Reply to NY Times on new application essays dabbling in so-called "identities"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have no idea what it means not to partake in "identification".  Are you saying that your kid refuses to answer questions about their gender, or religion, or nationality, or family status or hobbies?

Everyone I know identifies as something.  [/quote]

If you're a white male, cis/het, not religious, UMC, family been here a long time and intermixed (generic European), truly what is there to say?

I'm not in this category but I feel like these Qs should be optional. Otherwise it is very cringe and fake.[/quote]

"Tell us about an aspect of your identity OR  [b]a life experience that has shaped you[/b]."

By 17, kids have been shaped by something. If not, write an eloquent essay about being an unmolded lump still seeking form.[/quote]
No need to bolden that. "Shaping life experiences" are also none of a university's business and this part of the question has no legitimate purpose, either.

[quote=Anonymous]
My kid has many aspects to his identity. He is Jewish. He has a disability. He has a brother with a disability. He is white. He is American. He is a cis male. He plays a sport. He grew up in the south. He enjoys science. He is an extrovert who prides himself on prioritizing friendships. He volunteers. Some of those things he shared in essays, and some he chose not to either because he felt they were too personal (e.g., his disability) or irrelevant (e.g., they saw his citizenship and sex/gender when he applied and he didn't have anything to add on that topic). That left him with tons and tons of things to talk about, many of which he "chose" for himself (sports, academic interests, volunteer work, friendships).
[/quote]
[b]Are you familiar with the teen slang TMI?
None of this belongs in a college application, and shouldn't even be asked.[/b]

[/quote]

A college application should not ask about sports, academic interests, and volunteer work? Or, again, is the problem with race, religion, and gender?
[/quote]
Your brain seems so mushed that you can't see the difference.  Yes, colleges can asked about academic interests - though better only academic achievements.

Race, religion, gender, sports, volunteer work  are nonacademic issues that have no relevance. You know who does it that way?
Every industrialized country aside from the U.S. You send in your transcript, perhaps take an entrance exam, and that's what decides.

Not your oversharing your "identity" to play some kind of stupid game, as other posters have pointed out.

[/quote]

Might I recommend a little more precision in your reading and writing then, because you first declared that none of the examples (including academic interest) belonged in the application. Thus my confusion about the point you were trying to make.

Also, as others have pointed out, those countries you are talking about have fully and publicly funded universities. That is why they rely on exams.

But it's nice to see that you support publicly funded universities. I wasn't expecting you to be so forward thinking. What other social programs do you feel our government should support through taxes? [/quote]
Please go back to the recent SCOTUS ruling. This has nothing to do with public vs private universities. Where does this connection come from?

Neither private nor public universities should force students to engage in soul searching about identities or parrot common talking points of certain political leanings.
Neither here nor elsewhere.

Although, even though some may say that private universities can do as they please, SCOTUS makes clear that's not the case.  They are correct. We're talking about public goods here, not subgroups separated from society that can do as they please.  That's also the counterargument to those who say: Oh, you could tell us about X Y or Z, or "then don't apply."

As a society, we need to decide what our values are and how we select those to whom we grant access to limited resources.  Should we value those we can parrot identity ideology or those who have proven that they can strive and be successful at endeavors they want to go to the university for?

[/quote]

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