule that her staff came (unannounced) to tell her ALL without having the courtesy to excuse herself from leaving us hanging. If this is the kind behavior that is “modeled” and “taught” in this school, I would not be caught dead sending any children there.



I left the place truly disappointed because it was suppose to be a model community for Chinese culture and clearly it isn’t so. I feel ashamed and sad that there isn’t a better representation of what a truly blend of Chinese and American cultures, and that the public has to suffer knowing that this is “it.”