<p>THis is getting quite contentious. Whether or not one believes in the AA approach to college admissions isn’t the point, at least in terms of this MIT/Ms.Jones thread. The point should be honesty & transparency in admissions. Jones blew a lot of smoke & enjoyed the attentions & accolades thrown her way. But her message of encouraging more “regular” kids to come & apply to MIT was disingenuous. The “regular” kids getting in were heavily found in the pool of women & URMs. That’s MIT’s right, of course. And plenty of arguments can be made supporting the goals of holistic admissions. But it sure isn’t helpful for kids without those special hooks, who would not be wasting effort & cash on their application if they were appraised of their true chances.</p>
<p>poetsheart,</p>
<p>Woah, woah, woah. After taking a look at the last few pages, no user has claimed to have statistics that “prove” Blacks are inferior. No user has claimed that anyone is inherently inferior. NO ONE. It would really advance this discussion if you didn’t make stuff up and attribute it to others.</p>
<p>In another thread, I already agreed with you that our nation has historically employed social engineering to help Whites and hurt Blacks. For whatever reason, you chose to ignore our common ground. I am astounded that you refuse to remotely acknowledge my agreeing with you on this issue.</p>
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<p>Race-aware admissions isn’t a brand new concept. Who ever said it was? Gosh, you sure do like to make stuff up and say other people said it. As another user has pointed out, the work of Mr. Jerome Karabel regarding Jewish quotas has been quoted extensively by numerous members. Even though they were White, Jews belonged to the “wrong” religion and were thus discriminated accordingly. Under the old definition of merit, these Jewish students frequently bested their WASP peers. That wasn’t acceptable to the Ivy League Presidents of old. They redefined merit to include “personal qualities” and “leadership potential.” Somehow, WASP students managed to consistently score higher on these scales than their Jewish peers. Voila, holistic admissions, a policy that was designed to exclude is now touted by racial preference defenders as the vehicle for inclusion. (Why can’t those socialists be honest and call themselves what they are?)</p>
<p>Another thing you’ve made up is the opposition’s claim that “blacks and other URMs now have the upper hand in everything in this country.” Find one, just one, instance where somebody who is against affirmative action actually said that. If you make such strong accusations, then you should back them up.</p>
<p>Why would anyone want to “trade” races? Looks like we’ve still got a long ways to go with respect to race neutrality. Maybe we should drop racial preferences.</p>
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I never took a college exam that was even remotely like the SAT.</p>
<p>Mathmom, all my college exams were timed. Granted, most consisted of fillling up blue books, but there were often multiple choice components. Particularly in science courses.</p>
<p>cheers,</p>
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</p>
<p>I think this same majority also believes pigs can fly.</p>
<p>cheers, don’t kid yourself. The baton of preferential treatment ends with your generation.</p>
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Well, I guess you haven’t met my kids.</p>
<p>Or mine. Or their hundreds of friends.</p>
<p>same here.</p>
<p>SS,
I think mathmom was referring to content more than the fact that, yes, virtually all academic exams are timed.</p>
<p>In any case, my experience parallels mathmom’s. Nothing vaguely similar to SAT <em>I</em> in high school, college, grad school, professional school.</p>
<p>That’s enough. A once-interesting thread has deteriorated into yet one more tiresome AA bash.</p>