A)This fall , David Aderhold , the chief of a high - achieving school district near Princeton , New Jersey , sent parents an alarming 16- page letter . The school district , he said , was facing a crisis . Its students were overburdened and stressed out , having to cope with too much work and too many demands . In the previous school year , 120 middle and high school students were recommended for mental health assessments and 40 were hospitalized . And on a survey administered by the district , students wrote things like , " I hate going to school ," and " Coming out of 12 years in this district , I have learned one thing : that a grade , a percentage or even a point is to be valued over anything else ." B ) With his letter , Aderhold inserted West Windsor - Plainsboro Regional School District into a national discussion about the intense focus on achievement at elite schools , and whether it has gone too far . At follow - up meetings , he urged parents to join him in advocating a " whole child " approach to schooling that respects " social - emotional development " and " deep and meaningful learning " over academics alone . The alternative , he suggested , was to face the prospect of becoming another Palo Alto , California , where outsize stress on teenage students is believed to have contributed to a number of suicides in the last six years . C ) But instead of bringing families together , Aderhold's letter revealed a divide in the district , which has 9,700 students , and one that broke down roughly along racial lines . On one side are white parents like Catherine Foley , a former president of the Parent - Teacher - Student Association at her daughter's middle school , who has come to see the district's increasingly pressured atmosphere as opposed to learning . " My son was in fourth grade and told me , 'I'm not going to amount to anything because I have nothing to put on my resume , ' " she said . On the other side are parents like Mike Jia , one of the thousands of Asian - American professionals who have moved to the district in the past decade , who said Aderhold's reforms would amount to a " dumbing down " of his children's education . " What is happening here reflects a national anti - intellectual trend that will not prepare our children for the future ," Jia said . D ) About 10 minutes from Princeton and an hour and a half from New York City , West Windsor and Plainsboro have become popular bedroom communities for technology entrepreneurs , researchers and engineers , drawn in large part by the public schools . From the last three graduating classes , 16 seniors were admitted to MIT . It produces Science Olympiad winners , classically trained musicians and students with perfect SAT scores . E ) The district has become increasingly popular with immigrant families from China , India and Korea . This year , 65 percent of its students are Asian - American , compared with 44 percent in 2007. Many of them are the first in their families born in the United States . They have had a growing influence on the district . Asian - American parents are enthusiastic supporters of the competitive instrumental music program . They have been huge supporters of the district's advanced mathematics program , which once began in the fourth grade but will now start in the sixth . The change to the program , in which 90 percent of the participating students are Asian - American , is one of Aderhold's reforms . F ) Asian - American students have been eager participants in a state program that permits them to take summer classes off campus for high school credit , allowing them to maximize the number of honors and Advanced Placement classes they can take , another practice that Aderhold is limiting this school year . With many Asian - American children attending supplementary instructional programs , there is a perception among some white families that the elementary school curriculum is being sped up to accommodate them . G ) Both Asian - American and white families say the tension between the two groups has grown steadily over the past few years , as the number of Asian families has risen . But the division has become more obvious in recent months as Aderhold has made changes , including no - homework nights , an end to high school midterms and finals , and an initiative that made it easier to participate in the music program . H ) Jennifer Lee , professor of sociology at the University of California , Irvine , and an author of the Asian American Achievement Paradox , says misunderstanding between first - generation Asian - American parents and those who have been in this country longer are common . What white middle - class parents do not always understand , she said , is how much pressure recent immigrants feel to boost their children into the middle class . " They don't have the same chances to get their children internships (实习职位) or jobs at law firms ," Lee said . " So what they believe is that their children must excel and beat their white peers in academic settings so they have the same chances to excel later . " I ) The issue of the stresses felt by students in elite school districts has gained attention in recent years as schools in places like Newton , Massachusetts , and Palo Alto have reported a number of suicides . West Windsor - Plainsboro has not had a teenage suicide in recent years , but Aderhold , who has worked in the district for seven years and been chief for the last three years , said he had seen troubling signs . In a recent art assignments , a middle school student depicted (描绘) an overburdened child who was being scolded for earning an A , rather than an A + , on a math exam . In the image , the mother scolds the student with the words , " Shame on you !" Further , he said , the New Jersey Education Department has flagged at least two pieces of writing on state English language assessments in which students expressed suicidal thoughts . J ) The survey commissioned by the district found that 68 percent of high school honor and Advanced Placement students reported feeling stressed about school " always or most of the time ." " We need to bring back some balance ," Aderhold said . " You don't want to wait until it's too late to do something . " K ) Not all public opinion has fallen along racial lines . Karen Sue , the Chinese - American mother of a fifth - grader and an eighth - grader , believes the competition within the district has gotten out of control . Sue , who was born in the United States to immigrant parents , wants her peers to dial it back . " It's become an arms race , an educational arms race ," she said . " We all want our kids to achieve and be successful . The question is , at what cost ?" 36. Aderhold is limiting the extra classes that students are allowed to take off campus . 37. White and Asian - American parents responded differently to Aderhold's appeal . 38. Suicidal thoughts have appeared in some students' writings . 39. Aderhold's reform of the advanced mathematics program will affect Asian - American students most . 40. Aderhold appealed for parents' support in promoting an all - round development of children , instead of focusing only on their academic performance . 41. One Chinese - American parent thinks the competition in the district has gone too far . 42. Immigrant parents believe that academic excellence will allow their children equal chances to succeed in the future . 43. Many businessmen and professionals have moved to West Windsor and Plainsboro because of the public schools there . 44. A number of students in Aderhold's school district were found to have stress - induced mental health problems . 45. The tension between Asian - American and white families has increased in recent years .