American Notes Education

High schoolers traditionally sign up in the fall for activities like football, cheerleading and the school newspaper. But at racially diverse Anaheim High School in Anaheim, Calif., students can now join the European-American Club, founded to promote "the educational and social advancement of the European- American student."

Principal Craig Haugen said he was skeptical at first, but was convinced the club's motives weren't racist. "It's not a whites-only club," he says. In fact, 50% of the students who have signed up are Hispanic. Why the interest? The club will be teaching its members how to fill out college applications, study for the SATs and join the military. None of the school's other ethnic clubs, such as the Mexican American Engineering Society and the Black Students Union, offer such extensive services. Ramona Bejar, 17, who plans to join the Marines after graduation, has signed up. Says Bejar, who is Hispanic: "It isn't only white people who need to know how to fill out college forms. Everybody does."