Asian Americans vs. Harvard
A lawsuit was filed against Harvard for discriminating against Asian Americans during the
admission process. The group of Asian Americans claimed that every year, Harvard limits
the number of Asian Americans enrolled to keep the student population diverse. However,
they feel that by limiting the number of Asian Americans, the reverse of affirmative action
occurred. This is a very controversial topic. Some say that if the Asian Americans win this
lawsuit, it may mean that no colleges will take into account a student’s racial background.
Students may not be able to talk about their interests or passions in their application if it
relates to their race. Others say that affirmative action allows minorities to receive a higher
level of education and that affirmative action is a way to keep a school diverse. This case may
lead to a Supreme Court case. With our current Conservative court, it may change the face of
how college admissions work.
admission process. The group of Asian Americans claimed that every year, Harvard limits
the number of Asian Americans enrolled to keep the student population diverse. However,
they feel that by limiting the number of Asian Americans, the reverse of affirmative action
occurred. This is a very controversial topic. Some say that if the Asian Americans win this
lawsuit, it may mean that no colleges will take into account a student’s racial background.
Students may not be able to talk about their interests or passions in their application if it
relates to their race. Others say that affirmative action allows minorities to receive a higher
level of education and that affirmative action is a way to keep a school diverse. This case may
lead to a Supreme Court case. With our current Conservative court, it may change the face of
how college admissions work.
What do you think the rule of this case should be? How do you feel about affirmative action?
Sources:
I believe this case should be ruled in favor of the Asian Americans. I have seen articles saying that Asian American students have to score about 200 points or so higher on the SAT than an African American students, and this is not a fair way to admit students. I also think that while diversity is important to have, diversity does not have to be solely based on ethnicity. Diversity can exist as diverse life experiences or backgrounds. Therefore, affirmative action should not be given as much power as it has.
ReplyDeleteIf the case is in favor of Asian Americans, it would mean that any student cannot mention their race in their applications. Don't you think it would hinder the ability for a student to describe themselves if they can't talk about their race?
DeleteI understand and agree Harvard should not only have elimination on Asian American, however, but we also can not figure out a better way to solve this problem yet.
ReplyDelete-Carol
This whole problem is something that I highly doubt will ever be solved, because you'll always have someone who's unhappy.
ReplyDelete-Peachey
Honestly i believe people should be admitted into college because of their academics and extracurriculars and not by race. The reason why we go to college is for an education right? Why should our race hold us back from an education when it is well deserved?
ReplyDeleteI think college applicants should be allowed to talk about their race when it comes to admissions. Personally, my race and cultural experiences are important to me and is a big part of who I am, and if I couldn’t talk about it in my application, I would sound boring. Affirmative action is important because it advocates for my higher education as a minority, and the way to enforce it is to talk about my race so people know where I come from.
ReplyDelete-Angel Hermawan
I think affirmative action becomes biased for other races when they are comparing them with an Asian American. Even though both students are highly qualified there should be another way to decide who is able to attend the school. I don’t know what other way though.
ReplyDelete-Justin L
I think that by limiting Asian Americans, it kind of defeats the purpose of affirmative action because Asians are a minority that should be benefitting from affirmative action. It shouldn’t apply to just certain minority groups it should apply to all minority groups regardless. I think race shouldn’t be taken into account, especially for selective colleges. If Asians happen to just do better academically, then maybe everyone else needs to do better.
ReplyDeleteI don't think schools should be accepting students based on race. You're going to the university to have an education, so the acceptance should be only academically based. Although culture and race are important to some more than others, I do not think that should be the only reason someone is being accepted to a university.
ReplyDeleteSchools shouldn’t limit acceptances based on race because there are many other factors that affect our academic achievement. Just looking at race doesn’t tell the whole story about a student.
ReplyDeleteI feel like affirmative action is an effective way to create a diverse student body, but it will always discriminate against one race. I've heard someone say that racism will always exist until race itself is not even considered anymore. However, does that mean abandoning your culture? I feel very confused about this subject and I don't see a clear way out until we can stop judging people based on their skin color. We have to start investing in individual qualities.
ReplyDeleteI think something should be done to make the school and other schools more diverse. Although most are asian students, asians get into schools because of their achievements. I think something should be done to the school standards to allow more diverse racial groups into schools and give them a better chance to get in.
ReplyDeleteDoes "Asian-American" in this lawsuit include who Asian-Americans actually are? Does it include Laotian, Cambodian, Indonesian,etc?
ReplyDeleteI think students should be able to talk about their culture and race during college admissions however race should not be a major factor in deciding who gets in. - Su Z.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is a clear answer to this problem of diversity in a college. In many cases there always be people who receive the short end of the stick. As for me, I think schools should drop affirmative action and focus on other aspects of diversifying their college like economic status instead.
ReplyDeleteI think the boundary between affirmative action and reverse racism is becoming vaguer in this case and many other cases. While it is indefinite to judge these higher institutions of their "fairness" at admitting students, it is clear to me that Asian students have to strive much harder to gain admissions. I think these facts speak for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think that college admissions should be color blind. Most of the time it's socioeconomic status that makes the struggle of each applicant. Race shouldn't be a role in admissions, but it is understandable that colleges want to bring different cultures to their campus.
ReplyDeleteDonald