There are so many things to unpack. I don't like these types of podcasts because there is never anyone countering. He claims if there was a true meritocracy Harvard would be about 43% Asian instead of 20%
My counter:
1. So given the choice of an Asian guy with a 4.0 GPA, 1550 SATs and all he did was study, nothing else, no extracurricular activities vs any non Asian, with a 3.8, 1500 SATs but he started a charity to feed the homeless, was captain of the school's basketball team, Harvard should choose the Asian guy? He uses the word 'meritocracy', which translates to grades only. Non scholastic stuff is subjective. Is helping the homeless more important than visiting senior facilities? Yale might think the former is better and Stanford think the latter.
2. This is really about anti blackness and anti affirmative action and we are the face of it. There is no more AA for us. White women took it over. Anyway, I've never, ever heard Asians and anti AA people talk about ending legacy admissions. Meaning, if one of your parents was an alum you get an advantage. And since Ivy league schools weren't letting blacks in any real numbers till the 70s an 80s, we lost generations of legacy entitlement. Legacy admissions is about money, their grades are consistently lower than others but they get in. Alums donate. You don't hear that being part of the convo.
3. You never, ever hear about holding athletes to the same standard. Stanford has a decent B-ball and football team. For a school that is as highly ranked as it is, its amazing. I guarantee you those basketball and football players wouldn't be able to get in otherwise. I never, ever hear Asians saying to ignore athletic ability. If so, Stanford, UCLA, Duke, Michigan b ball teams wouldn't be able to beat a decent city HS team.
4. So, instead of that 23% Asian students that didn't get into Harvard. He says it as if their life is over. So, did those Asians that Harvard didn't accept end up at Youngstown State and SUNY (State University of NY) or did they end up at Yale and Stanford? If you are able to get into Harvard you can get into any other top tier school. Those Asians ain't end up homeless. Like its some crime if they didn't get into Harvard.
5. Until you fix the K-12 education system of the schools blacks go to, this convo is dead. The HS in my immediate area sucked. The school didn't have AP courses that I needed to get into a top tier school but 20 miles away in the suburbs, Brad and Becky had AP everything. Not that they were smarter, just access to smaller class size, better facilities.
6. If all we are going to do is go on grades, then students won't 'waste time' with non school activities. We want them to be like the Asians who only study and don't do much else. A few take piano lessons, but they aren't trying to be part of the senior play or participate in any school activities as it takes away from study time. We want that? If so, accept the consequences.
7. There is affirmative action for white males but no one is talking about it. White males are one of the worse performing students these days. Not enough of them qualify for schools and colleges are quietly having a low key affirmative action for them.
My counter:
1. So given the choice of an Asian guy with a 4.0 GPA, 1550 SATs and all he did was study, nothing else, no extracurricular activities vs any non Asian, with a 3.8, 1500 SATs but he started a charity to feed the homeless, was captain of the school's basketball team, Harvard should choose the Asian guy? He uses the word 'meritocracy', which translates to grades only. Non scholastic stuff is subjective. Is helping the homeless more important than visiting senior facilities? Yale might think the former is better and Stanford think the latter.
2. This is really about anti blackness and anti affirmative action and we are the face of it. There is no more AA for us. White women took it over. Anyway, I've never, ever heard Asians and anti AA people talk about ending legacy admissions. Meaning, if one of your parents was an alum you get an advantage. And since Ivy league schools weren't letting blacks in any real numbers till the 70s an 80s, we lost generations of legacy entitlement. Legacy admissions is about money, their grades are consistently lower than others but they get in. Alums donate. You don't hear that being part of the convo.
3. You never, ever hear about holding athletes to the same standard. Stanford has a decent B-ball and football team. For a school that is as highly ranked as it is, its amazing. I guarantee you those basketball and football players wouldn't be able to get in otherwise. I never, ever hear Asians saying to ignore athletic ability. If so, Stanford, UCLA, Duke, Michigan b ball teams wouldn't be able to beat a decent city HS team.
4. So, instead of that 23% Asian students that didn't get into Harvard. He says it as if their life is over. So, did those Asians that Harvard didn't accept end up at Youngstown State and SUNY (State University of NY) or did they end up at Yale and Stanford? If you are able to get into Harvard you can get into any other top tier school. Those Asians ain't end up homeless. Like its some crime if they didn't get into Harvard.
5. Until you fix the K-12 education system of the schools blacks go to, this convo is dead. The HS in my immediate area sucked. The school didn't have AP courses that I needed to get into a top tier school but 20 miles away in the suburbs, Brad and Becky had AP everything. Not that they were smarter, just access to smaller class size, better facilities.
6. If all we are going to do is go on grades, then students won't 'waste time' with non school activities. We want them to be like the Asians who only study and don't do much else. A few take piano lessons, but they aren't trying to be part of the senior play or participate in any school activities as it takes away from study time. We want that? If so, accept the consequences.
7. There is affirmative action for white males but no one is talking about it. White males are one of the worse performing students these days. Not enough of them qualify for schools and colleges are quietly having a low key affirmative action for them.
