Why is Harvard discriminating against Asian Americans? - News Today in World

Why is Harvard discriminating against Asian Americans?

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Title : Why is Harvard discriminating against Asian Americans?
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news-today.world | Hi there guys, how are you? Since I have written quite a number of pieces on the theme of further education, a reader has asked me to comment on the current case against Harvard University for discriminating against Asian American students and for those of you who are not familiar with the case, here it is in a nutshell. If Harvard were to base entry purely on academic results, then Asian-Americans would comprise of 43% of the student body at Harvard - when you add foreign students (for example, those from Singapore and Malaysia) to the mix, then Harvard could potentially be an East Asian majority university, that despite the fact that Asian-Americans make up just 5.6% of the population in the US today. So in an effort to create a more even spread of different ethnic groups represented in the student body, the bar is set a lot higher for Asian-Americans seeking admission, whilst it is lowered substantially for black and Latino students. Yet despite all of this, Asian Americans currently make up just 19% of the student body though this current law suit could change all that. This is a really high profile case that has been making the headlines, so I shall include loads of links and news reports for you to find out more about the case - what I shall be offering here is my personal reaction to this story.
Now put aside the fact that I am Asian (well, technically speaking I'm mixed but am mostly Chinese), I think my regular readers will already know my stance on this issue - yes, I am hoping that Harvard will be forced to stop their affirmative action programme that favours blacks and latinos and discriminates against Asians. Now the most important reason for my stance is that I believe in allowing the free market to determine the intake into an institution like a university - let's say a department at a university has a thousand places (just to pick a nice round number) and many students apply as it is a good university, so the university receives more than a thousand applicants for that course. It then is up to the university to pick which thousand students (presumably the best ones) to their course and the reason why this system is fair is because the students know that it is based on meritocracy: that they can earn themselves a place in the university course of their choice if they work hard enough and earn the requisite grades. Likewise, if they fall short, they know it is entirely their fault for not having earned the grades, rather than it having been a result of discrimination. It is important for students to have faith in the system, to know that it will treat them fairly, otherwise, there could lose their motivation to want to study if they know the entire system is rigged against them. This is a grave injustice that needs to be rectified.

So why Harvard is doing this? They are going way beyond taking affirmative action which only covers certain groups like blacks and latinos whilst Asians in American are often treated effectively as 'white' (and thus never benefit from affirmative action). Harvard clearly doesn't want to become an Asian-majority university and it is not like these places denied to bright Asian students are going to black and latino students, no - they are mostly going to white students in order to try to achieve some kind of racial-balancing in Harvard; but it is nothing short of a desperate attempt to stop Harvard from becoming too Asian. This opens up a whole can of worms here: firstly, is it really so bad, to have an elite university in the West become so Asian? After all, these are brilliant Asian students who have proven themselves academically worthy of an institution like Harvard, so why should they be denied a place on the basis of the colour of their skin? Are they afraid that Harvard as we know it would change for the worse if it became a lot more Asian? Would a university with more Asian students somehow be culturally inferior to one which is majority white? This is so frustrating because I believe that there is an element of racism going on here: this desire to keep Harvard (mostly) white, but they are using affirmative action as an excuse to hide behind their stance which has discriminated against Asian Americans.
I work in corporate finance and when my company is hiring someone, we want to hire the best person for the job rather than try to use the opportunity to give someone who is underprivileged a chance to gain some work experience. It may sound callous but we are a profit making company, not some kind of charity trying to help the underprivileged in society. Is what I am saying shocking or offensive? Actually, no - not at all. Most companies will have some kind of social programme designed to give back to society: this may involve donating regularly to certain charities or even getting some of their staff members to support the charities directly by using their expertise (indeed, my company is very active in this aspect), however, we don't confuse the charitable aspect of our company with the work we do to make money. Hell no, we're ruthlessly efficient as a company and make very few mistakes, that's why we're good at what we do and can generate very healthy profits. So why should universities be any different then? Should a university like Harvard be trying to give kids from deprived backgrounds the chance to turn their lives around by giving them access to a chance at a Harvard degree? No, because there are many reasons why kids from more deprived backgrounds never make it to a university like Harvard and the problems start from a very young age - it is thus the responsibility of the government to address these problems concerning poorer, working class families with young children, to ensure that such people have access to social mobility through education and training. We need a comprehensive programme that will help millions of people trapped in poverty, rather than focusing on the small number who do get into top elite universities like Harvard.

So if there is a genuine desire to help kids from a deprived background, people like me who have come from a working class family, who have had the odds stacked against me from a young age, who have had to overcome so many obstacles to even make it as far as applying for university then surely whether or not we deserve help should depend on our individual circumstances, rather than the colour of our skin. I'm just mortified to think that I could be discriminated in the Harvard system because I am Asian, I just want to scream, "do you have any idea what kind of childhood I had? Before you want to assume that I am a super smart Asian scholar who has always had everything handled to me on a silver plate, you should hear my story." I am autistic, my parents are severely autistic and abusive - like I swear I came from the most autistic family in Singapore. We were poor and working class, I was severely bullied at school and somehow, despite all that shit, I managed to earn myself a scholarship to a top British university because I worked hard. I then went on to carve a career for myself in finance, but anyone who would have looked at my family background would say, "Alex, that's some seriously messed up shit you've gone through, I can't believe you didn't end up in jail or insane." I think I do have an interesting story to tell about overcoming the odds when life deals you a bad hand, but I hate it when any kind of system just looks at the colour of my skin (and making assumptions) instead of treating me like an individual.
So yes, there are Asian American students who would have gone through so much hardship and have had all the odds stacked against them, yet they would be judged more harshly than say, a black American student (like Malia Obama, who is currently studying at Harvard) who came from a wealthy family and had a very comfortable childhood? At least in the UK, I didn't get any help but I was allowed to compete with everyone on an equal footing, in a system that was fair - well, it was as fair as it could get. I'm still at a massive disadvantage compared to my peers who have come from rich families but still, at least the system didn't actively discriminate against me for being Asian the way Harvard is doing. This is why Harvard's system is seriously wrong because common sense would tell you that you need to judge each applicant according to their social class rather than their skin colour. You simply cannot assume that all Asian Americans are somehow rich and middle class whilst all blacks and latinos need all the help they can get - the very premise of such an assumption is racist and wildly inaccurate, yet this is what Harvard is basing their policy on. Should students from deprived backgrounds be given extra help, in the name of social mobility and equality? Of course, but that help should be given on the basis of need, rather than skin colour per se. Need I point out the obvious? There are Asian-Americans from very deprived backgrounds and black students from wealthy families so the current Harvard policy makes no sense.

I grew up in Singapore, I did my primary and secondary education in Singapore and experienced first hand the pressure cooker system which most Asian students are bludgeoned through. Allow me to point out something which is pretty darn obvious: it is a complete fallacy that somehow us East Asians have a higher IQ than people in the West. You get the same distribution of stupid and clever people no matter where you go and I certainly had plenty of dumber classmates when I was in school. There is no rationale whatsoever to judge East Asian students anymore harshly than white or black students - it's not like we are genetically engineered to have higher IQs than everyone else. Look, if you're going to be organize a running race between a child who is 8 years old and a man who is 25 years old, you may want to give the child quite a head start so the race would be fair and the result wouldn't be a foregone conclusion. The reason is obvious: the average 25 year old man is physically a lot more capable of running a lot faster than a child. It is highly unlikely for the 8 year old child to beat the 25 year old man in a race like that if they had to run the same distance (well, not unless the 25 year old man was morbidly obese or has sustained some kind of injury that prevents him from running). So yes, there are times when we can make assumptions that are reasonable and take measures based on those assumptions. However, to make assumptions on the ability of East Asian students based on the colour of our skin is just so ridiculous.
Harvard is deliberately discriminating against Asian-Americans by rating them lower on personality traits like likability, kindness and 'positive personality'. This is playing to the stereotype that Asian-Americans lack basic social skills because their parents had banned them from making friends and so they are all nerdy geeks who fare badly in this aspect, lacking any soft skills. This of course, is bullshit - look, I'm from Singapore and I can tell you that there is the full range of characters in the Asian community: from those who have excellent social skills and are extremely popular in school to those who do fit the stereotype of the Asian geeky nerd who has no friends. Sure, of course such Asian geeks exist, in fact I went to school with quite a few of them, but at least meet us and judge us in an interview before making such sweeping generalizations and assumptions! A major factor which determines our personality traits is our early childhood - those vital years which shape our personality for many years to come. I was extremely lucky because I have two older siblings who created an very conducive early environment for me, stimulating my mind with stories and games from the time I was old enough to interact with them. Now compare that to children these days: often they are the only child, they start using smart phones and tablets at an early age instead of interacting and playing with their peers and so have far less developed social skills. This is a problem that affects many young people these days, regardless of their skin colour.

Let's look at something else that East Asians are supposedly good at: table tennis. I have a ping pong table in my living room and sometimes I do invite my friends around for a game. One of my friends who comes round quite often is Aiko (not her real name), she is a Japanese friend I've known for a while and is one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. Now most people would take one look at Aiko and assume that she must be formidable at table tennis - after all, East Asian nations like China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore are stunning good at table tennis and often dominate international competitions. But no, Aiko is not very good at table tennis, it requires a very specific skill: hand-eye coordination which somehow Aiko lacks despite being physically fit. She is not a terrible player, she could improve if she played a few times a week but clearly, she isn't particularly talented when it comes to table tennis and this is not me being cruel, she would be the first to admit it. Now imagine if Aiko turned up at a table tennis competition and instead of allowing her to play other novices who are about the same level as her, the organizers take one look at her name and her face, jump to the conclusion that she must be an expert and place her in the category where she has to play other players who fit the stereotype of the East Asian ping pong champion. At least watch her try to play for a minute before jumping to any conclusions about her ability! Any kind of assumption we make based on skin colour is just plain stupid.
So why do a disproportionately large proportion of Asian Americans make it to the top universities like Harvard in the US then? Well, a lot of it boils down to the Asian "Tiger Mum" style of parenting, which places a huge emphasis on studying hard - there really isn't any magic formula. Asian students perform better not because they are smarter than black or white students, but simply because they work a lot harder. So whilst the white teenagers are out hanging out at the local mall with their friends, watching movies or going bowling, most Asian teenagers are at home revising for their exams. So here's the question we need to address: if you can get into the top universities simply by working a lot harder than everyone else instead of actually being a lot smarter than everyone else, then clearly there's something wrong with the system. After all, a university like Harvard would ideally like to have students who are exceptionally gifted, talented and are born with an abnormally high IQ - rather than some geeks who have simply sacrificed all of their social life during their teenage years to achieve the perfect SAT scores. But by that token, it is clear that the problem is not with the Asian community, it is with the testing methods and the admission system. Many companies have realized that it is wrong to put too much emphasis on academic qualifications and have devised more complex psychometric tests to evaluate potential candidates, so why shouldn't the universities do the same in order to make sure they attract the right kind of student? It is clear that the problem lies with SAT testing system (let's face it, the A level system in the UK isn't any better), so instead of penalizing the Asians for exploiting this huge loophole in the system, you should really just fix the system altogether.

But then again, there are a lot of people who wouldn't want to change the current system at all - after all, there are winners and losers in the current system. The winners are those who are mediocre in intelligence and ability, but are willing to invest an insane amount of hard work to score those straight As to pass themselves off as geniuses rather than just crazy hardworking but otherwise pretty average people. That would work of course if all the best jobs out there are given to those from the top universities with the best grades - but that's clearly not the case these days. Even as a gatekeeper, I know how to tell the difference between someone who's genuinely intelligent and someone who has exploited this loophole in the system - it's not rocket science, just check if they have actually done anything else apart from studying 80 to 90 hours a week. If you have to put that much time and effort into scoring your As, then you'll barely have enough time to sleep, never mind participate in any other kind of activities to cultivate your soft skills. It takes me less than 30 seconds to read a CV to know whether or not the candidate has achieved those grades by working crazy hard by looking for an evidence of a varied social life outside work: so if I can see that the candidate has participated in sports, cultural activities and volunteer work, maybe a part time job - it doesn't matter what s/he has done, it just goes to show that s/he did not study 80 hours a week. Sure we want to hire people who are hardworking, but we also want to hire people who have that unfair advantage of being smarter than everyone else. I'm not your Asian mother: I'm not here to reward you for having studied extremely hard, I'm here to make sure the company hires the best person for the job. 
So until you fix the system, Harvard shouldn't discriminate against Asian Americans - after all, Harvard isn't the only good university out there and if you are indeed worthy of Harvard, there are plenty of other universities out there which will gladly admit these outstanding students regardless of their skin colour. So that's it from me on this issue, what do you think will happen in this case then? Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts. Many thanks for reading.



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