<p>race: caucasian
gender: female
economic background: upper-middle class
parents education level: one finished college, the other did not
SAT score: 800 math, 750 verbal
GPA: 4.2
class rank: 6/ 250
affirmative action based on race: no problems with it - I figure that I'm so much luckier to be white in our society that I have a zillion advantages (or lack of disadvantages) that there is no way I can complain about someone getting a leg up.
affirmative action based on economic background: good - economic background is often a stand-in for other factors, such as parent's education level, marital status, focus on education, etc - if you have a low income level and manage to succeed to where you can apply to those colleges with a straight face, more power to you. I'm not begrudging less fortunate people a seat that I might have gotten, even if my numbers are better.</p>
<p>can this be the post unselfish post to this thread?</p>
<p>we are not being selfish, we are defending our RIGHTS...:)</p>
<p>"RIGHTS"..... opinions, right?</p>
<p>I'm older than y'all (mid-twenties) and have seen more. I've seen how people's lives can be derailed (mine included) and know that when they succeed at something, it's in spite of whatever happened. You can never really compensate enough for parents who don't care about their kids, who force them to work instead of getting good grades, who ignore them, or whatever. Then you see parents who will spend hours working with their kids so they can reach their potential - and you see how teachers can really affect children. </p>
<p>'Nuff said. Go back to bickering. ;)</p>
<p>so are you saying genetically and socially, black parents force their kids to work, or is that more of a pro-economic-AA arguement?</p>
<p>and then is it genetically and socially that asian and white parents take the time to work with their children on their homework?</p>
<p>and are the teachers racist and only help the white and asian kids?</p>
<p>commme onnnn</p>
<ol>
<li><p>No. I never mentioned genetics. That was you.</p></li>
<li><p>Ditto.</p></li>
<li><p>Studies show that the answer is often yes. Black students who scored a perfect score on a math placement test were still put into remedial courses while their white counterparts who scored only 75% correct were put into honours. Teachers spend more time with attractive students, white students, and students whom they believe have more innate abilities.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>As I said earlier, race is often a stand-in for other problems. Poverty, divorce, poor school systems, uneducated parents - much of that correlates quite strongly with race. My parents are not highly educated (see my above post) - let's just say that I'm the odd one in the family. I understand a bit of how it must be to have a drive for more education and not have your family understanding it. However, I live in a nice town, went to great schools, and it was expected that I would go to college. Engineering and law were all me, though. I cannot imagine what it would be like, with my personality and intellect in an environment with poor schools, teachers who didn't believe in me, and parents who thought (like so very many do!) that private college is not affordable. There are parents who don't understand that Harvard with financial aid is cheaper than state schools without aid. Look at the people on this board - those "in the know" will have their students be much more successful in this process. There is a very high correlation between that and race and economics. There are what, two or three black parents on these boards? The upper classes are very well-represented at colleges and on these boards. People with more money can afford private counselors, tutors, and expensive extracurriculars. People with more money, resources, and credibility have the capability to push for better education for their children, to help them throughout school to achieve, and to coach them through this process.</p>
<p>The bottom line is universities and colleges get points for being diverse, they need us...DEAL WITH IT!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Because a diverse campus is fake. It's not a representation of anything real - it's all fake.
[/quote]
That's true. A college may be demographically very diverse, but when you actually examine the social interactions between students, you might find that there is not much mingling or interaction. Often times a college can be diverse but the different ethnic/political/social categories tend to seperate themselves from the rest of the student body.</p>
<p>Untitled, your statements on this forum are unpalatable and rubbish. You seem to be very emotional. I guess you probably need to spend more time doing pedantic endeavors in order to get it into Top-Flight colleges. </p>
<p>Please don't say that you're Asian; because Asians are more self confident than you. They do not spend their time bashing other races. Their philosophy is to help others. You see this all around the world.</p>
<p>uh if this is for a study/survey...then dont you need a random sample? (which this isnt)</p>
<p>
[quote]
White people have faced as many if not more challenges than "URM's", but have stood tall and conquered them.
-Seth Blue
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is perhaps the most offensive statement I have ever read on College Confidential. Have you, Seth Blue, ever been prejudged as less than qualified because of the color of your skin? Have you been followed in a department store by security gaurds? </p>
<p>Whats worse than that are the seemingly benign comments from people who just dont know better. As an African American at my school, I was assumed underqualified until I proactively proved otherwise. One of my good friends actually told me "you know, you are the only qualified black person here." When I challenged his comment, he admited that I was the only black student that he knew, and that he had absolutely no idea about the qualifications of the others. He assumed automatically that they were not as qualified as their white peers-something that was manifestly untrue.
What do you think this can do to a black student's self esteem? My mother was told by her 6th grade teacher that she was "smart for a n****r."</p>
<p>Seth Blue, you are basically denying the gravity of slavery, the subsequent 110 years of government-sanctioned oppression and the extermination of an entire race of people (native americans), not to mention countless other abominable events that have undermined entire races of people and placed them at the bottom of the economic (and therefore educational) foodchain. I would like to know what hardship the entirety of the white race in the US has undergone that has put them, as a race, at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>What is most offensive about your comment-the implication that whites are superior to under represented minorities because they have "stood tall," unlike their black, hispanic, and native american counterparts, who have floundered economically and educationally. Are you implying the superiority of the white race?</p>
<p>There are legitimate problems with affirmative action as it exists today. This thread is here to debate those. Comparing races and discounting centuries of documented history is not something that should be going on here.</p>
<p>Hi Seth Blue since you're so much smarter than African Americans.</p>
<p>Please solve these simple logical connectives; I am sure the SAT is much harder: </p>
<p>Put True or False next to the question.</p>
<p>a) can true imply false? </p>
<p>b) can false imply true?</p>
<p>c) can false imply false?</p>
<p>d)P and False (If and only If) =</p>
<p>This should take you no more than ten seconds.</p>
<p>ariesathena i agree about what you said about teachers giving preferece to certain students or applying certain stereotypes to minorities. I myself was number 3 in my middle school but when i went to high school i was put in the regular classes. The next year I had to beg(despite my 98 average) to be put into honors classes because none of my teachers believed i could handle it and i had to talk with each of them to make them accelerate me. I fought all through high school to get recognition and i never achieved it until this year. I am the first person in my school to go from all regular classes to all AP classes and I am also the first kid to skip pre calculus and go stratight to calculus ( freshman year made me miss one year of math and spanish). I ended up getting into Stanford and Yale and I will be attending Stanford next year. I had to fight much more than my white or asian classmates because I was the only one who believed in myself. I fought all the judgement against me and though this hurt me in the beginning and destroyed my confidence in myself, i was able to overcome this and I was rewarded for it. I just wish other kids dont have to go through what I did, especially those who cant handle the stress and degradation as well as other can.</p>
<p>guys, i posted what i did knowing someone would deride it. Things is, that's how i feel and to post otherwise would make me a hypocrite. I dislike Afirmative Action, NOT URM's. Ever heard of "hate the sin, but not the sinner?" This is my last post, go ahead and insult me, I'll understand it to be your intense need for revenge.</p>
<p>actually, this will be my last post addressed to prepster:</p>
<p>What ever you thought I implied, I humbly apologize for. I should have made my point less obscure. You wrote a convincing post. I wish you all the best.</p>
<p>race: south asian
gender: Male
economic background: Middle-Upper class
parents education level: One masters, one few years college
SAT score: 1480
GPA: 4.0
class rank: 1/366
affirmative action based on race: good or bad? Bad
affirmative action based on economic background: good or bad? eh...</p>
<p>I understand some minorities have been repressed. But there are certainly rich URM's that are benefiting when they don't need it. I mean, I say (perhaps I'm a bit idealistic) that we find ways to give better education to those poorer areas that can't seem to compete without it, so that we can even the level field that way, instead of by lowering the standards needed to get a job/spot in a university. Maybe AA is the best we can do for now though.</p>
<p>stanmaster thats impressive but you have proved that AA is pointless- any adcom reading an essay about your hardship and determination would probably look very favorably on your application- on the other hand some who has done nothing in HS and is clearly just waiting for AA to help them should not get a prefrence nor should someone who was permitted into honors and AP classes and given every oppertunity to achieve</p>
<p>But that's not how it works, Yanks, you act like people with extemely bad test scores get into great universities because of AA. It doesn't weigh as heavily as you might think.</p>
<p>ethnicity: mexican american
gender: male
economic background: poor
parents education level: none
SAT score: 2080
GPA: 4.0
class rank: 1
affirmative action based on race: good
affirmative action based on economic background: bad</p>