As I think about going back to my hometown of West Windsor, New Jersey, I am thrilled to see my friends, my family, and do some “fun home stuff” while escaping the bubble of college. At the same time, though, my perception of what I know to be my home has become tainted over the past months.

To begin, I should describe my town and the environment that I grew up in. In my words, it's a small town nestled between New York City and Philadelphia that is surrounded by farms and thriving due to growing families, comprised of mostly first-generation immigrants who want what is best for their children. In fact, in 2007, NeighborhoodScout named it, “America’s best family-friend neighborhood in New Jersey,” citing that the school district falls in the “top three percent nationwide” and that the town is “safer than 97 percent of neighborhoods in America.” Thus, over the years, many families like mine have decided to call West Windsor, New Jersey their home. Interestingly, this town of close to 30,000 made its way into the news quite a bit over the past months.

Originally, I did not want to write about this topic. I knew that I had strong feelings about it, but I felt like many people from my town were posting their conflicting arguments on Facebook with nothing coming of it. My intentions are not to try to sway others in favor of my views, for I am fully aware that everyone has perceptions of their hometown that they hold close to them. I clearly do.

So, where did this all start? Last Christmas day (2015), the New York Times published an article titled: "New Jersey School District Eases Pressure on Students, Baring an Ethnic Divide" that addressed how academic competition in our school district was getting out of hand. This one article about a little town in New Jersey sparked over 10 more publications, from the New York Post to the Al Jazeera to the Jakarta Post, to add their input. Many of these articles, as seen by the title of the original New York Times piece, associated the problems of competition with race and continued to focus on that subject, depicting chaos between Asian "Tiger Parents" and "everyday" Caucasian families. This didn’t and doesn’t make sense to me.

When I think about my town and school, I’m aware that there were a lot of students whose parents emigrated from Asia, but if I had to identify my home, then plenty of other qualities come before that. After all, NeighborhoodScout mentioned the success of the education system, not the racial demographics.

As I grew up in the school district, I was able to see changes from year to year–more people were skipping courses over the summer, more people took more AP classes, and most of my peers came from similar backgrounds, just as I did. I can’t speak for others, but I felt encouraged to do well not because of my parents’ standards or the color of my skin. Rather, it was because I thought that I was capable of it.

There were times when I did not achieve my goals and I knew that it was OK because, in the real world, it was bound to happen. I knew that it was OK because my parents, who are of Indian descent, taught me that when you're pursuing anything, including learning, you try your best and don’t expect material results like grades. Instead, you do it for your own growth. Some may argue that every Asian parent won’t have this mentality. However, no parent has the same mentality as another, whether or not they’re from Asia, so these articles need to stop superficially making the issue that should truly be centered on education into one embedded within race.

I see the numbers that these articles present. The New York Times mentions that “120 middle and high school students were hospitalized were recommended for mental health assessments; 40 were hospitalized” and I am just as alarmed and concerned about the condition of the students. As a quick-and-easy approach, the district decided to get rid of midterms and finals, in an effort to cut pressure, but how effective will this be in the long run? So, instead of pointing fingers at race and taking quotes from extreme situations, I have a challenge for society. I challenge society to realize why the alumni of the district have such bright futures, why students from the district don’t struggle as much in college, and why they live in West Windsor, New Jersey, and moved there in the first place. The answer is education.

Instead of rashly “cutting down” on the pressure students that will face in high school by getting rid of midterms and finals, we should acknowledge that, if not now, then later, students will face pressure. Thus, we should encourage students to unleash their potential and, moreover, not be afraid to fail. We should encourage students to push their boundaries, but not be scared to ask for help, we should encourage them to try their hardest without having lofty expectations. We should raise successful, yet “human” young individuals who will go and transform our world.