<p>Afirmative Action is stupid the way it is carried out now. I have many black friends who have doctor and lawyer parents. They shouldn’t get more of a boost than I. </p>
<p>However, I grew up in the slums and went to bad schools with crappy books and had no one looking out for me. I also happen to be half Hispanic. Which one do you think hindered me more? </p>
<p>Affirmative action should be based on socioeconimic status rather than race. I have NEVER put Hispanic on an application, I ALWAYS put “unknown” or “other” because I think the whole concept of race is complete bull. But the fact that my parents never made above poverty level income should come into play in admissions, not the fact that a kid happens to have dark skin but comes from millionaire parents.</p>
<p>I’m middle class and white. Should i get a boost? Should Harvard make a special concession for me? No. There should be no favoritism in the college admissions process. What we SHOULD be doing is putting more money into public schools with traditionally low-income students, so that less money ≠ bad education. That way there is less disadvantage and the admissions process can be TOTALLY FAIR. The most qualified applicants should be admitted regardless of race.</p>
<p>Why would a white girl at a prep school get a boost? LOL.</p>
<p>Putting a ton of money into inner city schools won’t really even things up because they still face a disadvantage at home (less likely to be surrounded by books, have more than one parent) and they still wouldn’t be desirable schools for teachers to work at, so the teachers tend to be inferior.</p>
<p>I think affirmative action should be based on socio-economic status, not race. But then again, that wouldn’t work out well. We DO want diversity at our schools after all.</p>
<p>Schools want a diverse, interesting student body, so they use URM status, ECs, and essays. At HBCUs white people have an admissions advantage because they’re URM, so affirmative action isn’t racist because each school has different URMs.</p>
<p>Admitting people solely on GPA and test scores would result in a boring student body. You’re never going to get rid of affirmative action, schools will do it anyway.</p>
<p>As far as Cal Tech goes, maybe they just don’t get many applications from blacks? I guarantee you white people have a higher acceptance rate to Cal Tech than Asians though.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’d be interested in this info in conjunction with data on the distribution of the applicants. I’m sure that the Caltech pool is incredibly self-selective.</p>
really? cause historically, its arguable.
asian americans definitely had it hard on the west coast. asian exclusion act, chinese exclusion act, japanese internment, etc. there was a lot of racism against asian immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries.
african americans were obviously trapped by slavery laws and then after that jim crow laws and segregation
historically, i’m personally unaware of hispanics being subjected to any government-instigated racism or intolerance. (i could be mistaken, i just don’t know of any such legislation) of course, in modern times hispanics seem to be a generally disadvantaged minority, if you were forced to associate ethnicity and socioeconomic status. </p>
<p>nevertheless, i think that race should simply be excluded from applications. affirmative action, i think should be based solely on socioeconomic status. i don’t think that race tells you anything more than socioeconomic status does. i don’t think that, in general, race is what puts people at a learning disadvantage, only their socioeconomic status.<br>
if a wealthy black student and poor asian student were both applying to a school, it should be the asian and not the black student who should be given special consideration for the disadvantages he faced growing up.</p>
<p>Jews are among the most persecuted groups in history and yet (IIRC) racial/ethnic quotas were begun to limit the number of Jews in Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>Countless racial and ethnic groups in America have been wronged by historical injustices. In the end I wouldn’t want to go to a school with only 2 black students. Besides, when you look at actual numbers people should be alarmed that over 20% of Hispanics and African-Americans and Hispanics live in poverty. For whites, that number is 10%. So if we were to have socioeconomic affirmative action implemented proportionally it would still benefit the same people for the most part.</p>
<p>I really dislike the fact that people will make countless threads ranting about how unfair Affirmative Action is but there are still preferences for legacies, athletes, and alumni who donate big money. Is that any fairer? I don’t think so. In my opinion, the whole college admissions process is skewed anyway. Just my $.02.</p>
<p>exactly, so why should only a select few be given extra attention?</p>
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<p>EXACTLY. the point is by using socioeconomic affirmative action, instead of racial affirmative action, you are benefiting a lot of the same people! the many hispanics and blacks who live in poverty. however, you are also benefiting the (10% you said?) caucasian, eastern european, and asian americans who live in similarly poor conditions and are overlooked by racial affirmative action.<br>
additionally, by using socioeconomic affirmative action you would be excluding the wealthy hispanics and blacks who get an extra boost based on their race despite not needing it.
socioeconomic affirmative action would give you all the leverage you need, why is it necessary to also have racial affirmative action?</p>
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<p>well, according to your point, you wouldn’t have to as long as socioeconomic affirmative action was implemented</p>
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<p>i agree. legacies and athletes shouldn’t be considered higher than others. affirmative action is just one argument, there are plenty more to be had.</p>
<p>Let’s make a bashing of it and throw out legacies too oh and development admits. So rich white kids don’t get a boost either.
Let’s throw it all away- yay- fight the power (right)</p>
<p>guys gotta realize that no matter how unfair it may seem sometimes, ya just gotta let it go…(asian btw)</p>
<p>i mean, IF my dad was a rich white guy who went to Harvard and decided to donate alot of money to the school, I wouldn’t mind…neither would you…there is more than one side…just means that the child takes part in the parents’ success…not a bad thing</p>
<p>there are times when AA works and doesn’t work,
in countries abroad such as Africa, people have NOTHINGGGG, and unless you’ve been there, you really don’t know what it’s like to live like an ANIMALLLLLLL…so yeah i think a person from a place like this should be given more opportunities</p>
<p>if a person from rwanda doesn’t get to go to college, he may be fighting for his survival and possibly become a victim of genocide</p>
<p>if a motivated person from the united states or even more developed countries in asia/europe doesn’t end up in a top college, then he’ll probably just end up at a decent university in his country </p>
<p>alot of you guys (including myself) have not seen enough of the world to have a good perspective on this issue…</p>
<p>^ The problem with that argument is that those people in Africa are also dirt-poor, so that would be more of the influencing factor, not the race at all. If you are poor, and have risen above expectations, then you should have a better chance than someone who has done the norm and has a comfortable life style. I agree with the notion that we should improve the public schools where they are shoddy, not at colleges. If you start improving the schools earlier, then the students can do better and get into colleges on their own merit, not simply because of their skin color.</p>
<p>Hello I don’t hate you- I’m just tired of hearing the whining- sorry.
umm. how to put this delicately- I don’t really agree with your statement about “living like an animal” in Africa. I happen to be first generation African and we don’t live like animals. We have beautiful places like NYC and less pretty places- I really don’t appreciate the generalizations. Imagine if all you heard from other people about china was</p>
<p>Op " I’m going back to china"
Person: Are you gonna die? Um, don’t they live like animals there?
Animals do exist in the continent of africa… locked up in zoos.
Couldn’t help correcting you. sorry.</p>
<p>You guys gotta admit, Jewish, Indian, and Chinese people came to this country to make a name for themselves. They worked hard, got into good schools and now have really well paying jobs. When they came here, they had nothing, but they worked really hard because they knew that work pays off and they also wanted a better life for them and their family. On the other hand, I see many AA and Hispanics not even trying to make themselves better, using welfare to live and pay their rent, etc. My mom works in the health care industry and she sees everyday these 16 year old AA and hispanic girls getting pregnant just so that they can get medicaid. I’m not being racist, but I am just ****ed that AA and hispanics get to go to college (like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, etc.) for FREE if they have decent stats and ECs, while us Asians and Caucasians barely get any financial aid. Tell me that is not wrong?</p>
<p>BTW, I am not saying all AA and Hispanics are lazy, many do make a name for themselves. I’m talking about the others.</p>