<p>Gotta question for y’all: what do you call it when an Asian kid, who attended a HS which was 40-50% Asian, chooses a less diverse college over the big UC bcos Cal is “too Asian” (her words, not mine). Indeed, the kid is thinking along the lines of what epiphany is posting: why not attend a college with a bunch of kids from other states, including other countries?</p>
<p>The following would be true of any ethnic group. </p>
<p>I think the level of comfort that my non-Asian kids would feel in a largely Asian group would vary based on the percentage of what they’d call “Americanized” Asians (those born here and/or those who are children of US-born parents) and foreign-born Asians or kids who are children of recent immigrants.</p>
<p>My S’s group of high school friends were 99% Asian. He felt very comfortable around all of them. They varied as to the degree of “Americanization”, but in a school or small group context that was usually imperceptible. However, there were times when he was invited to parties or social gatherings hosted by the less Americanized kids and in those settings he often felt completely out of place. English-speaking would fall by the wayside, for example, and jokes would be made that he had no cultural frame of reference to understand. </p>
<p>I don’t think people in my community minded the rising number of immigrants until they started to hear more foreign languages than English being spoken at school events and in the supermarket. Being in the minority is fine as long as the majority speaks and behaves in ways you can mostly relate to. You don’t need to share those ways or completely agree with them, but understanding and familiarity with them is of importance. If that is not the case, then you feel alienated and no one wants to spend 4 years of college feeling alienated.</p>
<p>"Interestingly, this is not how it was in NY in an earlier era - at least according to an African American guy who hangs out at our YMCA. He’s probably in his 60s and grew up in Hells Kitchen - he says the blacks and Irish hung out together all the time. "</p>
<p>it really varied by neighborhood. </p>
<p>bensonhurst, howard beach had some serious incidents.</p>
<p>Yo my mind, yes, yes it is.</p>
<p>bluebayou,
I call it predjudice. You cannot call it racist, because it is the same race. You cannot call a jewish person antisemite if he does not want to be in company of jewish people most of his time. The kid might be just tired of being with the same people his entire life (like his family) and seeking to absorb more from other cultures.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why it is rigidity? Given a choice I’ll prefer to live in liberal San Francisco than in conservative Arizona.
Similarly given a choice I’ll prefer more diverse MIT/Stanford over less diverse UCB.</p>
<p>^These are your choices, not everybody else’s. You do not have to understand, you have to accept. What we call “understanding” of other people more often than not involve pushing your own values into them, just as your statement imply. Some like rigidity, hate liberal places like San Frncisco (for that matter NYC too) and prefer to go to more conservative colleges. We are still free somewhat, although it is getting closer to being very restricted with government dictating every step we take and every byte of food we put in our mouth (they have all the right, since they will be paying for Health Care - one of the first steps to control and control and more control and milk money form us).</p>
<p>^^^: But you cann’t call me or anyone who turns down UCB for a more diverse campus like MIT/Stanford as racist.</p>
<p>This reminds me of Ozick’s story, “Envy:Or Yiddish in America”</p>
<p>I won’t even go into the parallel, its just a luscious story to read, with some fascinating speculation on what it means to be parochial, to be universal, etc.</p>
<p>This thread has taken on a life of its own, but all in all, has been a healthy discussion. I think the more interesting events will take place in the future when these high caliber Asian students graduate and pursue careers and raise their own children. Will they perform as well on the job as they did in high school and college? I suspect it will be a mixed bag. Our best hope is that racism will fade as more people of all ethnicities participate in making our system a success. If that becomes destroyed by one group’s jealousy, it will be critical for the rest of us to support those who are willing to lead us in the right direction regardless of their race.</p>
<p>If what I see around here (DC suburb) is any indication, a lot of those high-caliber Asians will marry non-Asians, and things will get even more diverse.</p>
<p>Hunt,
No diversity here with a lot of blacks who do not like Obama at all, surprize!!</p>
<p>
I can and do if the reason someone selects one over the other is because of race. It can be debated as to whether it’s ‘negative’ racisom but it’s certainly racism, i.e. making choices based on the race rather than the individual, to reject UCB simply because it has ‘too many Asians’ because they’re around 40% of the population (leaving 60% comprised of others).</p>
<p>MiamiDAP and ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad: You can call OP racist or anything else but that doesn’t make OP racist.</p>
<p>I think you are not aware of the definition of racism:
</p>
<p>Showing preference for diversity is not racism.</p>
<p>But if 40% of the population is Asian, that means 60% is something else. It is unlikely to find a more diverse campus without at least a 40% plurality of something.</p>
<p>And it is possible to discriminate against one’s own group and still be called racist. </p>
<p>Sometimes people within a group are most rejecting of the traits of that group.</p>
<p>But perhaps, we will devolve into just arguing semantics.</p>
<p>My son (hs sophomore) has his eye on MIT. Someone asked him why. They said MIT stands for Made In Taiwan–they’re all Asians there. I guess this reputation applies to a number of brainy schools. As for my kid, we live in a pretty diverse town (culturally, not racially–99% white) with one of the top school districts in the US, so he’s used to being surrounded with smart Asians. He is Jewish. His best friend is a Pakistani Muslim. His closest friends include Korean, Indian, Chinese, Taiwanese, Greek, Russian, Irish, and Italian descent, both immigrant and American-born. MIT would be no big change for him.</p>
<p>mythmom: Diversity is with respect to the population of US. Asian as % of the overall population and at UCB makes it less diverse. Also being a public university it is skewed in California population which makes it even less diverse geographically.</p>
<p>Both MIT and Stanford have Asian % more than their % of US population but it still is much more diverse than UCB because it is open to students world over so geographical diversity is there.</p>
<p>This is what MIT demographics are:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
I wasn’t calling the OP racist. Maybe you need to go back and read the opening post since the OP was talking about something someone else said - not the OP. My statement was directed at anyone who chooses or rejects based on race.</p>
<p>Another definition of racism - “Discrimination or prejudice based on race.”
Discriminating based on race is what someone’s doing if they choose not to attend a college they deem has ‘too many’ Asians.</p>
<p>^^ re post and MIT</p>
<p>I noticed while touring MIT 2 yrs ago with our student how much our student stuck out- walking across campus–being taller than most … and blond…
Our student would bring some diversity! JK</p>