I am ASIAN and I am at an ADVANTAGE

Applying to College
61

<p>"I say that I am Taiwanese. The truth is, even if we are not officially recognized by most major international countries, the generations of people who grow up in Taiwan see China as a foe rather than a friend, and they see themselves as a seperate democracy."</p>

<p>Hm. But do you see yourselves as a separate culture? Political differences aside, would you still want complete separation? In that sense, many Taiwanese people (anecdotally) still consider themselves Chinese. After all, most Taiwanese Americans are from the Han Chinese ethnic group that migrated to Taiwan, and not aborigine Taiwanese. </p>

<p>More relevant to the original topic of this thread, there are hypotheses for why Chinese Americans are overrepresented in higher education. They usually stem from increased value placed on education within the culture. One theory is that Chinese immigrants are self-selected for those who have a high degree of education. </p>

<p>"The sociologist Stephen Klineberg conducted a 1996 study of Asian Americans in Houston, and found that the Asian American population had little upward mobility. Among the Vietnamese, 28 percent are in low-skilled production or laboring jobs as were 30 percent of their fathers." Most Vietnamese emigrated to escape political oppression or for freedom. On the other hand, most Chinese emigrated for educational opportunities, while most Indians and Filipinos emigrated for economic and work advantages."</p>

<p>I'm not qualified to comment on the educational emphasis in Taiwanese culture.</p>

62

<p>"You think, but I am certain that the OP would not ridicule the thread he started."</p>

<p>the "he" was referring to Kennyk LMAO.
op said it's stupid to argue about Taiwan, Kennyk was saying it's stupid to argue which asians have advantages as well (i think)</p>

<p>chronicidal,
"Today's legal status of ROC was exactly that of PRC before 1971."
that's funny, b/c the communist country rebelled against ROC
where did u get that info? wiki?
supposedly everyone who is educated knows that wiki can be easily edited anyway anyone wants. </p>

<p>it's such a pointless debate anyway, I agree w/ the op and kennyk,
CC likes to debate on stupid stuff all the time....
and btw, if I recall correctly, the first respond to this thread was the stupid one that tried to cause all the controversy and stuff, yet he already left.
it's stupid to continue and fight for him when that coward is gone.</p>

63

<p>screwthepc,</p>

<p>thanks but let's just leave this thread.
it's a stupid and non-productive topic (both the asian advantage and the Taiwan nation)
some people just dont "get it" and get influenced by what the public or the authority wants them to believe. it's completely fine.</p>

<p>the end.</p>

64

<p>This Taiwanese v. Chinese debate had been on CC for a long time. Just check the Taiwanese threads in the International Student forum. But to answer a question on the top:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Hm. But do you see yourselves as a separate culture? Political differences aside, would you still want complete separation? In that sense, many Taiwanese people (anecdotally) still consider themselves Chinese. After all, most Taiwanese Americans are from the Han Chinese ethnic group that migrated to Taiwan, and not aborigine Taiwanese.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The idea of a Taiwanese culture developed slowly through time. With the dying off of the grandparent generation that came over with the KMT from China, the younger Taiwanese people are starting to form a separate ideology - that they are Taiwanese, rather than Chinese. Wanting complete separation depends on how strong your political views are. There are people that do want Taiwan to be an independent nation, but most prefer the status quo because, obviously, of the threat from China.</p>

<p>To argue whether we identify as Han Chinese or Taiwanese is a moot point. Of course we are Han Chinese because our ancestors came over from China to Taiwan, but since our parent's generation spent their entire life in Taiwan and so have we, we do not see ourselves as "Chinese" anymore. If you have ever been to Taiwan, you can see that Taiwan is entirely separate from China - we have de facto independence, but just not de jure. We do not tend to view ourselves as Chinese in the same way that Palestinians do not see themselves as Israeli. The state of Palestine never existed, but Israel cannot exert full control over it either. When one has grown up in Taiwan, without any influence in the government from China, it's only obvious for Taiwan people (a very wide majority now) to see themselves as Taiwanese. Why would you identify with a country that had never contributed to your life, growing up?</p>

<p>And this Chinese-Taiwanese debate is actually big in Taiwan. I just saw some statistics on TV about Hong Kong and Taiwan and the extent that these people view themselves as "Chinese." Since the return of Hong Kong since 1997, now more than 50% of Hong Kong people see themselves as Chinese (Chinese control of Hong Kong directly contributes to this mindset), but almost 80% of Taiwanese people still do not consider themselves Taiwanese. Chinese in blood, yes, but not in this current day and world (or at least, never in the last 60 years).</p>

65

<p>This is pathetic...</p>

66

<p>so is arguing which asians are advantageous vs which aren't</p>

67

<p>and you're not?</p>

68

<p>he is.
10char</p>

69

<p>Hey at least I'm whining about a legitimate issue concerning college admissions. Affirmative Action is a very controversial subject and is relevant to this forum.</p>

70

<p>I don't see the point of debating the whole China/Taiwan thing.
Yes there is a difference between ROC and PRC. But if you are a little bit informed you will know ROC is not recognized anywhere and that PRC is the only legitimate representative of Chinese government. So safely speaking, and more politically correct, Taiwan is not an independent country. I thought that is clear enough already.</p>

<p>Back on the topic. You are an Asian, you are an Asian. This is stupid too. Instead of debating the "advantageousness" of the different kind of asians, go hang out with friends, read some good books, stay with your parents (they need your love), help kids with their math, talk to elder people, or even read something about China/Taiwan. You have a lot better things to do than arguing something like whether "center" is a better spelling for "centre".</p>

<p>(Personal junk here, ignore if not interested:
I think what has happened to Hong Kong and Macau is exactly what is gonna happen to Taiwan in an imminent future. One country two system has worked fine in my point of view. I have just been to Hong Kong and it was the 10th anniversary of their return to PRC, I believe. Local people seemed very happy about that and treated it like a holiday. Out of curiosity, I talked to a couple of people who seemed to be college students in the parade. Poor English. But to my surprise, they were very conscious of their nationality as being Chinese and took proud in what has been accomplished by the nation. Not only that, I could see they were proud of having kept their freedom of speech, religion and other stuff even though they are under a communist state control and they definitely are enjoying that. Right to vote and one party ruling has been an issue. But before they returned to PRC people didn't have suffrage anyways: the governor was appointed by the British government instead of a popular election. Now at least there were two candidates and debates going on, although all is but a show. But what I found most interesting was that what many "expert" predicted 10 years ago about what terrible things would happen to HK upon the transition did not happen at all. And they are speaking of the same thing about Taiwan now.</p>

<p>I think, and I hope, that Taiwan will be willing to follow HK's path. At least they are very likely to retain their freedom of speech and religion and their capitalist system like HK did. To a bigger picture they can make the world a much more peaceful place as long as PRC don't point their missiles to Mongolia after reunification. I mean come on, sooner or later Taiwan would "reunify" with PRC. It is a trend. I can't see anything that is stopping it from happening, for now. It's just in what way they are going to reunify. Personally I really don't want to see the People's Liberation Army using innumerable landing-crafts with missiles over their heads to really "liberate" Taiwan. Because once that happens, no democracy for Taiwan, ever. All the freedoms that could have been preserved for Taiwanese would be a joke. Not to mention all the lives that would be lost.</p>

<p>Man the whitehouse should hire me.)</p>

71

<p>


</p>

<p>I love when PRC advocates actually claim this. I guess Taiwan is just some piece of land right off the coast of China, huh? It's not like it's a part of the PRC; that's the part that gets to these people. I really don't see how claiming what and what isn't independent actually legitimizes China's claim over Taiwan. </p>

<p>
[quote]
Back on the topic. You are an Asian, you are an Asian. This is stupid too. Instead of debating the "advantageousness" of the different kind of asians, go hang out with friends, read some good books, stay with your parents (they need your love), help kids with their math, talk to elder people, or even read something about China/Taiwan. You have a lot better things to do than arguing something like whether "center" is a better spelling for "centre".

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I see the topic as a fair discussion and matter of debate. If you feel this as a waste of time, you are free to ignore it. But oh no! How convenient of you to digress from the actual topic for a full out spiel on the Chinese! I thought this thread was about certain distinctions between different ethnic groups? Clearly, not all ethnicities are the same. </p>

<p>
[quote]
Man the whitehouse should hire me.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Why? Because politicians are good at going off topic and beating around the bush? Fair enough.</p>

72

<p>"Hey at least I'm whining about a legitimate issue concerning college admissions. Affirmative Action is a very controversial subject and is relevant to this forum."
it only brings up further debate an arguments, just like some people like to discuss whetehr Taiwan is a country. That only brings up further debate and arguments, and if you're observant enough to look up past threads on CC, neither of these two topics settle down.</p>

73

<p>**"The truth of the matter is, we can't be placed under the homogenous Asian American umbrella," said Riesch, who grew up in East Palo Alto, known then for being the murder capital of the country. "Not everyone fits in that category."</p>

<p>Statistically the odds are against Pacific Islanders like Riesch: only fifteen percent get their bachelor's degree and only one percent go on to get their master's degree. For many, upward mobility and higher education are virtually inaccessible without help. Being lumped into an "Asian" group undermines the struggles of smaller APA ethnic groups, critics say.** </p>

<hr>

<p>The APC immediately hosted a forum to dispel the misconception and from there, the Count Me In! campaign was born. </p>

<p>**"We're underrepresented and from a different part of history, a different part of the world," said Kevin Peanh, 20, about his Cambodian heritage. </p>

<p>Being placed under a ubiquitous Asian classification was personally detrimental to the Long Beach, Calif. native because his classmates would often think his family was more affluent than their reality.**</p>

<p>"My mom is a caretaker and my dad is a machinist," said Peanh.</p>

<hr>

<p>Disaggregating APA Racial Categories in California</p>

<p>University of California officials agree that placing all APAs in a single category likely masks differences in experience, educational background and socio-economic status.</p>

<p>"We are currently developing a report that disaggregates these categories at the system wide level," said Nina Robinson, director of policy and external affairs for the University of California. "In addition, we are studying the possibility of expanding the number of subcategories of data we collect and report." </p>

<hr>

<p>But campaign supporters say their efforts are specially geared towards dismantling the Model Minority Myth. </p>

<p>"I am not opposed to other groups being able to access disaggregated data. The intent of this bill, however, is to address the Model Minority Myth that exists for the API community. It will accomplish this by gathering accurate data for individual groups that are starkly different from one another in terms of immigration patterns, language and culture," said Lieu.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pacificcitizen.org/content/2007/national/june15-lin-countmein.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pacificcitizen.org/content/2007/national/june15-lin-countmein.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

74

<p>i think its also relative to the college to which you are applying. I know one of the schools I was considering last year, Wake Forest, is actively trying to recruit ALL non-white minorities b/c they receive so few applications from people of color. Wake Forest is not a school that a great deal of Asians apply to so in this case they are considered underrepresented ( asians currently make up 4% of the entire student pop). I believe the same holds true for Villanova were asians make up a mere 6% of the student body.</p>

75

<p>
[quote]
Wake Forest is not a school that a great deal of Asians apply to so in this case they are considered underrepresented ( asians currently make up 4% of the entire student pop). I believe the same holds true for Villanova were asians make up a mere 6% of the student body.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>While these schools may be actively recruiting more Asians - I highly doubt that they are admitting a lot of "less qualified" Asian applicants.</p>

76

<p>well spoken Oasis. couldn't have said it better myself. </p>

<p>we're two different cultures.</p>

77

<p>How can colleges distinguish between an African-immigrant applican and an African-American applicant?</p>

78

<p>i'm vietnamese and i got rejected from harvard, princeton, yale, and upenn. sure my gpa and SATs were medicore, but i don't think being viet gives you the urm advantage.</p>

<p>luckily, i was accepted to the hogwarts school of withcraft and wizardry. booya!</p>

79

<p>is it the general consensus that filipinos are urms or merely urms of an overrepresented group (i.e., the asians)... at my school filipinos constitute 35% of the student population and are just as academic as the asians (who also comprise 35% of our student population).</p>

80

<p>^The generally consencus is an inaccurate statement. I don't think Filipino is URM either.</p>