College Board: A bunch of bitter nativists who think all asians are the same.

Collegeboard is a group of bitter nativists who think all asians are the same. Possibly a slight overstatement, but, don’t you think ethnicity checkboxes are ridiculous?

I hate when checking a box, I have to check Asian / Pacific Islander.

I am Indian, and when checking off college information cards and standardized test forms, I hate having to check Asian / Pacific Islander. Maybe it is just me, but I wish there was were different boxes such as Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and such…

Plus, asia is one of the largest freakin continents in the world, and a large chunk of college applicants are from the said origin. At least there could be one for say… South Asian, and East Asian???

It seems to me that this sole check box is a tool of the white man who views all Asians as the same.

Any thoughts, and have other people had similar experiences?

P.S. - I tend to overexxagerate, so don’t read what I have to say in literal terms.

<p>Is it any different from the fact that all whites are looked at the same way? Count how many countries whites emerge from!</p>

<p>i doubt it. they are just simplifying the selection of ethnicity. you don't see swedish, german, italian, english, blah blah.</p>

<p>As Far As I Remeber Next To All The Boxes It Said "asia (including Indian Sub Continent Etc)" So I Really Dont See Whats There To Cry About</p>

<p>I see what you're saying. And, I don't mean to sound racist here, but Asians are some of the most racist people around. I have a lot of Asian friends, and there seem to be some conflicts like all other Asians pretty much hating the Japanese and vice versa. Plus some other rivalries and whatnot. I think a lot of Asians would be offended to be put in the same group or whatever. But on the other hand, I'm one of the people that doesn't care what race a person is, so I think they should pretty much get rid of the boxes entirely. Really, there's no biological basis for "race," it's a social construct. I think it's really more of a Myth that's used to explain very minor differences like skin tone or hair type. But that's something else entirely. Oh well.</p>

<p>Asians aren't really that 'racist', per se. Rather, we're quite nationalist.</p>

<p>Some people are way too thin-skinned.</p>

<p>For Caucasion people, why couldn't they write southern European, or eastern European; couldn't they have wrote Slavic, Anglo Saxon, etc; better yet, couldn't they just write Russia, England, Gernamny, etc; it's a depersonalization so to speak, but nevertheless--the classification is suppose to be objective. I personally don't think you're looking at the entire picture--that, or your just looking for an open discussion.</p>

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Asians aren't really that 'racist', per se. Rather, we're quite nationalist.

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<p>Yeah, if Asians were racist, it'd be directed towards people from different continents, not next door neighbours.</p>

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It seems to me that this sole check box is a tool of the white man who views all Asians as the same.

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<p>That's stepping over the line, given the lack of evidence. I mean, if you have a recording of the president of College Board explicitly stating this, then by all means, throw the accusation. But so what if all Asians are bunched into one box? So's everybody else. If every single nationality was listed, there'd be over 200 possible boxes to check.</p>

<p>I thought most applications had an area where you can specify your ethnicity?</p>

<p>Well i think that this argument is kinda not realistic. Can anyone expect Collegeboard to have a space for every asian country. If they did wont they need a box for blacks- haitian/ carribean, nigerian/west africa, south africa/south africa, ethiopia/east africa, tunisia/north africa. Or how about Latinos Mexico/North, Guatemala/Central american, Dominican Rep/Carribean , Brazil/South America , Argentina/ South . Or even whites Spain/South, Sweden/Nordic, Bosnia/ Balkan, Russian/Euroasia. Its way to much to ask collegebaord to have like 70 spaces for race. Basically race is kinda abstract and really socially motivated so i guess that just having a general differentiation - JUST FOR EQUAL EDUCATION PURPOSES AND TO DETERMINE STUDENT MAKE UP- is the best way for NOW. I mean you can get very deep in this and say oh man a dravidian indian looks nothing like a manchurian chinamen, or a dominican mullato looks nothing like an argentine cacuasian, an ethiopian and a nigerian, a swede and a sicilian. This gets very deep so i guess collegeboards method kinda gives a general feel. Lets worry more about college and eduation and less about race and stuff, back to bashing CB!!!</p>

<p>Its funny that you should bring this up because according to the US Supreme Court, Asian Indians are technically Caucasian. Look up US v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923), where it was ruled Indians are technically Caucasian but not white. Therefore, if you so wanted, you could bubble in Caucasian as your ethnictity, by law. ---Just thought I'd let you know.</p>

<p>"It seems to me that this sole check box is a tool of the white man who views all Asians as the same."</p>

<p>Yes, I would think so too. Unforunately, research on Asian groups in college have only recently emerged, and there are still relatively few researchers in this field. That is, it is only a very very recent discovery among education researchers that the Hmong aren't the same as the Chinese or that Kazakhs aren't the same as Pakistanis when it comes to performance on college admissions. Besides the lack of researchers in this field, the field itself was overlooked because of the success of Asians as a group itself in college acceptances. This is my understanding from professors at UCLA's Graduate School of Education.</p>

<p>Okay, it's not that big of a deal, Though Asia is large, look at the amount of diversity exists, a lot one can argue, but look at Europe, it alike has several different countries/dialects/customs. I myself am Indian and I don't really care, what bothers me the most are when some thick-headed mind-numingly annoying people think that India isn't in Asia and they think it's in the 'Middle East', which in itself is part of Asia, but what do they know...</p>

<p>College Board: A bunch of bitter nativists who think all white people are the same.</p>

<p>or</p>

<p>College Board: A bunch of bitter nativists who think all black people are the same. </p>

<p>...Why does it matter, pentasa? Every single registration form I've ever done that has survey questions like those on the SAT have had very similar racial categories.</p>

<p>I don't see how it would hurt College Board to toss in a couple more specific regions in there. Instead of Asian/Pacific Islander, why not Pacific Islander, Southeast Asian, East Asian, Asian Subcontinent. Also, other regions shouldn't be discounted as well. Hispanic encompasses a lot, why not Caribbean Hispanic States, South American, Mexican and Central American? College Board should institute this for one year, call it, uh, "research purposes," and test it out. As a Vietnamese, it is very difficult to compete with, say, Chinese or Koreans because these other Asians tend to have been more established in the 'States and are more likely to be affluent, as opposed to the Vietnamese students who are more likely to be first generation college students or sons/daughters of immigrants. The fact that Whites are not categorized under less broad terms is that Whites, at least in the more developed regions of Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States tend to have very similar socioeconomic relations. British and Americans aren't that different in terms of socioeconomics, nor are we much different from Germans, Italians, or Scandanaviams. Are you to tell me the Japanese and Chinese are similar? If I was to apply an analogy, it'd be like comparing the United States and Mexico- don't tell me there's no difference. As for comparing Chinese to Vietnamese, it's like comparing a Puerto Rican to a Venezuelan- there still exists a difference in socioeconomics. Other regions that should be considered are East European, African (not African-American/Black).</p>

<p>TTG</p>

<p>The University of California application form (PATHWAYS) lets you specify which specific Asian ethnicity you belong to...</p>

<p>I am a Pakistani-American, I don't mind being classified as Asian and being put in with Chinese/Japanese/Koreans etc. If Pakistan is considered Middle Eastern than I would be white as white = North African, Middle Eastern and Europeans.</p>

<p>I normally leave it bland, or fill unspecified. Othertimes I just check Asian. When I got a ticket for speeding the cop checked white.</p>

<p>However, what I do find disturbing is filling that in for every freakin' thing in the world. You have a race box for hospital volutneer application, for SATs, ACTS, SOLs (VA tests), applying for employment, applying for colleges, traffic tickets, and bunch of other stuff.</p>

<p>I mean why does race matter? Why are we so obsessed with it? Can't all of us just be HUMANS or AMERICANS? Why do we have to classify people?</p>

<p>i just think that its unfair that we can only check one box. i'm half black, half-filipino, and i know if i check only asian, affirmative action isnt on my side, & if i check black, i wont get any asian scholarships!!!
i always just check other.</p>

<p>Perhaps for everyone it would work if there was just a box to check if you're not white or asian.</p>