<p>[Do</a> black tech entrepreneurs face institutional bias?](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/11/tech/innovation/black-tech-entrepreneurs/index.html]Do”>http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/11/tech/innovation/black-tech-entrepreneurs/index.html)</p>
<p>Using NBA and NFL, two of my favorite sports as an example, I can see that affirmative action and ‘leveling the playing field’ may actually be a bad thing. These games are overwhelmingly played by black athletes, rightfully so as they are simply the best. There is no need to seek out equal representation by every race on everything.</p>
<p>Thats plain stereotyping. There will be tons of smart AAs if they are given the opportunity to go to college with mentors in the family which dont exist. This is the role ABC is in. Dont think Asians have a monopoly on smarts, thats also a stereotype. You probably wont understand racism unless you are in the shoes of an AA man and find out what its like to be living on the south side of Chicago. As an Asian American you will also experience it sooner or later, especially when you try to move up the ladder, may be not as bad as the AAs experience.</p>
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<p>@DAndrew, I do not think prep schools are trying to “even the playing field.” That notion was introduced by JMilton’s post some pages back. The prep boarding schools try to select those students who will become the elite. They are not trying to give every student in America a fair shot. (See Cookson, Preparing for Power.)</p>
<p>A boarding school education can also be a grueling experience, even for those who thrive at the schools. It is not a panacea. </p>
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<p>It can be a hook, for the right candidate. So can athletic ability, legacy status, family wealth, family prominence, geographical diversity, and musical ability (if they need your instrument.) (There are others, but not many.) So, in my opinion, it can tip the scales in an applicant’s favor, but it isn’t the only factor. In my opinion, athletic prowess and (wealthy) legacy status account for more admissions in the prep school admissions process.</p>
<p>Perinwinkle,
If “finding elite” is prep school’s only goal, then I don’think seeking diversity is the way or is even relevant. How does one’s skin color have anything to do with whether he/she is a potential elite? Or how is one being black makes one more likely an elite that justifies it being a “hook”?</p>
<p>And, I agree it’s just one of the hooks, and may not be the biggest one in prep school admission.</p>
<p>Some people seem to post without a point of view, with no supporting arguments for their point of view that doesnt exist, incessantly attacking others with no meaningful evidence. If this description fits your modus operandi, please stop. Frankly, it is tiring. :(</p>
<p>^^^Which part of whoever’s “point of view” do you not understand? Just ask, preferrably nicely. We are all very supportive here.</p>
<p>DAndrew, I just finished reading Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites, by Mitchell L. Stevens. He theorizes that the fine small liberal arts college he observed for months put great effort into recruiting minority applicants for several reasons. A diverse campus appeals to the very highest performers, including "some of the more sophisticated prep school kids.'</p>
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<p>Thanks Periwinkle. Good stuff. I gotta find that book. The excerpt you quoted above is already very enlightening!</p>
<p>As the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education article discussed above observes, most minority students at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton come from high-income families. If that finding applies to prep schools, the only possible conclusion is that prep schools purchase racial diversity at the expense of economic diversity. </p>
<p>People of good will can reasonably disagree about whether past racial injustice justifies this practice. They cannot, however, ignore that a policy of this sort damages poor and lower middle class applicants, regardless of their race. </p>
<p>Hence, the question is not whether racial diversity has positive effects. It is whether those positive effects outweigh the negative ones. Viewing this issue through the single prism of race distorts analysis of this question. Indeed, it pre-determines the result of this analysis by factoring in race to the exclusion of class.</p>
<p>jmilton, I can’t speak for colleges, nor have I read the specific cited analysis that proves “most minority students at H/Y/P come from high income families,” but I can speak for Thacher and say that my experience there points to the opposite - that most minority kids do not come from means. What they bring is smarts, thick skin, ambition, and a whole lot of guts to jump into what is a quite different environment than what they know at home. They do not come to campus with fat wallets.</p>
<p>That ■■■■■ is a thread killer.</p>
<p>Hey just wondering if u know what a girl should where for an exeter interview. Mine is tomorow and i bought close but i dont know what they’re looking for. sorry about the spelling. im in a rush and really desperate…thanks.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure why this discussion keeps falling back to conflating race aware programs with economic justice. This is like accusing a hammer of not doing a good job of screwing in screws. If these programs were intended to mete out economic justice, they’d be doing a poor job of it. If the idea is to make the application process friendlier and not make the overall post-matriculation experience richer, they’d miss the mark. I think the concerns about economic justice on the admissions side are valid. I don’t think the cause is advanced by attacking programs that weren’t intended to do that. What would help would be developing and reforming programs that are designed to do that. Trying to fix the hammer so that it works with screws – or throw away the hammer because it doesn’t do so – is not a well-conceived approach to achieving your goal.</p>
<p>I agree with D’yer. If the concern is that working class white kids aren’t getting the same opportunities as students of color in ABC, then the solution is to get the information and support programs out there. </p>
<p>And there’s the rub, at least in my limited experience. Most people in the working class town where I live think boarding school is a place to send young delinquents. Many of the parents have never ventured more than 100 miles away from home. People think we’re crazy to send our kid away. This isn’t the inner city where parents fear for their kids’ lives; people here might be poor, but they like their lifestyle. I see some kids who would probably benefit from boarding school–but there are definite costs, financially, socially, and emotionally to making that choice for both kids and parents, so I don’t see that the going so outweighs the staying put that my community needs a program like ABC to get more “disadvantaged” white kids to move thousands of miles from home.</p>
<p>Nicely said, @Thatcher, @D’Yermaker and Classicalmama.</p>
<p>I hate that some on the boards are trying to devolve this into a class war. Working class and poor kids of all colors are at a disadvantage primarily because the information isn’t disseminated in their communities - or if so - the adults discourage them from taking advantage of them because of stereotypes (reform schools), perceived distance, or fear of the unknown.</p>
<p>You’re right, though - the reality is schools are trying to build a diverse and well-rounded class. That consists of economic, gender, race, geographic and cultural diversity. With so few slots - it’s a balancing act with no one getting preference unless their surname is on a building (and sometimes not even then.)</p>
<p>Students feeling slighted by the BS or private foundations could prove that they are the type of student schools are seeking out if they’d stop complaining about the unfairness of the process and spend some proactive time finding appropriate resources available and advocate for themselves in a thoughtful and articulate way.</p>
<p>It’s a good life lesson to learn now.</p>
<p>@D’yer Maker: It took me that long to finally be on the same page with some other posters on the meaning of racial diversity (or in some cases the preferential treament in admission based on race) and its designed purpose/impact. Periwinkle’s post #88 was particularly helpful. Before that, I thought the hammer was meant to work with screws (and thought the hammer was flawed in not working with screws of all colors), or didn’t know what I thought was a magic hammer was just a hammer.</p>
<p>Sad. Just sad. We didn’t realize that when speaking English to someone who spoke a foreign language, that trying to explain it in the person’s preferred language would just cause them to switch antenna to a different dialect so the clear purpose of the message would continue to be lost on them.</p>
<p>But for the record - that hammer (or in many cases a screwdriver) is working effectively to firmly imbed screws of all colors and origins. At least last time I looked. It’s only the screws left in the pile that complain there are no holes left for them to use and advocate the use of a magic hammer to magically make the chosen screws disappear (or morph into a homogeneous pile in which all are a single color and origin and hence indistinguishable from one another).</p>
<p>^^^Sadly, you words have been wasted again. I don’t understand a thing of what you just said!</p>
<p>EMA, Your message is as clear as it is hilarious, rofl.</p>