Support NeoGAF

[Espada]

Millions of Asian parents all screamed out in terror and then were suddenly silenced

Hmm? Wasn't it Asian parents in California who were pivotal in killing race being a factor for admission to public universities in California? I remember reading Black and Hispanic student body percentages fell like rocks in those schools after that.

Still, I was expecting the worst from this case. It's stuff like this that shows just how important the Supreme Court is. Goddamn, if we elect Clinton and she gets to choose 1-2 more judges we'll be in much better shape as a country.

 

[d00d3n]

It seems like everyone is pro affirmative action in this thread. Is that the mainstream political position among liberals in the US? I am asking because I live in a partly socialist country (Sweden), and even our hardcore socialists are divided on this issue. Most people would agree that schools in immigrant areas need more money to tackle their unique issues, which they also get in our current system. There is a strong movement on the left to prevent preferential treatment from teachers through anonymized grading of tests and less use of high school grades at university admissions. Preferential treatment of certain demographic groups based on underrepresentation would generally be considered an extremist view imo, but some people on the left think this should happen as well.

 

[psynergylover]

Hip! Hip!

HURRAY!

 

[Iorv3th]

Reading the opinion of the court. Apparently if you are in the top 10% of your graduating class you automatically get in. Then after that a bunch of stuff is assessed with race only being 1 of the 6 and with only 1 point possible out of 6 added to your score.

Depends on class ranking and also I think you can get in easier if you had a previous family member attend. Sucks when you go to a small school and have like 25 people in your class.

 

[Cels]

Oh lord.

i don't know what the person you quoted was getting at but asian americans have fought hard to keep affirmative action from coming back in my state, California.

http://alumni.berkeley.edu/californ...ture-halts-move-diversify-colleges-amid-asian

UC system officially killed AA (still exists though lol).

UC system has nothing to do with it, in fact I'm quite sure if the UC regents could they would reimplement AA in a heartbeat. It has everything to do with Proposition 209.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

Oh lord.

Not exactly looking to open a whole can of worms, but, it's difficult to talk affirmative action in college acceptances without venturing into that uncomfortable territory of "it's not just white folks who have an axe to grind against affirmative action"

For the record, as an Asian man who has parents who espouse that kind of backwards views, I believe affirmative action is essential to creating a diverse campus.

 

[Pastry]

Depends on class ranking and also I think you can get in easier if you had a previous family member attend. Sucks when you go to a small school and have like 25 people in your class.

That happened to me. I was 11 out of 100 with a 4.0 GPA and didn't automatically get in lol.

 

[FLAguy954]

Good.

And obligatory fuck Clarence Thomas.

This.

 

[Black Republican]

Good, it was ridiculous it even made it this far


wonder what Abby will do now

 

[platocplx]

Good, it was ridiculous it even made it this far


wonder what Abby will do now

Go be mediocre somewhere else.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

Very good HuffPo piece on who benefits the most from affirmative action:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/affirmative-action-white-women_us_56a0ef6ae4b0d8cc1098d3a5

It's not particularly surprising either.

 

[Espada]

Not exactly looking to open a whole can of worms, but, it's difficult to talk affirmative action in college acceptances without venturing into that uncomfortable territory of "it's not just white folks who have an axe to grind against affirmative action"

For the record, as an Asian man who has parents who espouse that kind of backwards views, I believe affirmative action is essential to creating a diverse campus.

Damn, I've had heated discussions with friends about merits vs utilitarianism in college admissions. I can only imagine how awkward that must be to have family members who hold that viewpoint.

The issue seems to be that a lot of people don't give a fuck about diversity and only care about merits. Even showing them articles about the benefits of a diverse student body (both in race and social class) doesn't sway them.

 

[platocplx]

Damn, I've had heated discussions with friends about merits vs utilitarianism in college admissions. I can only imagine how awkward that must be to have family members who hold that viewpoint.

The issue seems to be that a lot of people don't give a fuck about diversity and only care about merits. Even showing them articles about the benefits of a diverse student body (both in race and social class) doesn't sway them.

Merits sounds all good and well, but that only works if everyone is able to go to the same schools and get an equal amount of education, and we all know this is never the case, so there has to be factors that help to even the playing field when its clear there are less opportunities and higher levels of adversity in place for certain races, honestly the way they had their system isnt bad at all.

 

[BossDarkseid]

An Islamic shock?

I understood that reference

 

[e_i]

So, this girl, Becky, who got bad grades, couldn't get into a university so she brought a court case against the university instead?

 

[Freezie KO]

It seems like everyone is pro affirmative action in this thread. Is that the mainstream political position among liberals in the US? I am asking because I live in a partly socialist country (Sweden), and even our hardcore socialists are divided on this issue. Most people would agree that schools in immigrant areas need more money to tackle their unique issues, which they also get in our current system. There is a strong movement on the left to prevent preferential treatment from teachers through anonymized grading of tests and less use of high school grades at university admissions. Preferential treatment of certain demographic groups based on underrepresentation would generally be considered an extremist view imo, but some people on the left think this should happen as well.

First, people vote for what they believe to be in their self interest. If, for example, demographics are going to continue to shift in favor of Hispanics, you'll see more Hispanics voting for preferential treatment of Hispanics in admissions. Not surprising.

Second, many liberals do adopt the same logic of identity politics that is used on the right. American liberals often see a grossly-oversimplified division between "marginalized" and "not marginalized" or "oppressed" and "oppressor." This is true of gender, sex, race, religion, etc.

 

[Sub_Level]

Reading the opinion of the court. Apparently if you are in the top 10% of your graduating class you automatically get in. Then after that a bunch of stuff is assessed with race only being 1 of the 6 and with only 1 point possible out of 6 added to your score.

It depends on the school. Top 7% is required for UT Austin this upcoming year.

 

[brianmcdoogle]

Reminder that during oral arguments Scalia suggested that maybe African Americans should just go to slower schools.

 

[The Albatross]

So, this girl, Becky, who got bad grades, couldn't get into a university so she brought a court case against the university instead?

Eh, she didn't have bad grades... I think she had an A average, or 91% average.

Marketplace, from APM/NPR, had a good segment about Texas' "Top 10% Rule" and why people have mixed feelings about it, but why it's ultimately probably a good thing:

http://www.marketplace.org/2016/05/18/wealth-poverty/top-10-rule-faces-new-challenge-texas

I'm glad for the ruling as it encourages more balance in higher education, but I also don't think that the students who pursued the case should get shit on as much as they do. I'd wager that Abigail Fisher did better than most of us, got higher scores on the SAT, and was more involved than a lot of us (definitely better than me). But because she's fought Texas' 10% rule, people really shame her or assume she's dumb... She's probably a lot smarter than most of us were in high school, well, at least, she did a lot better than I did.

 

[ReAxion]

Thomas sucks and I'm glad Scalia's dead.

 

[ghostofsparta]

Reminder that during oral arguments Scalia suggested that maybe African Americans should just go to slower schools.

the US is now a better place with his death

 

[Zoe]

Eh, she didn't have bad grades... I think she had an A average, or 91% average.

Marketplace, from APM/NPR, had a good segment about Texas' "Top 10% Rule" and why people have mixed feelings about it, but why it's ultimately probably a good thing:

http://www.marketplace.org/2016/05/18/wealth-poverty/top-10-rule-faces-new-challenge-texas

I'm glad for the ruling as it encourages more balance in higher education, but I also don't think that the students who pursued the case should get shit on as much as they do. I'd wager that Abigail Fisher did better than most of us, got higher scores on the SAT, and was more involved than a lot of us (definitely better than me). But because she's fought Texas' 10% rule, people really shame her or assume she's dumb... She's probably a lot smarter than most of us were in high school, well, at least, she did a lot better than I did.

Glad I'm not the only one.

People realize there are others with the same or worse credentials who did get admitted, right? What are you saying about them when you're insulting her?