<p>This was said by a poster on another thread about Berkeley as a reason they didn't like the school. But UCLA and some other California campuses could be described the same way. Is it racist to avoid a college for that reason? I'm not a Californian and don't pretend to know the issues, but it appears the public colleges and universities in California, at least the elite ones, have disproportionate numbers of Asian students. So is it racist for a non-Asian to feel a school is unattractive because it is dominated numerically by Asians?</p>
<p>I'm really wondering how othes feel about this issue. With rare exception (historically black colleges) non-whites are unable to avoid colleges dominated numerically by whites, but the reverse is not true. Whites can avoid schools where there are significant numbers of non-whites. So is it racist to avoid a school, or cross it off your list, for that reason?</p>
<p>The only thing that I’ve heard about that is that my Asian friends either don’t like it because it isn’t diverse enough, or they dislike it because it makes it harder for them to get accepted because the colleges are trying to diversify.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t care about that kind of thing, I only care that people at Berkeley are intelligent and want to learn.</p>
<p>it is racist, in the sense that you would prefer to be with people who are a race other than Asian.</p>
<p>this carries with it an implicit assumption that Asian people are one way, and non-Asian people are some different way. that is stereotyping.</p>
<p>But people choose schools for lots of different reasons. Some are rational, some are not. If you are going to be uncomfortable at a school with a lot of Asian people (and my guess is that there are VERY few schools where Asians are the majority or even close), it’s only fair to be candid with yourself about it so you can either make a choice to address that in college, or to avoid it (or, I guess to be miserable, but who would plan for that?).</p>
<p>Self-segregation is an issue at most schools, and that would be a turn off. I don’t know if this is true, but it is said that Asians are some of the worst offenders of self-segregation. I personally doubt that is true (except perhaps for internationals - of any national origin), but could see how that would be a major problem.</p>
<p>I know a lot of Asian, Asian American, half Asian, immigrant or second generation, East Asian, South Asian, Himalayan Asian, etc etc students. They really cannot just be lumped all together with a standard label. To avoid a campus with ‘too many Asians’ is to assume that they all the same, and that they all differ from you in some significant way. In other words, that a few facial features are the main determinant of their personalities and characters.</p>
<p>Would you use the term European in the same way?</p>
<p>My kids think all the colleges they have looked at look too European. They are used to a high school with approximately equal numbers of white and African American students, a big but slightly smaller Hispanic population, and a surprisingly large percentage of internationals. </p>
<p>That said three years ago we peeked in on a Biology class at Berkeley. There was not a single white or African American face in the class. Now I will grant you the Asians were a varied bunch, but it still gave one pause. We had other reasons to cross Berkeley off the list - it seemed like a much better place for grad school for an OOS student.</p>
<p>My S will discover (if he hasn’t already about the demographic stats) that his college (Northwestern) is less diverse than his HS with respect to minority populations. I believe a friend of his, who is finishing out her freshman year at Johns Hopkins, found the same to be true there. In fact, she was joking that she got instantaneous “street cred” from some of the other students when they discovered how diverse the HS was. (It being in SoCal, the Hispanic population is greater than the Asian or African American population.)</p>
<p>To me, it would depend on what I thought the person meant. I prefer a diverse community so if there were a preponderance of any one kind of person I wouldn’t like it as much as if there was greater balance.</p>
<p>Agree with pp who said that lots of diversity on a campus without integration doesn’t accomplish a lot.</p>
<p>We are all racist to some degree. I don’t think most non African American students are interested in schools like Howard U or Spellman. Is it because they are bigoted? Or is it more that we want a college that reflects more of what we see in our personal world with a certain amount of additional diversity to expand it. </p>
<p>I wasn’t interested in going to a European college and I had that option. I didn’t want to be with nearly all Europeans of any nationality. Those colleges that are predominantly made up of African American students did not even make my college list, nor did they make my kids’. It is bigotry? Or racism? At what point are preferences racist or bigoted?</p>
<p>When I was looking at housing, I did not look at any areas that were predominantly of certain socio economic population, or that were primarily of any ethnicity that is a minority. I do live in a very diverse community with a large Hispanic and black population as compared to the rest of the country and certainly as compared to our neighboring town. I notice that many who are Jewish tend to cluster in certain neighborhoods. I don’t think it is bigotry, but because they know folks there, the synagogues and other things that are of interest to them in every day life are conveniently located. My kids found that college is far less diverse than where we live, and one of mine went to a state school.</p>
<p>Is it racist? Hard to say. What ramblinman said is a fact: some Asians (myself included) have expressed a desire to avoid such an Asian-heavy population due to diversity issues. But that being said, what if a non-Asian feels the same thing for the same reason? Why might the OP be a racist but I, as a Chinese American, would be judged less harshly?</p>
<p>Don’t have the answer for you. But I’m glad you’re taking time to reflect on what is a prickly issue.</p>
<p>Midmo, I did use the term European that way in describing my decision not to stay in Europe for college. </p>
<p>Is it racist or bigotry when minorities want to be at a school or in a community where there are more of their race/ethnicity/religion than represented in the general population? Asians tend to cluster not only to certain schools, but neighborhoods as well. So do certain religions and nationalities. </p>
<p>A few years ago, an Asian family touring our elementary school was concerned with the paucity of Asians there. He wondered out loud why that was. </p>
<p>This is a gray area. There are certain tipping points for preferences of diversity. It’s not just nationality and race either. Schools that are more than 60% female find a slide in general enrollment if the ration increases further. As a rule, most students want a balanced proportion of men and women.</p>
<p>It isn’t just that certain schools are predominantly Asian that is the issue, either. When my son looked at UCLA, he was struck by the number of (Asian) commuters that were being dropped off and picked up there. Schools that were too heavily populated with commuters or are suitcase schools were features that we eye. Doesn’t matter who is doing the commuting.</p>
<p>I don’t see it as racist. To me it’s no different than choosing or not choosing a school with a high a disproportionate number of women, strong a greek culture, many partiers or many math geeks. There is of course a lots of variation within the group of women, greeks and so on but there is a basis for the stereotypes that develop at the group level. There really are cultural and subcultural differences in the world! And not everyone wants to be a visible minority or a minority in general (a partier in a sea of math geeks, a non-sorority member in a strong greek scene, a brown face in a sea of white and blonde). If an African American wants to go to a historically black college, a woman wants to go to Scripps, an international student wants to go do a school with a strong international presence or an Asian American doesn’t want to go to a non-diverse LAC, we think its all fine. How is this different? Students often look for a college that has more similar others. Doesn’t make one racist, sexist, or any ist. </p>
<p>Rather than avoid having the conversation altogether, I think openly talking about those differences is healthy and worthwhile (and both Asian students and non-Asian students are quite aware of those on average group differences). Where it’s a problem is when one starts to apply the mean average of a group characteristic to a given individual that belongs in that group, which isn’t fair or appropriate.</p>
<p>My close friend who is married to an African American has always looked at schools and communities for racial diversity. She did not want a “vanilla” environment for her kids. This was the case for colleges as well. Some of the schools that they visited did have too few African Americans for this families. Is this racist?</p>
<p>I’m in my 3rd year at Cal and the ONLY people I ever heard complain about the “Asian” population are those who either came from that continent or have relatives who came from that continent. Btw, that term also includes the Middle East, Russia & Turkey, so you’d expect an area as large as the continent of Asia, coupled with the melting pot we have in California, that Cal would be be as “diversified” as it is, especially with those from India, Pakistan, Iran, Japan, China & Korea. </p>
<p>To say you won’t go to a college because there’s too many Asians, or blacks, or whites, or whatever makes me wonder what kind of people brought you up, whether it’s considered racist or not.</p>
<p>Beatchick, if you look at the admission data for historically black colleges, you’ll find very few non African Americans even bothering to apply to those schools. Does that make all of those who did not consider those schools racist? I don’t believe it does.</p>
<p>All or most of the University of California campuses are plurality Asian. They make up the largest racial group. They are nearly 50% at the top three. Think of it this way, a large number of Asian students means that the school is tops. Asians get the best grades and also score best on the SAT of all the races. You will be learning among many bright students. </p>
<p>The near majority Asian has been the case at the UCs for years.</p>