Reply to Harvard's odd quota on Asian-Americans

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There is a widespread perception, which may be unfair, that Asian-Americans have an unhealthy fixation with going to prestigious colleges and are are spending an inordinate amount of time and resources prepping their children for standardized tests, doing excessively large numbers of extra curriculars, not for enjoyment or personal growth, but for the purpose of impressing admissions, resulting in unrealistically high entrances stats.

Again, this is the perception, not necessarily the reality, but this has created a situation where admissions are skeptical of scores coming from Asian-Americans.

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DC attended the Takoma Park middle school magnet and some of the kids were starting SAT prep in 8th grade. Usually the kids were a little embarassed and would say something along the lines of, "I'm doing this because I'm not a great test taker," which sounds humble and diminishes the role of obsessive parents.

While the SAT scores may reflect extensive prepping, the great grades reflect sheer hard work. Clearly these kids push themselves for 17 years before applying. I don't know where I come out on whether years of hard work (vs. great ECs, different life perspective, et cetera) should entitle one to Harvard.  [/quote]

I don't know either, but I think major factor is that the predominantly white admissions folks feel threatened (whether or not they consciously realize it) by what they regard as an unpleasantly competitive culture.

If a bunch of super-motivated Americans started immigrating en masse to a tropical island, where people tend to be laid back and unambitious, the natives would probably be alarmed when the Americans started aggressively out-competing and out-working them. It's a bit of nativist fear and provincialism from upper-middle class white people.[/quote]

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