Affirmative Action in US Colleges

[a polka dot]

I read articles on the "model minority" and affirmative action on Wikipedia some time ago, and I wanted to show an excerpt to my fellow Chinese.

Wikipedia

Asian American status in affirmative action

Because of their high degree of success as a group, Asian Americans do not generally benefit from affirmative action policies the way other minority groups do. In fact, some schools routinely choose lower-scoring applicants from other racial groups, including European Americans, over Asian Americans, in an attempt to promote racial diversity and to maintain some proportion to the society's racial demographics. One of the highest gaps is at UC Berkeley which does not practice affirmative action. The gap between Asian Americans and African Americans is about 300 SAT points.

A 2005 Princeton study showed Asians (not whites) bear nearly 80% of the cost of affirmative action in college admissions. Nearly four out of every five spots given to blacks and Hispanics in an affirmative-action regime would go to Asians in a purely merit-based system.

The average cost or benefit of college affirmative action in terms of SAT points (on 1600-point scale) is as follows:

* Blacks: +230
* Hispanics: +185
* Asians: −50
* Recruited Athletes: +200
* "Legacies" (children of alumni): +160

Although many ICUers aren't living in America and this type of affirmative action might not apply to them (it's illegal to reverse discriminate in the UK), I just want to know what you think of it. Personally, I think the colleges are stereotyping. Not all Asians are smart, and some might be born with disabilities. But then, some blacks or Hispanics might be capable of being very intelligent but don't have the opportunity because of the neighborhood they live in. But what about the blacks or Hispanics that live in good neighborhoods? D:

The articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_minority
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action_in_the_United_States

Discuss. <3

 

[Niphz]

Ahh, I believe in the UK it's called "positive discrimination". And it does exist, just not officially.

Firstly, about the whole concept: I believe it's wrong, of course. Places should be given on merit and purely on merit. However the counter argument is this [the example I'll give is in a UK context, but it applies everywhere]: say you have two girls, one called Britney and one called Jessica. Britney is black, goes to a state school, her parents have split up and she is doing her A-levels whilst balancing two part-time jobs to have enough money to help her family. Jessica, on the other hand, is white, goes to boarding school, rides ponies and plays three instruments.

Now, Jessica applies to university with three As, and Britney applies with three Cs. Obviously, Jessica is the better candidate. But the university, now, is encouraged to take Britney, because she's black and from a state school.

This seems wrong. What if, however..

Britney's school is an educational disaster. Half the girls in her year are having babies and the other half do drugs. The school average grade is E. So to get three Cs in this environment, Britney is actually doing extremely well. Jessica, on the other hand, comes from a school where on average people get four or five As, so she is below average, only getting three.

..is it still unfair?

I'm divided on this one.. although I still believe ultimately it should be done by merit..