<p>I wouldn’t exactly put it as “naturally sucking” lol</p>
<p>The point is that colleges see the bigger picture. If you can slowly increase the enrollment of URM’s in college, then you can slowly change the culture and perhaps one day you would be able to enroll students based on the merits of their application, instead of their race.</p>
<p>Note that no top college enrolls solely based on academics right now. If you want admissions based only on academics, go to India or China. If Harvard wants to, it can have a class average of 2350 on the SAT’s. But, instead it rejects many 2300+ scorers in favor of 2200 scorers because they feel that those 2200 scorers bring something extra to the table. This is the same logic that’s used for AA. Black students add something to the school. That’s why top colleges are willing to cut them a break on academics. There isn’t a single top college that enrolls solely based on academic merit. There are always exceptions made based on an applicant’s race, athletic ability, legacy status, leadership ability, unique background, etc. </p>
<p>In regards to your comment about immigration, keep in mind there are always exceptions to the rule. But, in general, the Asian immigrants who come here are much more educated than the Mexican immigrants that come here. That has very real consequences for the kids. By your own admission, despite your sob story, your dad ended up at Dartmouth. I sometimes have to make home visits for the kids I work with and you’d be surprised how young their parents are. Many of their parents didn’t even finish HS, muchless attend an Ivy League university. Your story only coroborates what Chendrix and I have been saying all along: race is a more important determinant of educational success than socioeconomic status. I’m guessing the reason your grandparents and your great grandparents saved up for years was so your dad could come to America and get better schooling. That’s the kind of values that allow Asians to be so successful. That’s the kind of values colleges would like to impart on other groups.</p>
<p>Hahah sorry, “naturally sucking” was probably not the best way to put it - how about “they don’t perform as well due to a combination of socioeconomic and cultural reasons” - there, was that PC enough? :p</p>
<p>My dad is not a big fan of AA and brings up his “sob story” every now and then…he’s obviously biased based on his experiences growing up (he thinks of URM’s as the kids he went to HS with). As for me, I grew up in an upper-class community with all the resources in the world and so maybe that’s why I understand the purpose of AA more.</p>
<p>Without wanting to go into the benefits and drawbacks of the program houses and the tendencies of students to self-segregate for perfectly understandable reasons (suffice to say that I support the program houses but do not think they should be an option for first years), my personal opinion is that the group on Cornell’s campus that gets the least amount of outreach/support are the lower-to-middle class whites, particularly the ones who find themselves farther down the academic spectrum and who don’t join the Greek system. </p>
<p>Many of the minority groups (URM and non-URM alike) are often provided with bountiful amounts of information about special services and counseling options available to them. Meanwhile, the high-academic achieving whites typically get a lot of attention from professors and staff, while the rich whites obviously have the benefit of coming from privilege and being surrounded by so many of their own kind. So it’s these ‘leftover’ whites who have the highest likelihood of falling through the cracks and not getting the type of support system they deserve. And I suppose this is why I am so supportive of the West Campus residential houses – they can provide a supportive community for these students where previously there was none.</p>
<p>As for Resurgam Bell: Cornell very obviously wants you to succeed, as they think you can – otherwise you never would have been accepted. And academia is completely aware that URMs have slightly less stellar credentials than other segments of the student body. That’s kind of the point – so future generations might not have such disparities. </p>
<p>It’s up to you to seek out the support you need from fellow students, professors, and alums that will make you a stronger student and person. And you will start to develop the habits that will make your endeavors a success. The funny thing is how much the little things can matter – for instance, responding to emails promptly, or writing in complete sentences and paying attention to your grammar. </p>
<p>But I’ll let you on to a little secret. Even if things may be confusing, you are still having a phenomenal educational and social experience, and you will go on to have a very successful life. I would recommend you read The Shape of the River, by Bowen and Bok, about the outcomes of affirmative action. They find that even despite differing academic credentials at the onset, URMs at top colleges go on to be every bit as successful as their white counterparts, which means that their children will likely not have the same sort of hurdles to overcome that they did.</p>
<p>great posts by everyone. while this thread was a little bit self-serving i was interested in the issue itself. looks like the program housing is here to stay for awhile. i am ok with it. i do feel that first year students should not have the choice of living there. </p>
<p>i also feel that cornell should continue looking at race but also consider the lower middle white class (since they are and will continue to be the backbone of this country) as cayuga said. </p>
<p>keep up the good work guys, see you around on the other threads :)</p>
<p>You kids are fixated on test scores. The predictability of SAT scores to college success beyond freshman year has been debunked. Why do you think an increasing number of colleges are seriously considering dropping them as a criterion for admission? All the SAT shows is that you’re really good at taking the SAT. </p>
<p>I went to law school with a URM who got into Brown undergrad on a special minority affirmative action program (at the time) because he was only in the 500’s on each part of the SAT and his gpa was only around a 3.0. He was from the inner city too. Dude graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and told me the whole high SATs mean high achievement in college thing is baloney. He said the day he arrived on campus the administration kept trying to connect him with tutors and special help because they ASSUMED he would struggle. He waived all of it. He believed that being at an elite school is a head trip for privileged kids but in reality it’s not difficult academically. I tend to agree. </p>
<p>I had horrible SAT scores and a GPA that put me in the bottom fifth of my HS class. The only college that would admit me was a HBCU. I went, got straight A’s a freshman, then transferred to a respected private university in NY where I was frequently the only African American in my classes. I graduated Magna Cum Laude. I originally thought it was going to be so hard with all those white kids and their top HS grades and SAT scores. If comparing stats from HS, I was totally out of my league. Turns out it wasn’t difficult at all. </p>
<p>I don’t believe SAT scores tell a doggone thing about whether a student will struggle or not at Cornell or any other school. Some people are just lousy at taking standardized aptitude tests. </p>
<p>About the themed dorms. The whole idea still bothers me, despite some fairly cogent arguments by norcal guy and others. I agree that sororities and fraternities also self-segregate but I don’t like them either. I can’t stand even the idea of the Greek system. I think it teaches young people how to be followers instead of independent thinkers.</p>
<p>^ I read like this entire thread and I think your post was the first to fixate on SAT scores lol…This thread was about Program Houses at Cornell like Ujammaa and how they might lead to self-segregation of races…and also about how AA helps minorities who have lower graduation rates succeed.</p>
<p>I agree SAT Scores are not a good indicator of college performance, but they are useful, because they help out students who go to tough high schools and have lower GPA’s…in some HS’s a 3.8 is relatively easy to get, in other HS’s, it’s pretty tough. SAT scores often help to even things out.</p>