3 ms·
As another Asian who kind of understands your viewpoint, I'm conflicted and unsure about this. Us Asians are in a weird place, because as a statistic we're ver
by quadrifoliate 6y ago
As another Asian who kind of understands your viewpoint, I'm conflicted and unsure about this.
Us Asians are in a weird place, because as a statistic we're very successful, but also subject to a fairly wide range of discrimination inside and outside the workplace. We already a harder time breaking into "Good Old Boy" all-white institutions, and I have lost count of the number of casually racist anti-Asian things I have heard at my past few jobs.
> I wouldn't want to go to a college that is 50% Asian and 1% black over a college that reflected the demographics of the country.
I would disagree. IMO I'd rather see Harvard and the Ivies become 50% Asian, to drive home the point that there is nothing special about Harvard and it's just a name (as an example -- consider the other two schools you mentioned. Going to Berkeley or CalTech is still considered prestigious as hell). Life should be a holistic admission, but a lot of employers still use schools as a filter. So why should Asians be denied the opportunity to prove that that heuristic is imperfect?
Otherwise, Harvard will used as a filter that implicitly discriminates against Asians later in life. Think ”Oh he's from Harvard, good thing it's not one of those all-Asian colleges” which I'm sure is said behind closed doors in many rooms today and which you have perhaps benefited from.
- aiisahik 6y agoSorry you encountered racism. That sucks and hope you work with better people in the future. As someone who lives in the US but was raised in Australia, I have to say that I've encountered a lot more ignorance in the US but a lot less racism. I think it's getter better but probably not quickly enough. > So why should Asians be denied the opportunity to prove that that heuristic is imperfect? HAHA only Asians and rich white legacy parents would consider a rejection by Harvard to be a denial of opportunity worth complaining about. Harvard IS special BECAUSE of the name. Because it lends an air of prestige, legacy, and class that CANNOT be obtained by merely academic excellence. But just because it is special does not mean it has to provide an equal opportunity to all to obtain it by a transparent set of criteria. The frustratingly opaque unobtainability of the admissions to ivy is EXACTLY what gives it prestige and the exact reason why it cannot allow a fair academic process to determine admission. > Otherwise, Harvard will used as a filter that implicitly discriminates against Asians later in life. Think ”Oh he's from Harvard, good thing it's not one of those all-Asian colleges” which I'm sure is said behind closed doors in many rooms today and which you have perhaps benefited from. I went to Berkeley for grad school. Now I am a CTO at a company looking at resumes. I would hire a Berkeley grad over an ivy grad ANY day because I know how competitive and difficult the STEM programs at Berkeley are. The implicit presumption of superiority of an ivy degree over a Cal degree comes more from the mentality of the student body and the parents more so than from the employers. And with that I will venture to point out the ironic fact that Asians complaining about unfairness of Harvard admissions actually further highlights the fact that Harvard is more unattainable and thus desirable than other schools. The only thing that would really hurt Harvard is if Asians just said: "oh we don't want to get into those racist colleges anyway" .... but that would never happen :P
- quadrifoliate 6y ago> I would hire a Berkeley grad over an ivy grad ANY day because I know how competitive and difficult the STEM programs at Berkeley are. Well, that's good to hear. I guess I can only hope that a lot of employers think like you do!
- memexy 6y ago> I went to Berkeley for grad school. Now I am a CTO at a company looking at resumes. I would hire a Berkeley grad over an ivy grad ANY day because I know how competitive and difficult the STEM programs at Berkeley are. How many Berkley grads have you hired and have you tracked their actual job performance?