<p>One thing I notice here is there is an invisible man problem going on with many comments re affirmative action, preferences of one sort or another, and whether differing standards exist.</p>
<p>It is interesting to read how many parents on this thread say the following: </p>
<p>(all paraphrased - please excuse if I am off a bit in the verbiage)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The diversity is good for the college (use whatever definition of diversity you want - not sure it matters actually)</p></li>
<li><p>This may be an issue out here on CC and the public-at-large, but not necessarily an issue for the colleges</p></li>
<li><p>I have no problem with the methodology, even if it harms my kids’ chances</p></li>
<li><p>Until the numbers increase, I will shamelessly accept affirmative action</p></li>
<li><p>There is no evidence the standards are lowered by having lower and higher standards for different groups (an oxymoron in itself, but we will let it stand for sake of argument)</p></li>
<li><p>I have no problem with the programs</p></li>
</ol>
<p>OK, that is enough, as I can pull out about 10 more statements easy, but point is made. I emphasize that the super majority of statements, if not all, were said by parents, NOT students.</p>
<p>In economics, there is the proverbial question of "At what cost?"when instituting a system to fix something in production or elsewhere. And the best intellectual fixes in the world often have a cost that no one acknowledges because it is not visibly apparent. </p>
<p>Such as in raising the minimum wage, there must be job loss. Even if there is job gain with increased population growth, the gain is less that it would have been sans the wage increase. But, no one sees the person two years later who does not have an entry level job because of it. That person is never acknowledged, never seen, yet ultimately was hurt directly.</p>
<p>In this case, the invisible man is very visible, but consciously is being made invisible, so the net effect is the same, invisible. I get this collective sense to ignore, and I do ask the question of “At what cost?” is this invisible man being ignored.</p>
<p>Who am I talking about? The students.</p>
<p>I am a little taken aback how the damage to students is being ignored or dismissed, as a viable cost to something, which requires diversity of something to solve. I have yet to figure out what that something is as no one has really defined it clearly, and it is just labeled as this thing called diversity is good.</p>
<p>Whatever this diversity thing is, I am keen to the damage to the actual recipients re students, not their parents. The parents who seem to not mind the programs (see points 1 - 6 above) and even go out of their way to justify them.</p>
<p>Here is what I see as the damage:</p>
<p>A. Group is pitted against group, and students are forced to segregate themselves based on a group from page 1 of their college applications. Is it not illogical for anyone to expect an integrated, peaceful campus after the students are told to segregate BEFORE they get there? Should not the effort be to made to help them seem together and equal before they get there? </p>
<p>Is it worth the damage of reintroducing segregation into the minds of students, when the entire premise is to teach the reverse? </p>
<p>More specifically:</p>
<p>B. Asians posts are replete with sad faces next to their ethnicity because of being overrepresented applicants in the very high test score group. </p>
<p>Is that damage to their spirit worth this?</p>
<p>C. Students with interesting ethnicities put smiley faces on their posts, and scream I am a URM at the top of their lungs. This is the flip-side of the asian problem; this group feels advantaged and superior in the college admissions process. Is that false superiority worth it, when, in reality, it is not real, just fabricated? And they get hurt too because other groups despise them for this fabricated advantage BEFORE they even get to college. </p>
<p>Is that damage of being despised worth it? </p>
<p>D. White students are reduced to saying I do not have a chance because I am white, irrespective of test scores and abilities, essays etc. And, like asians, they put sad faces on their posts, albeit for a different reason. </p>
<p>Is that damage to their spirit worth it?</p>
<p>E. Black students are arguing about whom is actually african-american and that africans from Africa do not count. Talk about about a mess in an effort to gain some advantage in the college admissions process re affirmative action. Next, it sounds like genetics tests are going be demanded. </p>
<p>Is this internal group damage to people with darker skin worth it? </p>
<p>F. Then there is the overall issue that blacks and hispanics are seen to get an unfair advantage in the admin process and automatically are looked down as not as smart. Since no one walks around with their applications on their sleeves, even the top minorities scorers must deal with not being believed as as smart. </p>
<p>Is the damage of the continuous doubt in abilities of blacks and hispanics, that will follow them for life, worth it?</p>
<p>G. And, given the current social issues at many colleges, e.g. Dartmouth, Harvard to name two, the state of relations among student groups on colleges does not seem to be better in the least. Dartmouth, I believe, is the tip of the iceberg. But the students are just following what they have been taught - hey, we believe got an advantage getting in here, so we want an advantage to on how and what we think the college should teach. The result is other students see these people as pushy, ungrateful and some downright rude to disrupt everyone’s education. I see little cohesion and very little let’s all get together going on. </p>
<p>Is the damage to the overall college community worth it?</p>
<p>For me, whatever is being advocating in the college admissions process under the term diversity is not worth the fundamental and visible damage being wrought to students’ spirits, their feeling of self-worth and the resulting stigma placed on the groups, which are seen to get an advantage, and to the college fabric, as a whole. </p>
<p>If this is what is called societal advancement, then please, by all means, keep it. </p>
<p>The results I see are rather ugly for society because if we think students are just going to leave these negatives feelings and effects behind after leaving college, we are sorely mistaken. The damaging effects will filter thru the workplace and neighborhoods for the next generation, and not in a a good way.</p>
<p>What surprises me the most is many parents (see points 1 - 6 above) seem to dismiss and ignore this damage (see Points A - G above), in light of some ill-defined or undefined good, which supposedly is happening because of these college admin policies. </p>
<p>I understand good intentions. But, students do not live in the world of good intentions; they live on ground with the real world results, and they are the ones paying the dear price, not the parents and the administrators instituting these policies. (In reality, the parents do pay a price indirectly by having kids who are not as sure of themselves and as comfortable in their being, as parents would have hoped.)</p>
<p>Results do matter, not in some arbitrary numbers achieved or press releases, but in the larger societal fabric picture. And if the results are more societal fractures, distrust in others’ intelligence and skills, and sadness about whom you are, then parents really need to ask themselves, is it really worth the cost? (Whatever the it is)</p>
<p>I surely do not think it is worth the cost.</p>