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There are several problems with corralling peoples of varying regional backgrounds into a neat label or two. This poses a problem for the sake of consideration
by spitx 13y ago
There are several problems with corralling peoples of varying regional backgrounds into a neat label or two.
This poses a problem for the sake of consideration of applicants for admission into institutions of higher learning not unlike it does for consideration of peoples for any other purpose.
The immediate problem is of the question of homogeneity.
Although both Asian, are people of Filipino extraction similarly prone to academic excellence as their Chinese counterparts?
Although both Black and hailing from much the same coordinates, do Haitians benefit from a culture that values the merits of higher education as do their Jamaican and other Carib brethren?
Although all White, are the rates of adoption of fields of study uniform among Polish-Americans, Irish-Americans and all other non-Hispanic white Americans?
( The former president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers has famously commented on how few numbers of Irish-Americans, as opposed to other whites, are to be found in high-finance. He has made more controversial statements about women in science and mathematics which are less relevant here. )
The more sensitive problem - and one that the universities seek to handle delicately - is the problem of producing a class of pupils that is deft at handling problems of the larger world that are not entirely limited to the narrow confines of their chosen area of study.
Over the course of hundreds of years, universities have come to learn that a purely academically flourishing candidate, otherwise deficient in certain key qualities that make for a ringleader, is less than ideal for those larger missions.
This has led to the emergence of the much vaunted, deservedly so, "well-rounded candidate".
The candidate who sets himself or herself apart in matters of moral earnestness, social conscience and a world view. He who is not just driven by an achievement trophy-besotted vigor that sees education as a means to a higher rung.
I'll leave it to the discursive minds here to explicate on the matter of how various groups including “piano playing, hard working" Asians fare in this regard and if that positively accounts for the disparity in acceptance rates for those groups.
- cpr 13y agoAs much as I loathe Larry Summers' economics (he's a Goldman grad, after all), I have to defend him against the casual slur implied above. He didn't "make controversial statements about women," he simply asked a question about a fact, which is why men are far and away the (high end) outliers in math and science, and whether there might be something based on nature (vs nurture). For asking this un-PC question, he was basically driven out of the presidency at Harvard. When you can't even ask questions about reality without getting pilloried, you know things are rotten in academia. (Summers was a year ahead of me at school, though I didn't know him then.)
- spitx 13y agoI didn't mean to draw attention to the uproar over Summers' comments. If I hadn't been upfront about that portion, I was certain that people would try to scuttle the validity of the comments on Irish-Americans in light of what he said about women. People love to flog dead horses.
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoSocioeconomic background is very important. For example, many of the Chinese kids of my generation were actually refugees from Vietnam. They did not achieve as much academically because their families had lots of social problems (as expected from refugees). But at least their families had a history of success before being upended, so they would recover in a couple of generations. Then consider Hmong refugees, things are quite different and harder as many of them came from farming families back in the old country. Chinese kids from the country side (of China) have similar problems, we just never see them in the US. Affirmative action in China should focus on getting these kids into good universities, though in practice the reverse occurs (Chinese kids from cities need lower scores on gaokao than kids from the country side). An equalizing factor, I think, should be whether both parents attended university or not.
- wildgift 13y agoThis is so true. Look at Hmong educational stats and they look like the stats for low-income African Americans. And look at where African Americans in the cities came from back around 70 years ago: from farming communities in the South. There are plenty of Vietnamese with problems, but a whole lot of the refugees were bigshots. My neighbor was some kind of politician, but he made a living as a handyman.