<p>hey..i dont know much about AA, but being an indian ( as in from the indian subcontinent), i just have to ask, does AA put me at an advantage or disadvantage? i live in an all white community, all white school, etc.</p>
<p>I haven't been following this thread, but at my hs, a very good one, if you were a minority, could read ok, hadn't committed a felony, and didn't drool on yourself during your interviews, you'd get into a much better college than would a whitey with similar stats. True story.</p>
<p>brown08232 </p>
<p>"I haven't been following this thread, but at my hs, a very good one, if you were a minority, could read ok, hadn't committed a felony, and didn't drool on yourself during your interviews, you'd get into a much better college than would a whitey with similar stats. True story."</p>
<p>I am having the hardest time accepting this little anecdote. Last time I checked I believed that most colleges and universities had set the bar a little higher than that. Your attitude reminds me of my classmates...oh you're black....you'll get in to any school you want.</p>
<p>hey man, yeah i get the same thing..except they say 'your indian, your going to any school you want.' its definitely not true! Think about it this way, as an Asian student, for example, I get placed in the same pool with all the asian math and sciences with perfect scores on everything. so yeah, basically i get nailed</p>
<p>i'd say asian males are in the worst situation.</p>
<p>why asian males (just curious). my english teacher says white males and asian females are the most disadvantaged...</p>
<p>asian males because they are all so amazingly clever (perferct scores) and a large number of them apply. Not so much Asian female because well they ARE female so they do have an advantage.. I don't know about white males possibly less than asian males because a smaller percentage of them are so compettitive and intelligent</p>
<p>I guess that's true, thefootscrubber...</p>
<p>I kind of agree with thefootscrubber. There are a whole lot of intelligent asian guys, but I don't believe it is due to being amazingly clever...it's due to hard work and lotssssss of studying. Not only that, many who apply to schools seem to have the criteria I listed above. The result is that it gets kind of repetitive and makes it hard to decide who to admit with so many qualified candidates.</p>
<p>Affirmative action is retarded. The main argument for affirmative action is that URMs somehow are at a disadvantage because of their economic situation or neighborhood. Then shouldn't AA be based on income and not race? Some white ppl leave in the ghetto also, or trailer parks, while rich black kids like Carleton Banks go to prestigious schools and are still somehow 'disadvantaged.' If a black kid goes to the same school as a white kid and gets lower SAT scores, why should he be more qualified? The real reason universities have affirmative action is for PR. They don't want to seem racist or discriminatory. The sickest thing of all is a kid at school I know who is 20 percent Mexican and putting down than he's hispanic. HE'S WHITEY. HE'S THE EPITOME OF WHITE SUBURBIA. He's smug, dislikes sporting events, wears sweaters, etc etc etc. It's disgusting.
Btw, I'm tired of everyone walking on eggshells not to appear racist all the time. Yes, at one point in this country blacks were slaves, because it was convenient and ppl were idiots. Guess what? No one cares anymore! It's funny how ppl at the office always be extra nice to the black guy-- they don't want to offend him, or have him cry racist. People play the race card all the time now.
Btw, affirmative action is a funny concept when you look at the fact that there are entirely African American schools. You don't see all white schools, no, that would be discriminatory. Don't give me some bull about exploring one's own culture or something. What if an 100% irish-only school was formed to teach about historical Irish figures? It would be RIDICULOUS!!!
The point is, one's race does not determine one's culture or lifestyle or interests, so putting different races in a school simply for 'diversity' is nonsensical. For example, a black kid can be adopted to white parents. He's gonna bring no more diversity than a white sibling he might have. Of course, I'm using extremes to illustrate a point.
Race does not determine culture, lifestyle, wealth, opportunites, personality, or mental capacity. One's race is just a set of genes that may determine nuances such as skin color and minor physical features. So if your idea of diversity is bringing together ppl of different backgrounds, your gonna hafta look beyond race. If you think diversity is just lookin at different skin shades, you may as well just mix pale kids with those with suntans. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO POINT TO MARKING DOWN WHAT RACE YOU ARE TO COLLEGES. YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE PUTTING DOWN YOUR EYE COLOR. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BLOWS!</p>
<p>Um... discrimination is not dead in America, which is why money alone does not equalize the education that blacks and whites receive. I've said it a thousand times, but check out housing and how districts are drawn to decide where kids are being schooled. At every economic level, whites are largely separated from blacks. Our society is NOT integrated. Period. That's what AA is acknowledging, not the general lack of economic well-being among ethnic groups. </p>
<p>I'm glad you at least noted that there is no significant genetic difference (Beyond physical features) between races. It must then be assumed, I think, that other factors are at work. I am inclined to believe these are social pressures when you consider the fact that there is no acheivement gap in home-schooled students.</p>
<p>A black adopted by white parents will be treated in a color-blind manner only inside of that home. How would having white parents make an adopted black student just like their white half-brother?</p>
<p>Your argument depends on racism being nonexistant in this country which is a simply foolish assumption at this point in US history.</p>
<p>Most of your argument, though, can't even be called anecdotal.</p>
<p>In that case, I don't think the answer to racism in the US is reverse-racism. Yes, there is a deep seated racism problem in the US. However, the answer to that problem does not lie in universities forcing diversity in order to hide an embrassing situation in our country.</p>
<p>By the way, stick to the topic at hand. There's no need to insult my abilites as a writer. I don't see any anecdotes in your arguement, a$$hole.</p>
<p>Obviously you must not really understand what an anecdote is. Anecdotes are, at best, weak arguments.</p>
<p>AA is not reverse-racism. It simply acknowledges that there are very real barriers to blacks and latinos performing at the level of white students. It, therefore, awards those black and latino students that do for their work. It is no different from how a white student would be rewarded if one of their parents died and they kept up with their schoolwork, or if they overcame some other disadvantage. That's what minority students, typically, have to do to match whites in the public and, I'd think especially, private school systems.</p>
<p>That having been said, AA in colleges is not going to correct the problems in our country like real, true integration would. AA in colleges and the workforce could be phased out if the problems weren't being systematically created again and again in the early periods of life for minorities through housing and other prominent forms of segregation. Separate is not equal, as has been proven time and time again, but we have been slow to truly enforce integration.</p>
<p>"why asian males (just curious). my english teacher says white males and asian females are the most disadvantaged..."</p>
<p>Because there are fewer male applicants of all races than female applicants at most colleges except engineering schools, it's an advantage at most colleges to be male of any race.</p>
<p>This particularly is true at liberal arts colleges, which have a very tough time attracting male students.</p>
<p>I am fully aware of what an anecdote is, my friend, and simply suggested that your post did not even have the slightest of what can be considered "weak arguements." You said that being black was comparable of having a parent dying. That's ridiculously absurd.</p>
<p>Get off your goddamn crutches. </p>
<p>"If the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs!"</p>
<p>My post had no arguments? Just because I didn't back them with links doesn't mean that there isn't a large problem with discrimination in housing (there is), or that the difference between races doesn't exist regardless of economic levels, homeschooled students notwithstanding (Also true).</p>
<p>I said that a black student is at a disadvantage. I did not, at any point, say that this was an equal disadvantage to losing a parent. That was a hyperbolic example. I did not call them equal in any way. </p>
<p>You need to brush up on your reading comprehension before you worry too much about where you're going to school.</p>
<p>How old is that quote? 1870s? 1920s?</p>
<p>Acknowledging that race is no more than a set of minor physical characteristics and is entirely socially constructed as a means of grouping people does not in any way dmiminish the fact that it is real and is used it group people. Our social structure is one in which racism has moved from becoming a blatant issue to become more of a subconsicious issue. If you move through a typical school cafeteria typically groups will be quite racially segregated. Look at the book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together by Beverly Daniel Tatum for a more in depth discussion. But I think just from your own observation you should be able to see this. Even at high schools that are statistically diverse you will still see cliques of whites, blacks, asians, and hispanics. Sure, there might be some intermixing, but people come up with nasty names for those minorities or whites who hang out primarily with people of a different race.
There is a lot of social stigma assigned to people of different races to conform to that races stereotype, whether or not there actually is some economic disadvantage.</p>
<p>In addition AA is not totally about admissions being fair. Admissions, like life, is not fair, so get over it and stop whining. Admissions committees are looking to build diverse communities.</p>
<p>
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<p>LACs have a tough time attracting male applicants for several reasons.
1. No football teams on D-1 level
2. Nuturing environment that caters toward females.
3. Expensive tuition.
4. No majors geared towards males
5. Lack of name recognition. I had never heard of schools like Middlebury, Swarthmore, Colby, Bates, etc before this board because they are so tiny noone ever mentions them except alumni or scholarly types.</p>
<p>How old are you Aeggie? You have the imaturity of a 10 year old. Did you go to Hamburger U?</p>
<p>Aeggie-you are the biggest retard I have ever seen. And that's no hyperbole. And don't criticize my use of the word retard now- it has connotations that can not be expressed in another word.</p>
<p>Reading comprehension? I'm much smarter than you, I'll wager that no matter how many hours you spent study vocabulary words in your basement.</p>
<p>Affirmative action can not possibly determine the amount of discrimination or struggle one has faced as an individual on account of one's race. Some blacks may have met extreme social pressures while others have expierenced none at all. The only thing a person can due is make sweeping generalities- quite ridiculous if you ask me.</p>
<p>P.S. Enough with the commentary on housing segregation. I don't care if you did a lousy book report or power point presentation on the subject at one point in your life. I would not cite it as an argument for affirmative action, christ.</p>
<p>That should either be "spent studying" or "spend studying."</p>
<p>Is English your first language?</p>
<p>Those assumptions are the best we can provide for those students when you consider that one cannot quantify discrimination like one can with income. In general, it is true that minority students are subject to social pressures and institutional maltreatment that stems from race. This affects school performance. For special instances, the top schools allow supplementary information to explain those situations.</p>
<p>And the commentary on housing is VERY relevant. It makes it easier to draw districts separating students by race, and helps justify it as well. It blocks integration in lower level schooling, the same schools that teach students all the basics, significantly. I, frankly, don't see how it DOESN'T relate to the topic at hand.</p>
<p>Also, if you're going to make a case for my immatury and lack of intelligence, you'd do yourself a great service if you could make an argument without calling me retarded, which is never appropriate as an insult. Those people have a medical affliction and by trivializing that you show a gross lack of sympathy for those that are less fortunate.</p>