I disagree. It stopped being American once the DoD pulled out of it. Then, it became an exclusive Taiwanese prep school with passport holders. It’s nothing like it was in the 60s and 70s.
Definitely NOT American since 1979.
Have you been to America lately? Lol
I have been to TAS and based on the student body it literally felt like I was walking down a hallway in any public school in Taiwan, except it’s much nicer due to all the cash flow. Absolutely, positively nothing like it was before 1979.
Well, it’s not 1979 anymore. Of course it’s not like it was then.
Yes, TAS seems a lot cleaner.
I assume there will be a special inquiry to investigate the matter- I hear Matt Gaetz is available these days.
Was tutoring a girl going into 10th grade last summer. The textbook, oriented to Junior High, had a section about school. They asked questions about “Have you ever gotten into trouble in school?” with examples like cutting classes, running in the halls, talking in class etc.
After listening to half an hour of cases which were TOTALLY UNFAIR and she was ABSOLUTELY INNOCENT and it was SOMEBODY ELSE’S fault, we moved to Q2: “Have any of your friends got into trouble?” She casually remarked that some of her friends had, for posting nude photos to their boyfriends, and guys were such jerks for spreading them around.
Me: “Uh, what?”
This was a 14-year-old going into the academic high school. Times change.
“Many” – really? I would love to hear more. Because I haven’t seen that. This is our 9th year as a TAS family, I’m on the PTA this year and served on the TASCC for the 4 years prior, including 2 years on the JEDI/DEIJ committee which was formed specifically to shepherd the DEI stuff. Now, I hardly see everything, but on this, I am confident I am in a good position to hear about this. Many? I am skeptical.
I am personally aware of ONE family – a formerly active Forumosan – who “pulled” his kids out of TAS. Then again, he pulled himself and his family all the way back to New England, so leaving TAS was kind of incidental (although he was very vocal in these forums about his dismay st the choices the school was making)
Now, I have heard about “dozens” of G8 and G9 families pulling their boys out of both TAS and TES in each of the past 3 years – but this is a reaction to cross-strait geopolitics, not DEI. I don’t have any official data, but this is hardly a stretch of the imagination. This number of students, I would consider “many” – but the number of withdrawals for DEI reasons? Nope
Ok, maybe I should say several. Not something I was paying much attention to. But I can add that I have a friend in a high position of an international school and in order to get accreditation from the U.S. they needed to meet certain criteria concerning dei, CRT and all that such crap to be awarded accreditation. It’s apparently not as difficult now for some reason.
Not sure which post it was where several people complained but possibly this one. I’m not going to dig through it though.
It might be a factor in accreditation, but first, TAS is designed to get rich students into elite US universities. Even if you imagined an institution like TAS had some overarching social priorities, it is going to stay focused on that goal. “DEI” may go away at US universities, but the underlying ideals aren’t, and could even become more of a factor in admissions processes as programs readjust.
Fair enough. I’m in no position to argue or debate, only relaying information I’ve gotten from people I know who’ve been in the business several years.
I just thought it may add a little insight as to why there’s what looks like a purge going on at KAS and as input for the OP.
Btw….I was also told in this situation it may be a good time to apply.
Fair enough, and given events that happened over the past 5 years in DEI, BLM, etc, it should not surprise us that the school responded the way it did. That said, TAS’s own accreditation process happened well after the establishment of its JEDI and TASCC groups – meaning the formation of those initiatives were in response to the social upheaveals of 5 years ago (2020-2021), and not the WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) Accreditation preparations, which began in Fall 2022 (there is a timeline starting on page 11 of the school’s WASC Self-study report that documents the process)
Also not surprising is that the sense of urgency for DEI seems to have tempered in the past 18 months. I wouldn’t say it has gone away, but that it has moved forward and does not seem to be as much of a hot-button issue as it was 5 years ago.
TAS teacher arrested for (allegedly) trying to smuggle ketamine into Taiwan:
He gonna do some hard time. No doubt a fan of Elon Musk.