Such “trends” probably go away when you adjust for things like generation-since-immigration, parental occupation, and whether English is one’s home language.
History of the selection admission process: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-04-21/the-dark-chain-of-events-to-your-kid-s-harvard-rejection
There is nothing wrong with pursuing STEM majors if the student is genuinely interested in it, regardless if he/she is an Asian or not. The stereotype of Asians like to flock to STEM or pre-med exactly reflected their pragmatism and a clear understanding of the future’s need. U.S. needs more STEM kids, not fewer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0E-9uJgDZU
Actually, EM graduates are generally more in demand than S graduates (not sure about T graduates, although engineering technology is an uncommon major anyway). The most popular S major (and most popular STEM major) is biology, but university career surveys that show per-major results generally show weak job prospects and not very good pay prospects for biology graduates.
@ucbalumnus Agreed. Right now the major with the best job prospects of EM, or STEM, or ALL of college majors is probably computer science. The traditional sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc.) majors’ jobs are mostly in academics.
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the emphasis on STEM (provided the kids aren’t being coerced). I’m all in favor of STEM and wish both the schools and the country would expend more resources on it. It may well be that the first generation immigrant kids are the most likely to choose STEM, but I’m not sure that matters if the issue is discrimination.
My point is just that the schools will take only so many STEM applicants and if Asian kids tend to jump into this pool they are competing not for all the seats but for a minority of them. Additionally, they are competing with other students who probably have higher test scores than the non-STEM students. If you look at highly selective schools with separate admissions for Engineers, such as Duke, you see that the scores are higher, not just in math, but also in English. If the Asian kids whose name was changed choose to compete in this pool they may find that the name did not matter as much as they thought it did.
I do feel quite sorry for the eggs and sperm whose parents are already stressing over their prospects to be admitted to a highly selective college.
@cbreeze The student told my son.
<provided the="" kids="" aren’t="" being="" coerced="">
Just curious, how could you coerce a teenager? Is it even feasible? I tried everything, flattery (compliments), bribery (cell phone), nagging. Trust me, nothing works. I doubt anyone can coerce a teen into taking a STEM AP class.
Re #107
For colleges, parents can withhold money or cooperation on financial aid forms to veto the student’s choices, unless the student gets a full ride merit scholarship. Not that this is advisable to force the student into a specific major, but it can happen.
@brantly, the conversation between your son and his friend is a bit too sophisticated for middle school kids. Sorry don’t buy it.
This whole thread reminds me of a Caucasian woman I worked with many years ago. She’s probably in her 70s now. Her first husband was a half-Chinese/American man; they married in the 70s. Her married name was “Susan Wong.” Not only did she get surprised reactions whenever people met her after first knowing her only through her written name, she essentially had the same nickname as the title character of this movie: “The World of Suzie Wong.” So, introductions were often freighted with unwelcome observations.
I met her son from this marriage and his name is Stephen Wong (IIRC). He had very light brown hair and hazel-brown eyes and one would never guess he had any Asian heritage. I imagine his kids, regardless of the ethnicity of the woman he married, would carry on his last name.
@cbreeze not asking you to “buy it.” You wanted to know if anyone knew of someone who did what is stated in the topic of this thread. I replied that I have.
It’s really immaterial whether anybody has done this or not. The discussion began with an account of a couple who said they planned to do this. Maybe they were kidding. The discussion was mostly about whether doing this would make sense, and most of us seem to think it would be pointless.
Personally, I am ready and willing to believe that somebody out there has done or will do whatever stupid thing the mind of man can conceive.
There are Bunkers in western North Carolina whose Asian heritage is not particularly visible on first sight. Although the Bunker surname is not of Asian origin, it was taken by some well known Asian immigrants and passed to their descendents (presumably, they were not thinking of ORM-in-college-admissions issues in the 1830s).