3 ms·
I always decline to answer. I dont think the answers are meaningful, except perhaps in medicine, where there are real differences. Income will tell you more abo
by russell 18y ago
I always decline to answer. I dont think the answers are meaningful, except perhaps in medicine, where there are real differences. Income will tell you more about a person's chances. Give help by income; it will help all the disadvantaged by whatever classification. Otherwise the data will be misused by those with an agenda.
- tokenadult 18y agoDeclining to answer is always a legal response. But it gets reported as data in different ways, depending on who is asking. For a person applying for a government benefit (e.g., food stamps), an application without race or ethnicity filled in usually has that filled in by "sight identification" by a caseworker. For a student applying to college, the response of not responding is simply reported as "race/ethnicity unknown." Some colleges have very high percentages of enrolled students who are reported to the federal government as "race/ethnicity unknown," http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061012037-post4.html http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1061012037-post4.html which I think is a good social trend. But, sure enough, the federal government has a regulation from a year or so ago, to take effect in the next school year (2009-2010) that will remove from college application forms the current notice many have that the question is optional. The feds want to gather the data. Students will have to know the law well to know that they may freely decline to answer the questions. The full federal regulation for Department of Education data-gathering on race and ethnicity can be found at http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/101907c.html http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/10190...