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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For the "stigma" associated with URMs to go away at school and at the workplace, they need to compete and earn it at the same level as others who they seek to replace (i.e. Whites and the "minority who you don't want to include among minorities" (Asians)).

You do that by providing them the runway -  training, opportunities, etc. - to compete as "equals", not by diluting standards and lowering the bar.

Asking people to shut up about it and shaming them because a logical thought popped into their head is not going to fix it long term.  I bet we will be having this discussion as a society, a 100 years from now if this how we choose to fix this problem, to the detriment of the URM population.

I truly want deserving URM kids to get the opportunities they deserve.  I want them to out-compete my kids.  Anyone that doesn't is diminished in my mind.  This includes athletic, legacy and URM recruits at colleges.  Sorry. But that's my reality, and a reality I will be sharing with everyone who cares to listen and likely be influenced by my opinions.  [/quote]

Thought experiment:

Two students. One spot.

Student A is your relatively typical TJ applicant, regardless of race. Carson Middle School. 3.97 GPA in middle school. Algebra 2 in 8th grade. Science Olympiad. MathCounts. CTY camps. Years of prep work. Applying to TJ largely because his parents are pharmaceutical researchers and have determined that he should be on that path as well.

Student B is an excellent student but a very atypical TJ applicant. Twain Middle School. 3.85 GPA. Geometry in 8th grade. Club softball player and wants to play in college, only other real extracurricular is a couple of years singing. Never did a single STEM activity until she went to a religious stay-away camp in Florida where they took a trip to Cape Canaveral as a side thing in the summer before 8th grade - and immediately was inspired to learn everything she could about space travel. She wants to be an astrophysicist and has spent all of her time since that trip reading up on how to be one.

Student A is probably "more qualified" than Student B based on any number of historical "merit" calculations. But if you've spent any time at TJ, you know that TJ already has an enormous number of Student As and would be much better served by having a few Student Bs. It's not that you always pick B over A, but if you want to have a better high school and a better learning environment, you do sometimes.[/quote]

I vote for Student C who has all the attributes of Student A and has the passion of Student B (regardless of their middle school and race). There are plenty of these types of TJ candidates also. Why are you assuming that Student A from Carson has no passion and being pushed by parents while student B from Twain has the passion? [/quote]

Even if both Student A and B have the same amount of passion, I believe it would be better to have some students of type "B" as well. We do not want 100% student "A" types as well. Saying this as an Indian myself.[/quote]

Thank you! And to be clear, there are plenty of Indian student Bs out there who will be helped by these changes.[/quote]

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