3 ms·

> A middle class Asian person who went to college at Stanford is going to think identically to a white middle class person who went to college. I thought this

> A middle class Asian person who went to college at Stanford is going to think identically to a white middle class person who went to college. I thought this was true for a while but I've worked with enough asians (who are also born in USA - some even with their parents being American too) to realize this just isn't true. The white/asian experience has a very different parental/family background. A lot of kids learning some other language from an early age even if their parents weren't born in that country the language is known for. Most white kids don't go through a lot of that stuff. I used to think "Ah, hello, my fellow American!" And then I realized many asians didn't align with the American identity - at least in SV. Many felt like they were very closely tied (or closer) to their parents or grandparents homeland. Super weird - imo...

geofft 6y ago
Let me also add one thing I didn't phrase clearly last night - if it is true (and I, like you, don't believe it's true) that an Asian Stanford grad has the same perspectives and experiences as a white Stanford grad, then that gives all the more validity to making sure you're not unnecessarily discriminating against one or the other group. Your ratio of Asian to white hires should be roughly on par with the fraction of, if nothing else, Asian and white Stanford grads. If it is wildly different, then it's an indicator that something is wrong. Perhaps you are not losing out on perspectives and experiences, per se, but perhaps the biased person running your initial phone screens is causing you to lose out on good candidates who are from a race they don't like, i.e., you're limiting the number of candidates of this perspective and experience that you're willing to interview. That would be a problem worth being aware of! Completely ignoring race means you don't have the data. It doesn't prevent the problem from happening. (See also, "Why is the net wired randomly?", asked Minsky. "I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play", Sussman said.*)

geofft 6y ago

Let me also add one thing I didn't phrase clearly last night - if it is true (and I, like you, don't believe it's true) that an Asian Stanford grad has the same perspectives and experiences as a white Stanford grad, then that gives all the more validity to making sure you're not unnecessarily discriminating against one or the other group. Your ratio of Asian to white hires should be roughly on par with the fraction of, if nothing else, Asian and white Stanford grads. If it is wildly different, then it's an indicator that something is wrong. Perhaps you are not losing out on perspectives and experiences, per se, but perhaps the biased person running your initial phone screens is causing you to lose out on good candidates who are from a race they don't like, i.e., you're limiting the number of candidates of this perspective and experience that you're willing to interview. That would be a problem worth being aware of! Completely ignoring race means you don't have the data. It doesn't prevent the problem from happening. (See also, "Why is the net wired randomly?", asked Minsky. "I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play", Sussman said.*)