5 ms·

>> and mainly affluent politically connected blacks and latinos Where in the world do you get that idea? I challenge you to provide a good source for the clai

>> and mainly affluent politically connected blacks and latinos Where in the world do you get that idea? I challenge you to provide a good source for the claim that the AA students are either affluent OR politically connected.

greenwich26 6y ago
Spent a year at an Ivy League. I met dozens of affluent, politically connected racial minorities, mostly from Northeast prep schools. I met exactly 0 poor kids from the South, or inner city Chicago or Detroit, or some other such background. It was pretty obvious what was going on.
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  Dozens vs 0 would be an overstatement, but the disparity is still there. I suspect it was exacerbated by what social circles you were traveling in.
LudwigNagasena 6y ago
I am not sure about being politically connected, but it is known that universities accept rich black immigrants from places like Nigeria and consider it “affirmative action”. In Ivy League unis the percentage of immigrants among the black student body is over 40%, while in the general population it is near 15%. But I judging how the things are going I am sure this is going to get fixed soon. The colleges will ask you to do a DNA test to determine the purity of your black heritage and a proof of slave ancestors. Hooray, intersectionality.
whimsicalism 6y ago
It's not entirely inaccurate. There is a trend for top tier universities to pick Black students mostly from prep & private schools for some reason. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674976894 https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674976894 Excerpt: "tiny fraction" of low-income black American teenagers who attend private schools "produces about half of low-income black students at Ivy League colleges." Anecdotally, looking at who attended Ivies where I grew up, this seems to be true. I think they worry that Black students from actually Black, and often poor, school districts will not jive well with so many silver spoon swallowers. They want people more accustomed to bougie New England & NYC culture.
- throwawayboise 6y ago
  I think the worry is more that kids from terrible urban public school districts will be woefully unprepared to do the academic work expected at an Ivy. Wealthy kids (regardless of skin color) who have attended private prep school are a much safer bet. The mission of Harvard, Princeton, or any university is not to remediate the poor education some kid received in K-12.
  - whimsicalism 6y ago
    Yeah, as someone who went to one of these "terrible urban public school districts" in a 50% black school - it's a bullshit, racist fear. I went from my shitty ass physics class to taking one of the hardest freshman physics classes in the country. It is manageable, they are just afraid of cultural inhomogeneity. There were at least 10 Black kids at my school who could have succeeded at Harvard.
  - amznthrowaway5 6y ago
    I've seem smart Asian kids from poor public schools do far better than the wealthy corrupt kids. It's not about "poor education".
    - whimsicalism 6y ago
      I'll ignore the dogwhistle behind your comment. The really bad inner city school systems usually: a. don't have sizable Asian communities b. Not many Asian students from those schools are accepted either. Anecdotally, in 4 years at my inner city school district, which had a small, poor Asian population (mostly Vietnamese), only one Asian kid got into an ivy league, and her dad was a professor at a top-tier university.
      - amznthrowaway5 6y ago
        I'm saying from the ones that do excel, they do just fine, and far more poor asians excel. Calling it a dogwhistle is just trolling. The real racism is from people judging based on race instead of ability.

greenwich26 6y ago

Spent a year at an Ivy League. I met dozens of affluent, politically connected racial minorities, mostly from Northeast prep schools. I met exactly 0 poor kids from the South, or inner city Chicago or Detroit, or some other such background. It was pretty obvious what was going on.

whimsicalism 6y ago
Dozens vs 0 would be an overstatement, but the disparity is still there. I suspect it was exacerbated by what social circles you were traveling in.

LudwigNagasena 6y ago

I am not sure about being politically connected, but it is known that universities accept rich black immigrants from places like Nigeria and consider it “affirmative action”. In Ivy League unis the percentage of immigrants among the black student body is over 40%, while in the general population it is near 15%. But I judging how the things are going I am sure this is going to get fixed soon. The colleges will ask you to do a DNA test to determine the purity of your black heritage and a proof of slave ancestors. Hooray, intersectionality.

whimsicalism 6y ago

It's not entirely inaccurate. There is a trend for top tier universities to pick Black students mostly from prep & private schools for some reason. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674976894 https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674976894 Excerpt: "tiny fraction" of low-income black American teenagers who attend private schools "produces about half of low-income black students at Ivy League colleges." Anecdotally, looking at who attended Ivies where I grew up, this seems to be true. I think they worry that Black students from actually Black, and often poor, school districts will not jive well with so many silver spoon swallowers. They want people more accustomed to bougie New England & NYC culture.

throwawayboise 6y ago
I think the worry is more that kids from terrible urban public school districts will be woefully unprepared to do the academic work expected at an Ivy. Wealthy kids (regardless of skin color) who have attended private prep school are a much safer bet. The mission of Harvard, Princeton, or any university is not to remediate the poor education some kid received in K-12.
- whimsicalism 6y ago
  Yeah, as someone who went to one of these "terrible urban public school districts" in a 50% black school - it's a bullshit, racist fear. I went from my shitty ass physics class to taking one of the hardest freshman physics classes in the country. It is manageable, they are just afraid of cultural inhomogeneity. There were at least 10 Black kids at my school who could have succeeded at Harvard.
- amznthrowaway5 6y ago
  I've seem smart Asian kids from poor public schools do far better than the wealthy corrupt kids. It's not about "poor education".
  - whimsicalism 6y ago
    I'll ignore the dogwhistle behind your comment. The really bad inner city school systems usually: a. don't have sizable Asian communities b. Not many Asian students from those schools are accepted either. Anecdotally, in 4 years at my inner city school district, which had a small, poor Asian population (mostly Vietnamese), only one Asian kid got into an ivy league, and her dad was a professor at a top-tier university.
    - amznthrowaway5 6y ago
      I'm saying from the ones that do excel, they do just fine, and far more poor asians excel. Calling it a dogwhistle is just trolling. The real racism is from people judging based on race instead of ability.