I am an immigrant who came to the U.S. for graduate study. After twenty years of working in software engineering and investment management, I went to a top-ten education school to get a teaching degree and started teaching math, a subject that deeply inspired me and guided me through my life and careers.
Currently, I am taking a health break, writing a book, and teaching math and bridge to my community on a part-time basis. I like the outdoors and hope to run Boston Marathon again; it was during my last run that I decided to become a teacher.
IAN: Please tell us about your latest book.
Yellow Heights: Parent. Math coach. Climate science researcher. Software engineer and manager at Microsoft. Investment analyst, trader, and risk manager at hedge funds. Entrepreneur. A forty-five-year-old new teacher.
This book is about the journey of a first-generation immigrant becoming a math teacher in the United States. This book recounts his Kafkaesque experiences at education school, where he was labeled a white supremacist simply for asking questions. He shares firsthand accounts of teaching math at a public and a private school, offering a panoramic view of the issues surrounding wokeness, coddling, and the lack of accountability in education.
He critically
examines the U.S. education system, drawing from the experiences of other
teachers, parents and students he has worked with. His journey through
different societies and education systems, and multiple careers-where math was
his critical edge-adds depth and credibility to the final reflections.
From Book
Reviews Cafe: ”Unbalanced is more than just one person’s narrative; it’s a
monument to perseverance, flexibility, and the bravery to keep pushing forward
even when the ground beneath you feels unstable. Readers will leave not just
comprehending the author’s path, but also pondering on the larger immigrant
experience and, perhaps, their own balancing acts in life.”
IAN: Is Unbalanced published in print, e-book or both?
Yellow Heights: The book is published in both print and e-book.
IAN: Where can we go to buy Unbalanced?
Yellow Heights: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc.
IAN: What inspired you to write Unbalanced?
The idea first came to me while I was pursuing an education degree during COVID. What I witnessed completely shocked me: a white classmate and I (an Asian immigrant) were labeled “white supremacists” simply for asking learning-related questions; students made a kind, well-intentioned teacher cry by accusing her of lacking empathy; I was called a “traitor of people of color” and “ideologically violent” for defending standardized testing—not even wholeheartedly; and teacher candidates were encouraged to “make good trouble within the education system.” I thought to myself, Is this the America I came for? How many people would consider this normal?
During my first year of teaching, I got along well with my students, but some of my colleagues puzzled me, and I experienced a few difficult conflicts. I began writing about these incidents—partly to document them, partly to clear my mind. I didn’t know what to do with my writing until I decided to take a break after receiving an unexpectedly poor review from my principal.
As I reflected on my experiences, I started to realize they might illustrate a broader story about the current state of education. When I searched for similar books, I found almost none. The few that existed were written long ago and didn’t capture what has happened in the past decade—when ideology became prominent, students more fragile, and teacher accountability more elusive.
That realization made me want to write this book. And as an immigrant whose native language is not English, I saw it as both a challenge and an opportunity. I’ve always loved a good challenge.
IAN: What do you hope your readers come away with after reading Unbalanced?
Yellow Heights: Maybe a clearer
picture on the current state of K-12 education;
Maybe a deeper appreciation of the
immigrant’s struggles and unique perspective;
Maybe a better understanding why
second-career teachers often can’t fit in;
Maybe a glimpse into how learning,
especially math learning, can work;
Maybe how learning is a life-long journey and school is just one stop…
IAN: Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
Yellow Heights: This is primarily based on my life, although several
parts were stories of other people’s life, told from my perspective. At times I
omitted or deliberately changed identifying characteristics to preserve a
degree of anonymity, but everything in this book were based on real events.
IAN: How is Unbalanced different from others in your genre?
Yellow Heights: The most popular teacher biography by far is Teacher Man by one of my favorite writers, Frank McCourt. Most of the other influential books on teaching, however, were written long ago, and the educational landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade.
In general, it’s difficult to write a book about education while actively teaching. Yet when teachers leave the profession, they often lose the desire to revisit their experiences—especially if those experiences were painful or disappointing.
I haven’t found a math teacher’s memoir. I was a math teacher with twenty years of professional experience and several years of volunteer teaching, so I had a clear sense of what good math instruction should look like. When that ideal clashed so sharply with reality, I felt I could offer readers a unique perspective. As an immigrant who also had to struggle to find my place in this country, I believed my story could bring something new to the conversation.
IAN: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Yellow Heights: Writing in good English was the biggest challenge. Even during my many years working in finance, English had not been an impediment for me, so I thought I could write well in English. But it took me a long time even to realize the gap. My earlier version had usage of English that I thought was creative, with immigrant characteristics, but it turned out most were just bad English.
My wife said I invented words with a grimace on her face, and although I proudly said “Shakespear also invented word”, the truth was that I slowly realized and improved the book’s grammar and expression, over the two years of writing and revisions. Since I self-published the book, I couldn’t hire an editor every time I made changes, and I made many rounds of changes. Even the first edition of this book had some mistakes that were undetected, which was being corrected for the second edition.
IAN: What was the hardest part of writing Unbalanced?
Yellow Heights: The hardest part was to confront my past failures. The way I left the school made me feel I was fired for being a bad teacher and I couldn’t get over it, until I wrote about it honestly. I also had to examine my motivation for becoming a teacher at the age of 45. It was only when I became completely honest with myself that the book became something I was truly proud of.
IAN: Did you learn anything from writing Unbalanced and what was it?
Yellow Heights: I find that writing is first and foremost for the author. It is a form of being really honest with oneself, and as open as possible with the whole world. It is often a form of reconciliation and healing.
That being said, one has to be considerate for the readers. I don’t want to sacrifice my value simply to please the reader, but I will try very hard to make it easier for the reader to get the message, to resonate and to enjoy. There are always blind spots and having objective beta readers who can give honest feedback is super important.
Like the book title suggests, finding the balance is often the key. I enjoyed the process of finding the balance of being true to oneself and respecting the readers.
IAN: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Yellow Heights: First of all, I hope
you enjoy reading the stories.
Secondly, I hope it make you think.
Lastly, I hope it stimulates you to
some kind of action, either by sharing it quietly, discussing with friends, or
raising your concerns loudly to improve education, for the future of this
country.
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