Some Asians' college strategy: Don't check 'Asian' (USA Today)

Parents Forum
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<p>[Some</a> Asians’ college strategy: Don’t check box ? USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2011-12-03/asian-students-college-applications/51620236/1]Some”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2011-12-03/asian-students-college-applications/51620236/1)</p>

<p>Excerpt:</p>

<p>"Lanya Olmstead was born in Florida to a mother who immigrated from Taiwan and an American father of Norwegian ancestry. Ethnically, she considers herself half Taiwanese and half Norwegian. But when applying to Harvard, Olmstead checked only one box for her race: white.</p>

<p>‘I didn’t want to put ‘Asian’ down,’ Olmstead says, “because my mom told me there’s discrimination against Asians in the application process.”</p>

<p>For years, many Asian-Americans have been convinced that it’s harder for them to gain admission to the nation’s top colleges.</p>

<p>Studies show that Asian-Americans meet these colleges’ admissions standards far out of proportion to their 6 percent representation in the U.S. population, and that they often need test scores hundreds of points higher than applicants from other ethnic groups to have an equal chance of admission. Critics say these numbers, along with the fact that some top colleges with race-blind admissions have double the Asian percentage of Ivy League schools, prove the existence of discrimination…"</p>

<p>(Note: I’ve met the author of this study many years ago; he’s a very well-known demographer.)</p>

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<p>maybe if we threw a race riot or two, maybe throwing in a crippling general strike to US research and development industries, people would finally stop taking us for granted and we would finally gain a voice.</p>

<p>it seems that the harder we work and the more we try to play within the system, the more the system works against us. Why then, should we be held to obedience to this racist society? Why comply with the system at all?</p>

<p>oh because everyone thinks we’re obedient guai guai pushovers, amirite; the subservient ‘model minority’; we would never resort to political mass action.</p>

<p>well think twice.</p>

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<p>^Are you seriously suggesting that acceptance at an Ivy League university is a civil right? Lots of categories of students are disadvantaged in elite college admissions, such as females, non-athletes, and poor whites. Should they all strike and riot too? Get a grip.</p>

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<p>The FAQ thread </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1228264-race-college-admission-faq-discussion-9-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1228264-race-college-admission-faq-discussion-9-a.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>already includes discussion of this wire service news story. New comments can be posted there.</p>