The recent death of a father and son following a reported gas leak in an apartment in Mountain View, California, triggered debate among the Chinese-American community. The teenage son is believed to have accidentally killed his father during the course of a suicide attempt, after having been rejected by Ivy League colleges.

53-year-old Lian Liu and his 17-year-old son William Liu were discovered in their Mountain View apartment after police and firefighters responded to reports of noxious fumes in the neighborhood, said Associated Press.

The Mountain View Police Department issued a press release saying that the deaths of the two victims appear to be one case of  suicide along with one accidental death, the Contra Costa Times reported.

Lian Liu was the manager of the popular Milk Pail Market in Mountain View and the brother-in-law of the market's owner Steve Rasmussen, according to a Facebook post by Kai Rasmussen, Liu's niece-in-law.

Liu's relatives told the media that William Liu was the top academically talented and got A score of 2400 in the SAT. The bright teen had always dreamed of studying at an Ivy League university, but was instead admitted to the University of California, San Diego. It is believed that he triggered the gas leak as part of a suicide attempt, accidentally killing his father in the process.

Liu's tragedy stirred debate among Chinese-American community, with condolences for the family mixed with a broad range of attitudes.

Some expressed their belief that racial discrimination in the college admission process may have helped contribute to the 17-year-old boy's suicide. Others reflect that the lack of "frustration education" in many immigrant families is to blame, as a failure to gain admission to one's dream college is only one small setback in the course of one's life, and is no reason to  commit suicide.

"Racial discrimination is a severe and sensitive word in the US," said Jay Chen, a Harvard graduate and member of the Board of Education of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District in Southern California, noting that SAT scores are only one of the many factors considered in college admission, and top universities like Harvard and Stanford pay great attention to students' social abilities and all-around potential.

Chen was editor-in-chief of his campus newspaper while studying at Harvard and enjoyed expressing his views through satirical cartoons. He said that interviews are a very important part of the college admissions process, and that the ability to function under pressure is one of the most important factors evaluated.

Richard Shaw, dean of admissions and financial aid at Stanford, has previously stated his belief that that many Silicon Valley immigrant parents put extreme emphasis on attending a top-ranked university, believing it to be the best way for their children to succeed in the US, according to a press brief by the Education Advisory Board.

Many experts have claimed  that Chinese-American families attach too much importance to attending top universities, while neglecting the importance of a child's well-rounded personality.