A coalition of over 60 Asian-American groups are accusing Harvard of racial discrimination during admissions. Over 60 groups, including Chinese, Indian, Korean, and Pakistani American organizations, filed a complaint with the US Department of Education and the Justice Department on Friday, hoping the federal government will help bring a sense of justice to the admissions process.
The complaint argues that the school holds Asian Americans at a higher standard than other applicants: even though Asian Americans generally have the highest test score range and overall academic achievement, they have some of the lowest acceptance rates at Harvard.
Based on the book "No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal", written by Princeton professor Thomas J. Espenshade, ""An Asian-American student has to score 140 points higher than a white student, 270 points higher than a Hispanic student and 450 points higher than a black student on the SAT to be on equal footing."
Critics are citing the complaint as a case against affirmative action.
This is an interesting subject with valid points on both sides of the argument. On one hand, shouldn't our education system and our society be striving towards a completely equal society, where race, ethnicity, and gender don't matter? Ethnicity should not be taken into consideration when college are admitting students. However, America does not want to unintentionally unravel the progress that came with Civil Rights Movement. With the idea of affirmative action, groups of people who are discriminated against tend to be favored, and some argue that this helps to establish equality, giving groups a chance to "climb out of circumstances defined by our society's historical racism".
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/17/us/harvard-asian-americans-discrimination-complaint/index.html
It is incredible that Harvard of all places could be exercising racial discrimination, especially since court cases and rulings that explicitly forbid it. Good article.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Corran- this is a very interesting and good article to read. I also never thought about that counter argument, though it is very true and clearly seen not only in this situation but situations similar to this.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe this. On top of the expenses and the stress, how can they discriminate too. College is awful.
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