Anyone who's spent time in Chile (or Argentina or Uruguay) will know these are pretty...."white" countries. I think statistically speaking they are even "whiter" than the United States. The bulk of the population looks virtually no different from Italians or Spanish or southern French.

I have known a fair few Chileans and Argentinians over the years and they all considered themselves "white." Their culture was "Latino" as they identified with the culture of the European Mediterranean world and ancestral heritage in Southern Europe (as well as all the German/Irish emigrants who adopted the "Latino" lifestyle). Plenty of blond haired, blue eyed South Americans

I bring this up because I firmly believe that the purpose of "Hispanic" in the use of affirmative action admissions was to help people from low income, lowly educated backgrounds primarily of Mexican / Central American or Caribbean heritage (as well as that of the American Southwest) and whose racial origins reflected a strong intermingling of Native American and European settler populations. This is quite different from the practically "purebred" South Americans of European heritage. This was a group that had historically been discriminated against in America.

Tick whatever box you feel comfortable, but frankly, someone from a comfortably off Chilean background trying to use "hispanic" to game the affirmative action system is being somewhat unethical.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/education/military-children-outdo-public-school-students-on-naep-tests.html

http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/issues349.shtml

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't they just go away with race on college applications and switch to SES brackets?

+1.

Problem is, that would favor poor whites and poor Asians instead of wealthy blacks.

Not necessarily.

I believe itnis Texas that guarantees a certain number of spots for all students from every high school that finishes at the top (5%? 10%?) of each school in the state.

Admissions could go to a practice like this, plus a socioeconomic status boost and end up with an exceptionally diverse and vibrant student body.

The educated upper middle class blacks, hispanics, etc would continue to be accepted on their own merits as they are now. It should not affect their admissions in the least. They don't need that boost any more than my asian/white kid needs a boost.

Upper middle class blacks are some of the largest benefactors of AA; poor blacks generally don't score well enough to be considered for admission to selective schools even with large bumps from AA.

The most affluent blacks score about as well on the SAT as the poorest white and Asian students.

There was a study done years ago on test scores for military base schools and the military dependent AA and hispanic students scored significantly closer to the norms of white and asian students nationally.

I will see if I can find it.

Are you sure this is that gap in the upper levels? I find it hard to believe that upper & upper middle class fcps blacks and hispanics socre at similar levels to appalachia whites for example.

My DD is still a toddler, but she also has one Hispanic grandparent and I have also wondered which boxes I will check when she starts school. In our case it's her father's father who is Hispanic, so she has a Hispanic surname and people will make assumptions based on that. But we don't speak Spanish at home and she will likely not have strong cultural ties. I'm not sure what we will choose. Eventually she will decide for herself how she identifies, I suppose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't they just go away with race on college applications and switch to SES brackets?

+1.

Problem is, that would favor poor whites and poor Asians instead of wealthy blacks.

Not necessarily.

I believe itnis Texas that guarantees a certain number of spots for all students from every high school that finishes at the top (5%? 10%?) of each school in the state.

Admissions could go to a practice like this, plus a socioeconomic status boost and end up with an exceptionally diverse and vibrant student body.

The educated upper middle class blacks, hispanics, etc would continue to be accepted on their own merits as they are now. It should not affect their admissions in the least. They don't need that boost any more than my asian/white kid needs a boost.

Upper middle class blacks are some of the largest benefactors of AA; poor blacks generally don't score well enough to be considered for admission to selective schools even with large bumps from AA.

The most affluent blacks score about as well on the SAT as the poorest white and Asian students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually, there is an easy answer for this - What is your child's last name? Only his dad's last name or his dad's and then and your dad's last name. Hispanics generally take both.

Schneider: many Germans in South America

+1.

Proving the point that being Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race.

Anonymous wrote:Actually, there is an easy answer for this - What is your child's last name? Only his dad's last name or his dad's and then and your dad's last name. Hispanics generally take both.

Schneider: many Germans in South America

You are multiracial. Ding ding ding! Harvard for you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can beat that. My grandfather is from Spain. I can legitimately check the Hispanic box. And I do!

People from Spain are NOT Hispanic. You have been filling that box falsely.

That's not true. The term 'Hispanic' became common in the US in the 1907s. In 1976 the US government defined Hispanic in such a way that it included people whose grandparents were born in Spain (and Portugal), for the purposes of the cenus. That was the first time that 'Hispanic' was an option for the census. It referred originally to people who traced their ancestry to a Spanish speaking country generally. There's actually a lot of people who don't like the term Hispanic because of its Eurocentrism (and what about Brazilians?), but I don't think there's much question that the term both historically and now includes people whose grandparents are from Spain.

With regards to college, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund explicitly defines 'Hispanic' as including people whose "ancestry" is from Spain. (link). NCLR, which is one of the biggest Latino and Hispanic advocacy organizations, talks about it here. They follow the US Census definition, which would include the PP. Incidentally, many organizations, including (I think) the US Census, ask about Hispanic and Latino separately.

You can argue whether all these scholarships and admissions recognition should only be for Latinos, but I don't think it's correct to tell PP that she's been incorrectly checking the Hispanic box.

+100 Where do you think all those Latinos originally came from?? They just burst up from the ground in Latina America? Those are called Indians. LOL

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can beat that. My grandfather is from Spain. I can legitimately check the Hispanic box. And I do!

People from Spain are NOT Hispanic. You have been filling that box falsely.

really? that is not what the census says...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if you want to work the system - check hispanic.

if you want to be honest, check white.

It would be honest to check Hispanic, too.

+1

Actually, there is an easy answer for this - What is your child's last name? Only his dad's last name or his dad's and then and your dad's last name. Hispanics generally take both.

I'd check Hispanic. Your child is the third generation in an immigrant family. It's relevant to campus diversity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't they just go away with race on college applications and switch to SES brackets?

+1.

Problem is, that would favor poor whites and poor Asians instead of wealthy blacks.

Not necessarily.

I believe itnis Texas that guarantees a certain number of spots for all students from every high school that finishes at the top (5%? 10%?) of each school in the state.

Admissions could go to a practice like this, plus a socioeconomic status boost and end up with an exceptionally diverse and vibrant student body.

The educated upper middle class blacks, hispanics, etc would continue to be accepted on their own merits as they are now. It should not affect their admissions in the least. They don't need that boost any more than my asian/white kid needs a boost.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[youtube]

Anonymous wrote:They need to stop asking these questions . They are trying to categorize people by nose and lip width , hair curl , skin color and eye roundness. It's disgusting.

Yes.

Very hiltler ish.

?!

No, that would be the case if applications asked the shape of your eyes or the width of your nose. That would be appalling. This is about applications asking you to self-identify your ethnic and cultural heritage in order to make sure they don't only admit upper class white kids, like they used to.

Most people are multiracial.

Many people intermarry.

We all have African heritage in us, including whites.

This discussion is very Hitler ish. Yes, we are not discussing skin color for the most part, but trying to decide if someone is in this case "hispanic enough" down to really weird distinctions (well, your dad is from mexico and you are half mexican with a mexican surname, but you aren't hispanic because you were raised by your white mom in nebraska and don't match our five random criteria.) This thread reeks of the Hitler days of trying to determine if someone is "aryan enough" or the one drop rule of segregation.