4 ms·

A more charitable interpretation is that a student body made up of too much of any one thing is not good. Part of the value proposition for going away to univer

• inglor_cz 4y ago
  In that case, maybe some universities could specialize on having racially diverse student bodies, and others on other attributes (say, political diversity, or something completely different). This way, everyone could choose their preferred institution according to their wishes and values.
• rayiner 4y ago
  > A more charitable interpretation is that a student body made up of too much of any one thing is not good. So what would you say is “not good” about a “student body made up of too [many]” Indians? Or Jews? Or Chinese people? Are schools in India or China or Israel inherently worse than those in America because those schools have “too much” of a single race?
  • csa 4y ago
    > Are schools in India or China or Israel inherently worse than those in America because those schools have “too much” of a single race? Both China and India are countries with a number of different races, some/most of which are represented at the top schools (I imagine all of the large racial groups). I’m not sure about Israel, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true there as well. That said, the prestigious schools in these countries (not sure about Israel) heavily use tests as an admission standard to the best schools. I think that this is part of what makes them less prestigious than their American counterparts. Elite American universities use social capital as part the admissions criteria, with a reasonably broad definition of social capital. I think that this social capital along with intellectual capital (not always in the same student) is part of what makes the magic work at these schools. Notes: - In China (and probably other places), historically the admissions exam was a proxy for social capital, since families with high social capital could prepare their kids better via tutors. This is still somewhat true today, but it’s not as powerful as it was in the distant past. - State schools in the US, which seem to be the focus of this article since they don’t have a history of holistic admissions, should probably stick with a grades-test score combo for most admissions, and maybe add some “social capital” admits (similar to athletes, who also fall into the social capital category, with the extent of exceptionalism required being equivalent). - Schools that admit based on tests alone without having some sort of built-in social capital component will end up defaulting towards the creation of a lot of middle management drones rather than future leaders of the country. Many people seem to wish that social capital is not the primary driver of success, but results (historical and anecdotal) seem to suggest otherwise.
    • known 4y ago
• rajin444 4y ago
  There’s infinite ways you can define diversity. Choosing to define it in the way you’re referring to (skin color, sex, sexual orientation) is just discrimination. Colleges should be about furthering academic knowledge and preparing our best and brightest to make the world a better place. Diversity for diversities sake harms that.
  • ethbr0 4y ago
    Believe parent's point was that "spend[ing] that time surrounded by diverse and interesting people" is an effective way of "preparing our best and brightest to make the world a better place".
    • thegrimmest 4y ago
      But since when is superficial appearance the primary measure of "diversity"?
      • ethbr0 4y ago
        "Skin color, sex, sexual orientation" all drastically impact an individual's experience in our world. Therefore, having interactions with someone with different varieties thereof increases the diversity of ones experience.
        • thegrimmest 4y ago
          More so than economic, cultural, geographic or domestic factors? Do you have a citation?
          • ethbr0 4y ago
            Sure, if you can give me ones supporting your preferred measures.
  • britch 4y ago
    It sounds simple, but it's difficult to do Who are the best and brightest? How do you determine that? Do the best&brightest from one community or circumstance always have the same traits as the best&brightest from another community or circumstance? My understanding is diversity initiatives attempt to address the latter part (effective or not).
• the_lonely_road 4y ago
  By that logic if it’s okay for 60% of the student body to be white because 60% of the United States is white then you are explicitly saying it’s okay for the university to be 60% of the same race which means it should be equally acceptable for the university to be 60% Asian regardless of them being x% of the United States and merit based admittance should be acceptable. The only logical reason for discriminating against so many Asians in our current setup needs to be attempting to mirror the population statistics of the United States. I don’t approve of that logic to be clear and think the universities will be issuing apologies to the Asian American community in X years similar to the ones they just made to the Jewish American community recently.
• mook 4y ago
  In that case shouldn't they also diversify the administration, and say that the university president should be Asian (or Black or Hispanic) x% of the time?
• wincy 4y ago
  I don’t know, universities in Israel seem to keep magically pumping out geniuses that invent all sorts of incredible technologies despite not being particularly diverse.
  • selimthegrim 4y ago
    Israel does not exactly set the PISA on fire, what they do do is delay college until after military service