Posted on 06/25/2007 7:27:12 AM PDT by Maceman
June 25, 2007 -- A Brooklyn mother and father got the shock of their lives when school officials informed them their brilliant 11-year-old girl was denied admission to an elite public school - solely because she's of Indian descent. "I feel bad because I would have gotten in if I was white," Nikita Rau lamented over her failed bid to attend the Mark Twain School, IS 239, in Coney Island, a magnet school for gifted students.
It turns out Mark Twain - unlike all but one other city public school - admits students according to racial quotas established in 1974 by a federal judge who ordered the school's desegregation.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
It is an option when they ask “race”. At least in NYC, it is.
Gee, wouldn’t that be common sense ? When I was getting ready to go to high school back in the ole country in europe, we took an entrance exam at the school we wanted to go to (better schools had harder exams), and, before the admission date, they’d post the list, and an line on it. Everyone above the line got in. The rest went somewhere else. Very darn simple, and very free market (for a very socialist/former communist) place. Of course, they always accepted another whole classroom full for people with connections, but that’s a whole other story.
It's actually at least two races. There are white Hispanics and black Hispanics according to some government agencies. The numbers get muddled a lot. For example, in racial bean-counting purposes in education or employment, white Hispanics might be a separate category. But when a white Hispanic commits a crime it is usually tallied as a crime by a white person.
That's durned good question. Do they have a "Minority Meter" (TM) to arbitrate disputes where they need to measure "blackness"?
You betcha’!
“Pretty high ambitions for the parents of an 11 year old who scored only a 79 on the admissions test.”
Thats how Indian parents are.....
And 77 seems to be a good score for “others” to get in that school. Its truly sad she didnt make it with a 79 (for whatever reason). Even if its “only 79” and not a 100.
Clearly, many Indians scored better than she did. So did many people from other backgrounds. The connection between missing out on a music school with a 79, and visions of missing out on the Harvard & Yale experience, is dubious, and not to be encouraged.
You win some and you lose some. Sometimes you lose with a 79. It happens. Life goes on.
The attempt to force a desired ratio of Caucasian, Black, Asian, etc. always leads to someone believing that they have been discriminated against BECAUSE of their race.
It is my firm opinion that quotas and affirmative action programs have severely damaged race relations in this country. It was an experiment in social engineering that failed, and failed badly.
I would totally disregard race and concentrate on other factors such as those you suggested. Why should anyone be admitted, or denied admission, based on the color of their skin?
The basis of prejudice against blacks in this country was always assumed to be based on skin color. We were told we need to be a “colorblind” society. (and I agree with that)
If, in fact, skin color is the basis for it, how does paying attention to it in decisions such as these undo that wrong?
I have never seen a defense of affirmative action or quota systems that I thought was rational.
I go even one better. I write in "Native American," since I was born here, as were my parents....
I guess that works...
When you open up your casino - let me know...
I agree on quotas, and disagree on affirmative action. Like I wrote elsewhere, making racial background or economic background one factor among many in an admission decision is fine.
“This isn’t the Balkans.”
Not yet but we are getting close. If we continue with the invasion and massive third world legal immigration it won’t be very much longer.
Actually I should apologize to the Balkans. They only have 3 different groups at each other throats (at least I think its only 3)...
We're creating a nation of hyphenated constituents where everyone is scrapping for this entitlement, or the other.
We as a people have forgotten our Foundations.
Paramount is Christ -- but even from a secular standpoint we don't know the Constitution (our Government pays scant attention to the Founder's principles) nor do we learn about the great men who started this country (other than that most of them were evil slave owning white men of Western European descent), and what they wrote/said and were willing to die for, or the basic fundamentals about America's history (the Puritans, Jamestown, Revolution, etc...)
What is so gifted about scoring 79 on a test?
Another day, another reason to homeschool.
It never seems to end, does it?
Dnesh D’Souza tells a story (Illiberal Education) about a Chinese kid named Yang Pat Au whose principal claimed he was the best student his school had ever produced and couldn’t get into Berkeley because they were full up on Chinese kids at the time. That story and another one like it ended with Presidents of both Berkeley and Stanford being fired if memory serves.
I’m mostly white...but I’m for merit, not race.
Exactly...we’re only separated by 50k years at most. So the difference are really nothing.
Affirmative action is probably a prime reason why any society will self-destruct. It strikes at the heart of the intellectual base - by breeding a generation of incompetent morons, who cannot solve problems effectively and who develop a sense of “entitlement” that the society owes them something just for being born in a so-called discriminated community. Other problems like terrorism, immigration, societal problems related to gays, abortion, everything could be solved if the society has a strong educational base.
In India, this concept has been taken to such ridiculous extents that even graduate schools at PhD level are being forced to accept 50% of ill-educated students hailing from certain castes of Hindus.
Depends on the type. Lighter skinned and/or richer Indians are accepted that way, not all.
Ironically, the real Mark Twain once said this:
"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."
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