<p>No, really? College is supposed to be this "awakening" time when people find out about themselves and try and experience new things, take new opportunities. So why is it that so many college students seem to prefer only hanging out with their "own" ethnicity?</p>
<p>I know some Asian and Hispanic students who upon arrival to college found Asian and Hispanic campus groups/orgs/communities and loved it, because they came from towns without a large minority presence. So I could understand why they might want to bask in this new experience of being around a lot of people with their same background. </p>
<p>But come on. The Los Angeles/So. Cal Asian Americans at the UCs-- it's not like most of them haven't been around other Asians all their lives. So why the sticking to the Vietnamese group or the Chinese group or the Korean group? Why ARE there the "black group" or the "Mexican group" or the "Korean group" or "the white kids" at colleges, anyway?</p>
<p>Isn't it wrong in a way to self-segregate? College is a time in which preconceptions and prejudices can be broken and unformed. But self-siphoning of ethnicities happens all the time, everywhere, among every ethnic group. I would imagine that could only fuel MORE misconceptions and prejudices about each other. And isn't it a bad way to get into the work force and start "real life", by having these college-enforced ideas of how ethnic groups wil "stick together"? I think it might just continue prejudice. Which is not what getting an education is about.</p>
<p>I came from a high school that had VERY few students of my own ethnicity. In a way, that "forced" me to really branch out and make friends of any race in order to simply have friends. And I find that it was a good experience. It made me more understanding and more accepting. In college, however, I felt that I could merely stay within my own well-represented ethnic group and never have to "reach out" to anyone else. I'm not sure that's a good thing.</p>
<p>This is DEFINITELY an issue at Boston College. It happens especially with many of the Asian students. They are friends with only each other, and they have their own seperate group for everything... korean acapella, asian hip hop, whatever. There are also a lot of barbecue type events sponsored by the KSA or AHANA or what not. </p>
<p>In a way i can see where it comes from. If i was plopped into a school where i was one of the only white kids, i'd probably seek out someone similar to me. </p>
<p>but sometimes, it really does get excessive. In any case, BC isn't known to be the most diverse school...</p>
<p>I don't think self-segregation happens all the time; I know friends (who happen to be Asian and Indian), who have friends outside of their own race, simply because they enjoy their company, not because they're novelties. Being asian myself, I can see WHY they would want to self-segregate; asian americans have a very similar background, and most find it comforting to be amongst others who have gone through what they have. </p>
<p>But that doesn't mean one has to EXCLUSIVELY be involved with only ONE ethnicity! Even though I'm Asian, I have lots of friends who aren't, and I appreciate them because they bring a separate perspective than what I know. </p>
<p>In the end, I guess it depends on how comfortable you feel, and how willing you are to face discomfort with people who are different from you.</p>
<p>This is a big problem at my school. It's diverse by the statistics, but everyone self-segregates. I don't think people of different ethnicities are "novelties" and that I need to be friends with them to expand my horizons or whatever. They're just people, and I find it disturbing that something as superficial as race is acting as a wall between me and others. This wasn't an issue for me in high school, but it is now.</p>
<p>It's weird, to say the least, for aforementioned reasons.</p>
<p>When it comes to black students, Dr. Beverly Tatum actually did research that found out that when on mainstream campuses, they had a far more diverse group of friends than did white students there. </p>
<p>When blacks happen to be sitting with some other blacks in the school caf, they stand out, but no one notices the one or two black students who are in, for instance, the school's chorus or theater performance. Meanwhile, at the same school, people don't notice either that most of the white students are sitting together and are in organizations that are overwhelmingly white.</p>
<p>Maybe they are the most diverse because there aren't many of them? If you're one of only a few minority students in a school, you are pretty much forced to make friends of other ethnicities.</p>
<p>You should ask why people in general hang out with people of their own ethnicity. I mean if you're not of one group, then you don't really know what it's like to be them. Part of it is a culture thing, people in general tend to hang out with people with something in common with them, and if you're both from the same culture you at least have that in common.</p>
<p>I don't really have a problem with it unless cats are specifically trying to separate themselves from other people. I think the homogenization of society is not a good thing and really takes away a lot of flavor from the things we do. That being said, I also have a problem with people who can't see beyond the color, beyond the culture differences to see that someone might be a cool person, might have a good point of view. I think people can embrace where they came from and who they are without shutting themselves off from the rest of the world. It's a fine line but we're all just individuals trying to do our things day by day and as long as people have an open attitude about it I'm cool with that.</p>
<p>In my experience, what allows people of different backgrounds or groups to bond is when they reach a level of comfort where they can admit flaws or mistakes to each other without feeling inferior. I saw this in the military where people from one unit or specialty could never become friends with people of a different unit or specialty. Because they would always feel they had to uphold the honor of their unit, they would never admit any failure or shortfall, even laughingly. So relationships remained formal, strained, and superficial. The same thing happens in college, where people feel alone at first, then attach themselves to a familiar ethnic group, and become protective and defensive about that group's reputation.</p>
<p>it has to do a lot w/ similarities really. im Indian, and I do'nt have a problem with this at all, because my interests/experiences are really quite universal, and not restricted to a particular group. But I know other Indians, who have always been exposed to indian culture,food,movies and that's a big part of their lifes, for better or worse, and they associate with people who share their take on those kind of things. it's certainly not nice, but it's rather inevitable.</p>
<p>Oh God, I couldn't agree more. My top match school/#1 choice right now is very diverse, but I've been hearing some opinions that kids there self-segregate. I'm going to have to ask more people who go there about it and look very carefully when I tour. I've heard opinions from people that state just the opposite though, so I'm going to have to sort it all out.</p>
<p>It's just....I understand being able to relate to people, but self-segregrating on a regular basis is quite possibly the stupidest thing ever for our generation. I'm a member of my school's Asian Culture Club, but we have white members, and my close circle of friends at HS are Hispanic, Asian, Black, etc.....being in a diverse group feels natural to me, and going to college and having to pick one ethnicity to hang out with a lot of the time is really one of my worst fears.</p>
<p>Not to mention, as someone who is half-Asian, if I saw a group of all Asian kids hanging together on the quad or something, I think I'd tend to feel excluded automatically. Do I not look "Asian" enough? Who knows? It really makes me sick.</p>
<p>P.S Trima, if you don't want to name your school publicly I understand, but if you're okay w/ saying the name could you post it here or PM me? My top match school is GWU, and I also heard this was possibly a problem for Tufts....</p>
<p>Sad, but true. I mean, just as you can't force Asians and blacks to hang out together, you can't stop Asians from doing the same. I think it's just a comfort level thing. You feel like you can relate to others of your own ethnic group- food, discrimination, language, etc, and eventually it becomes clique-ish. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>I noticed that at my school too. Mostly with asian students though. Pretty much if you see one korean kid, there will be 6 others with him or her. I really don't understand it, to be honest. I have always had a relatively diverse group of friends, since I was younger, and it saddens me that some people don't really make an effort to have "different" friends in college, outside of classes and labs at least, and those tend to be mainly acquaintances. </p>
<p>That culture thing is bullpoop. Most of "us" eat american style food, and speak the same basic language. People just assume things before they even attempt to know somebody else.</p>
<p>[/rant by black girl who's sick of being thought of as ghetto before i even open my mouth. but i digress]
:|</p>
<p>I don't like it, but what can you really do?</p>
<p>That can be true, but most of us have an entirely different home experience. At home, I eat rice 7 days a week, 2 meals a day. I flavor my food with fish sauce and soy sauce. I have an altar in my home for worshipping my ancestors. For some reason, I do not think this is the typical "American" experience. But I get what you're saying though. It's usually people who don't feel comfortable about their culture or insecure in some way (embarassed, maybe) that cling to their ethnic group instead of sharing it with other groups.</p>