<p>I never said I was in favor of a predominately white student body---I think I made it clear that I WASN'T. However, a predominately white student body would be a bit more reflective of the population of our country than a predominately Asian student body.</p>
<p>Sheesh, you're really not so great at understanding my post.</p>
<p>Um...no. I never said I wanted white people to be the majority. I said a predominately white student body is more reflective of our country's population than a predominately Asian student body. I NEVER said that I was in favor of either, and I think you're having serious racial comprehension problems.</p>
<p>And please do not make assumptions about my race.</p>
<p>And please don't delete your posts, either.</p>
<p>Skin color isn't a sure sign of cultural background. Many blacks in America, tracing their histories back, are as American as the oldest white families, centuries removed from Africa. I mean, come on, how many average black families celebrate Kwanzaa? :p</p>
<p>No, you said you would have a problem with a "60% Asian student body," but you didn't mention any problems with an at least 60% white student body at virtually every other university in the US. </p>
<p>Ah, so you are in favor of a student body that is exactly 82.3% white, 12.8% black, 11.8% Hispanic, and 4% Asian?</p>
<p>Also, Gavroche (mind if I chime in, steveo? :-d), I agree that diversity helps contribute to a good learning environment, but isn't a good learning environment principally shaped by having the most intelligent peers you can around you? How much should a college detract from that in order to make sure there's a bit more diversity in the way people look?</p>
<p>Ah, so you are in favor of a student body that is exactly 82.3% white, 12.8% black, 11.8% Hispanic, and 4% Asian?</p>
<p>thats more than 100%...</p>
<p>You know what he meant :p</p>
<p>please do, Guitarman. If anyone else has strong feelings about AA (like Gavroche and I do) by all means feel free to respond, don't let us dominate this discussion!!!!!!
gavroche, I deleted that post all of 5 seconds after I posted it. I hadn't been able to read your last post and therefore I had second thoughts about whether I was effectively answering your arguements. And I'm not making any assumptions about your race</p>
<p>pardon me, these statistics are from an almanac, and sometimes dont add up correctly due to margins of error.</p>
<p>I can't remember which college official said this, but its been quoted here enough. I'm paraphrasing: "Imagine trying to have a conversation on discrimination in a room filled with White upper middle class students"</p>
<p>The point is that schools appreciate the value of diversity. Not only of race, but of socio economic class, beliefs, and interests. Which is why they do not select classes full of oboe players, or beauty queens. The beauty about college is being able to put yourself in a situation where you can learn more about all different kinds of people, and if you are so glib as to claim "well we'd all have the same experiences no matter what", you <em>especially</em> need to have a conversation with someone of a different race. This is why I chose the school I applied to, and frankly, I think schools appreciate people who are open to different experiences. On CC we frequently forget that colleges actively seek out students of different races, but ALSO different economic backgrounds and geographic locations. I wouldn't want to go to college with all the New York City kids in my private school, but there are enough qualified rich prep students in NYC to fill Harvard, Yale and Princeton. That's not the point. The point is that we all need diversity of race, economic status, geographic location and opinion.</p>
<p>Just my .002</p>
<p>To follow up on guitarman's comment, diversity will not truly be effective unless a college can effectively piece together a student body that provides a diversity that THINKS differently and has different opinions. This includes economic diversity, geographic diversity, political diversity, and basically differing opinions and viewpoints. This cannot be achieved by admitting students with a rainbow spectrum of skin tones.</p>
<p>Ok, this affirmative action thing has been overused. BUT, here's my take: it should be on socioec. status, and asians have a harder time getting in because the bar is set higher on them and they are expected to do more because of family circumstances. In black/hispanic families, this is usually not the case...</p>
<p>woah....jinx! Ok, I SWEAR I didn't see filmxoxo's post before I saw mine. Kinda scary, maybe we're twins.</p>
<p>I also have never supported or endorsed a one-dimensional view of diversity.</p>
<p>I think the reason why we said the same thing is because it makes sense... :)</p>
<p>how do you guys know that this isn't the case. You all assume affirmative action is entirely race based, but are you admissions officers? I'm sure Harvard knows exactly what they're doing. Noone has a problem with affirmative action unless they need it to excuse their non-acceptance. let's hear some alternatives. You can't assume that all accepted blacks are high class and think the same way. Harvard isn't that naiive.</p>
<p>"it should be on socioec. status, and asians have a harder time getting in because the bar is set higher on them and they are expected to do more because of family circumstances. In black/hispanic families, this is usually not the case..."</p>
<p>I agree, but is this fair for the Asian (or white) kid to suffer b/c of black/hispanic lack of emphasis on education (don't totally agree with this part, but I'll go with it.)?</p>
<p>And what do you mean by "family circumstances"? Care to clarify?</p>
<p>Well, most afric/Lati. parents don't emphasize education THAT much (just stereotypes though, i heard it's changing now), so if one does achieve well, then it is an accomplishment because of such a negative environment...</p>
<p>dxu: I think you're pushing it by saying most... You seem to be replying on stereotypes as opposed to facts which leads me to believe you don't have too many black/hispanic friends...go to college with a few blacks/latinos and see if your opinion changes!!</p>
<p>(see how it works?...)</p>
<p>It's a circular process! How did the so-called "high class" blacks become "high class"? We have to start somewhere. If you all are going to keep claiming that this minority and that minority have claims to past abuse, then of course AA becomes a moot point and we'll get nowhere. I feel that AA will eventually be phased out, but until then there are systems to build the foundation for future equality and prosperity.</p>