<p>I thought this was a particularly revelatory statement:</p>
<p>“Third, schools should not be permitted to use race-based scholarships. Genuine need can be fully met through need-based scholarships; the race-based kind simply foster the sort of zero-sum competition that now causes American law schools to give four times as much grant aid to rich blacks as to poor whites, as one of us (Richard Sander) found in a 2011 study for the University of Denver Law Review.”</p>
<p>I think the oral arguments in Fisher expose how out-of-touch university administrators are with people who don’t think like they do. They isolate themselves in a community where everybody agrees with everybody else on the value of racial preferences. So it comes as a great shock to them when someone asks them, “why should we grant preferences to wealthy ‘minorities’?”</p>
<p>If they’re trying to sway the few people who are actually on the fence regarding this issue, that’s the way to sway them…against their cause.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is happening in other states, but this was in our South Florida paper last week. Thought it might add to the discussion here. I find it incredibly ironic, particularly with the SCOTUS case going on right now.</p>
<p>Headline #1: Florida is setting future testing goals in K-12 based on race…</p>
<p>Headline #2: …and an Urban League president says, “All children should be held to high standards and for them to say that for African-Americans the goal is below other students is unacceptable.”</p>
<p>99% of all respondents to the poll on the page are against this (non-scientific, obv).</p>
<p>Apologies for using an alias - don’t want to be branded a racist by posting on this thread. I agree that those in lower economic brackets should be helped, but not based on race or ethnicity. Thanks to tokenadult for the excellent info.</p>
<p>@tokenadult I am visually Caucasian but my fathers grandpa was half African American. I was going to check off both ethnicitys on my apps but I’ve been hearing things about colleges either rejecting or asking students to remove their enrollment if they appear to have lied about ethnicity… I’m not lying but what if they think I am? Is it even worth it for me to check the box?</p>
<p>@merrhh, Race questions are all about how a person identifies himself/herself. If you identify as part white and part African American, you can put down both. But check out what your school records say or talk to your guidance counselor about it. You can easily say that your parent fills out the paperwork and puts down white but doesn’t realize that you do identify yourself as both races.</p>
<p>so according to that logic, let’s focus on my scenario: I’m Chinese, but I was born/raised in California in a predominantly white community, so I’m quite white-washed (actually, my parents kind of are too). Is it fair for me to also check the “white” box along with the “Asian” box?</p>
<p>I just feel like declining to identity my race even though my last name screams “Asian” seems a bit sketchy, like it’ll raise the question “is this kid trying to pretend he’s not Asian or something” in admissions. LOL…</p>
<p>The article actually illustrates why only admitting poor blacks to top colleges is completely counter to the point of diversity programs by sustaining stereotypes associating “black” with “poor”.</p>
<p>As well as that the “problem” with affirmative action bringing blacks into elite schools may be the close-minded rich whites who get brought with them. >.></p>
<p>wait hold on, was that one a response for my question? (sorry, I got a bit confused…) Yeah, you’re right, but I was just wondering if it’s also fair to check the “white” box along with the “Asian” one if you consider yourself a white-washed Asian. it does ask for what you identify yourself as, after all, so couldn’t you just say that you identify yourself as anything…?</p>
<p>Yes. It was a response to your last statement: * I just feel like declining to identity my race even though my last name screams “Asian” seems a bit sketchy, like it’ll raise the question “is this kid trying to pretend he’s not Asian or something” in admissions. LOL… *</p>
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<p>What does it mean to be “white”? I’m ethnically Chinese, and while I identify strongly with the United States as my nationality, I don’t identify as “white” because (a) I’m not, and (b) I don’t know what “being white” means.</p>
<p>Hm…mainly I was thinking that it just meant being assimilated into the white culture, but the more I think about it, the more your statement is kind of making sense over what I’ve been thinking…</p>