Posted on 02/08/2010 9:55:18 AM PST by reaganaut1
SAT SCORES aren’t everything. But they can tell some fascinating stories.
Take 1,623, for instance. That’s the average score of Asian-Americans, a group that Daniel Golden - editor at large of Bloomberg News and author of “The Price of Admission’’ - has labeled “The New Jews.’’ After all, much like Jews a century ago, Asian-Americans tend to earn good grades and high scores. And now they too face serious discrimination in the college admissions process.
Notably, 1,623 - out of a possible 2,400 - not only separates Asians from other minorities (Hispanics and blacks average 1,364 and 1,276 on the SAT, respectively). The score also puts them ahead of Caucasians, who average 1,581. And the consequences of this are stark.
Princeton sociologist Thomas Espenshade, who reviewed data from 10 elite colleges, writes in “No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal’’ that Asian applicants typically need an extra 140 points to compete with white students. In fact, according to Princeton lecturer Russell Nieli, there may be an “Asian ceiling’’ at Princeton, a number above which the admissions office refuses to venture.
Emily Aronson, a Princeton spokeswoman, insists “the university does not admit students in categories. In the admission process, no particular factor is assigned a fixed weight and there is no formula for weighing the various aspects of the application.’’
A few years ago, however, when I worked as a reader for Yale’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions, it became immediately clear to me that Asians - who constitute 5 percent of the US population - faced an uphill slog. They tended to get excellent scores, take advantage of AP offerings, and shine in extracurricular activities. Frequently, they also had hard-knock stories: families that had immigrated to America under difficult circumstances, parents working as kitchen assistants and store clerks
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
"This article started off in the right direction: It is appalling that anyone should be redlined in any area of modern American life. That goes for universities, neighborhoods, jobs, etc., etc. To each according to his merits. Abandon this, and America becomes a cruel, racialist joke.
Unfortunately, Mr. Poon seems to be the typical racialist-minded social scientist. With his dangerous rant (that "historically oppressed" groups need special privileges -- you start on this path, and the entire spool becomes unthreaded, as hardly anyone cannot lay some claim, at some time, to being oppressed), the article veers down a dangerous slippery slope of encouraging organizations to reject Asians on the basis of their race.
Is there no place for achievement, simple, unimpeded and objective? If even in academics we are more concerned with social engineering than encouraging objective achievement, academic institutions' standards and research abilities will take a sharp hit.
Indeed, if we truly believe all are of equal ability, then society must be color-blind and admit (to university, work, etc.) the best-qualified without making racist decisions. If certain groups are less qualified, then this should be openly acknowledged and real solutions (removing children from parents? changing immigration policies?) should be considered."
My lovely daughter is #18 in her class which is the top 5%. I am not sure how her race (bi-racial) will impact her college admission. All I know is that right now she is receiving offers from all over the United States and we will have to narrow down our top ten choices soon.
Asian
“A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.”
http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/d61a.pdf
We’re going to end discrimination by discriminating against the discriminators!
What a bullsh!t waste of reading space
They start off with facts, then go into some vague ‘unfairness’ feeling
The school picks whoever can afford to pay the tuition
“...Some Asian-American students feel that they lost something by going to school at a place where almost half of their classmates look like themselves - a campus like UCLA. The students said they didn’t feel as well prepared in intercultural skills for the real world....’’
Indeed, you need black students to have a good basketball team, and white students for the best drunken frat parties.
Diversity!!
Asians aren’t “diverse”.
Well, that is, when you define “diverse” as “fewer culturally successful people”.
Out of curiosity, does anyone know why Asians as a group play the violin or viola?
4 out of 4 years of high school, my daughter, who plays the French horn, made All Regional Orchestra and 3 out of 4 years, she made All - State. In all cases, students from public, private, and home-schools are allowed to compete. In all cases, the violin and viola orchestra sections were 90%+ populated with Asian students and I can count on both hands, with fingers left over, the number of Asians in any brass section for all 7 performances. This is in Virginia, which is not exactly a mecca for Asians as California is.
Any insights?
The Ivies turn away lots of kids whose families would pay the full tuition.
This is very old news. Top-tier colleges way over-reject Asians.
Reagan, when he was governor of California, proposed eliminating race as a criteria for admission to the state’s universities.
Someone asked him, “Well, what if Asian students beat out white students for those spots?”
Reagan’s response: “So what?”
This is a tricky issue with second-order effects. As the article points out, even Asians are concerned about there being too many Asians at UCLA — they want to mix with other folks. Harvard faced the same problem in the early part of last century, only with Jews. And Harvard realized that if they admitted as many Jews who “deserved” to be admitted, then even Jews would not want to attend what would become a primarily-Jewish Harvard.
Crafting a class is not just picking the best students.
I've never seen a number, but if it exists, I'd wager it's statistically higher than any other ethnic group.
While it's difficult to lump all Asians together, there is a strong emphasis or value placed on children developing a broad arts background, to include the performing art in families with ties to Asian countries.
It doesn't stop there, my wife is Professor or Literature, who has told me that her graduate classes have significant numbers of Asian students.
There's just a school of thought in the Asian community that students should have a robust and diverse education, to include science, math and the arts.
Getting punished for working hard. I don’t care what race it is. Truly sad.
Anyone making either of those orchestras is a dedicated musician. My question is why as a group do they seem to choose the small strings and as a group do not choose flute, trumpet, drums, clarinet, etc.
Obviously there are exceptions to the rule, this is just an idle question as to the group dynamic
I'm completely serious.
What are Tiger Woods and Obambi? (other than jerks, I mean).
These categories really bother me.
What about just "human being." No, that wouldn't work because a human would be trumped by harp seal and some smelt species.
Congratulations to you and your daughter!
I would presume she’d have her pick of schools. (’Cause I believe from your previous postings here that you yourself are a smart and savvy African American.) I’d also assume that she’ll have access to a level of schools she otherwise might not have—barring exceptional athletic, musical or other talent—if she were white or Asian. But it sounds like she’s got enough ability and maturity to make good use of whatever school she chooses. (As will smart legacies and athletes and and musicians and kids of rich donors and so forth.)
Funny thing is, even with the discrimination, I saw some pics from my U’s football games. Good school, asians everywhere!
Here’s a great short story that’s relevant:
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html
Dfwgator is right
THen Governor Reagan actually said that LOL!
Somebody nowdays would think of Ronnie comments as racist
I think term racism is really way over used
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