Asians Oppose California Senate's Attempt to Reinstate Affirmative Action

[sumskilz]

In January, the California state senate passed a resolution to propose an amendment to the state constitution which would repeal California’s 1996 ban on affirmative action. Support was split along party lines – 27 Democrats for, 9 Republicans against.

According to the author Senator Edward Hernandez’s office:

Immediately following the November 1996 passage of Proposition 209, there was a significant drop in the percentage of enrolled minority students at UC and CSU campuses.

So why then would Asians be so opposed to the amendment?

Asians in the San Gabriel Valley and beyond joined forces Friday to rally against a proposed Senate constitutional amendment that they said would punish their children for working hard to achieve the American Dream.

Olivia Liao, president of the Joint Chinese University Alumni Association, said Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 5 is racist because it allows public education institutions to give preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.

“(Legislators) feel like the Chinese-American community isn’t paying attention to politics,” Liao said. “We are concerned citizens. We need to stand up when things are not right; we need to be heard. We shouldn’t have any (exceptions) related to race. After all, America is a free country.”

Asians rally against SCA 5, call it revival of Affirmative Action

…since that vote, public opposition to the measure, a proposed ballot proposition that would repeal California’s two decade long ban on affirmative action programs at public universities, has swelled, forging an unlikely alliance between conservative politicians in California and a constellation of non-partisan Asian-American social justice organizations across the country. As California Online previously reported, opponents of SCA 5 have taken to Chinese-American news outlets, town hall events, and social media sites to rally against the so-called “Skin Color Act.” A “Vote No to SCA 5!” petition on Change.org has garnered more than 113,000 signatures.

Stunned Legislature Halts Move to Diversify Colleges Amid Asian American Backlash

Something tells me there would be Asian opposition to such a move in any state:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Is this an issue that could potentially split the Democrats’ base or is the left generally less supportive of affirmative action than it used to be?

[Exarch]

doesnt matter because US schools are notorious for implementing affirmative action/discrimination regardless; the fact that these students are Asian is a moot point; acceptance committees frequently discriminate against Asian students anyhow:

As model 5 shows, Asian applicants have 67% lower odds of admission than white applicants with comparable test scores.

http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/48...against-asians

there's a reason why college applications ask you what race you are, or if they don't they'll ask you where you were born and what language you speak at home-all for the sake of 'statistics' of course

[Admiral Piett]

doesnt matter because US schools are notorious for implementing affirmative action/discrimination regardless; the fact that these students are Asian is a moot point; acceptance committees frequently discriminate against Asian students anyhow:

http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/48...against-asians

there's a reason why college applications ask you what race you are, or if they don't they'll ask you where you were born and what language you speak at home-all for the sake of 'statistics' of course

That's why you put "Other/Unspecified" or "Prefer unanswered".

[hellheaven1987]

That's why you put "Other/Unspecified" or "Prefer unanswered".

Come on, no one would not notice your Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Indian/Muslim name.

[sumskilz]

That's a valid point, but it looks like CA's anti-affirmative action policy since 1996 has made a difference in the public universities anyway:

[Ciciro]

I doubt it could split the base. Just because they disagree on one thing doesn't mean they'd go so far as to split off.

[Taiji]

I think 'affirmative action', what we call 'positive discrimination' in English, is racism that creates yet more racism. For example, if race A performs better in tests than race B but is marked down to achieve a balance, then in practical terms that means that an 'A' for race A is that much more impressive than an 'A' for race B. So that way racist discrimination regarding qualifications becomes logical.

If we are going to be racist about how we educate people then we ought to expect even more racists.

If instead we tackle the actual issues concerning students then we ought to see an improvement in education alongside a reduction in racism, because racism is fundamentally stupid and uncorrupted education will help guard against it.

[Condottiere 40K]

Rightly or wrongly, Asian Americans believe that given a free hand, their kids, who might not be more intelligent than the other demographics, but are whipped by their parents to try harder and succeed, would gain admittance at all levels of higher learning.

[Earl Dibbles Jr]

People who are more competent and harder workers should be admitted over the less competent and lazy, regardless of race.

[Col. Tartleton]

Affirmative Action is discrimination against smart people regardless of race.

[conon394]

Affirmative Action is discrimination against smart people regardless of race.

Smart in what way? Is there a SAT section for music, for language, for being able to organize a lab, for managing a meeting, What is smart anyway?

My son is just finishing the 6th grade but he is walking over to do 8th grade math at the high school - he runs the table on standardized tests. Great he is smart at math and test taking. ... But he copies me a swears like a pirate and gets in trouble and he can't keep a secret if it meant his life he blurts out anything and everything he would have got away with. He thought it was grand ideal to see how far he jump off our shed and broke his leg. I mean suppose you want to work in agriculture is there a section of tests where you handle animals? As I have said before my help desk tech was never and is not a really good IT guy but he was brilliant at glad handling what idunno PR between myself and the other senior Sys Admin and the rest of world be it the big bosses or just the administrative assistants who had a lot more power they we did.

So what is smart? I would contend that it certainly not measured by Standard tests and that also it is rather easy if given the time and resources to be taught to achieve on them as with any other test.

--------------------------

Affirmative action sure made sense in the 1970s, when black people and Latinos were still at a complete disadvantage and, living in poorer conditions, wouldn't have had ready access to the resources that white kids in the suburbs had, such as a nice university or public library. The playing field has been leveled a bit since then.

I doubt that

Say compare the number of public libraries in say Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Michigan and the availability of such in Detroit and availability of public transport and open University libraries to the local public. The simple fact is being born at the UofM hospital in Ann arbor puts in first place vs being born in Detroit.

[Earl Dibbles Jr]

Smart in what way? Is there a SAT section for music, for language, for being able to organize a lab, for managing a meeting, What is smart anyway?

The definition of 'smart' differs from person to person.

For instance, I measured a mean IQ of 128 (I took 3 tests at school and scored 126, 131, and 127) yet I scored only above average on the SAT (580 Reading, 550 Math, and 550 Writing). This is because the tests didn't account for my dedication. Do I care about standardized tests? Not really. I think that a person's ability to reason and think on his/her feet dictates how smart the person is, not a test.

[Phier]

When I was in college and grad school most of the "affirmative action" people who I knew got in because of it (how did you know Phier! Well there is this thing called talking to people..) were from middle class households and had poor grades in highschool or college depending on when this was.

As far as I can tell its not something that seems to help the disadvantaged nearly as much as it helps the less motivated.

[Col. Tartleton]

Smart in what way? Is there a SAT section for music, for language, for being able to organize a lab, for managing a meeting, What is smart anyway?

My son is just finishing the 6th grade but he is walking over to do 8th grade math at the high school - he runs the table on standardized tests. Great he is smart at math and test taking. ... But he copies me a swears like a pirate and gets in trouble and he can't keep a secret if it meant his life he blurts out anything and everything he would have got away with. He thought it was grand ideal to see how far he jump off our shed and broke his leg. I mean suppose you want to work in agriculture is there a section of tests where you handle animals? As I have said before my help desk tech was never and is not a really good IT guy but he was brilliant at glad handling what idunno PR between myself and the other senior Sys Admin and the rest of world be it the big bosses or just the administrative assistants who had a lot more power they we did.

So what is smart? I would contend that it certainly not measured by Standard tests and that also it is rather easy if given the time and resources to be taught to achieve on them as with any other test.

Whether or not intelligence is being measured effectively by the sorts of testing which are used to select students things, I don't think its ethical to provide advantages to some students because of arbitrary factors like race, religion, gender, economics, or what have you. By re balancing the results for the target group of disadvantaged people you do an injustice to them and everyone else.

Accepting a black student because he's black is as bad as rejecting a black student because he's black, because it might mean rejecting a white or Asian student because of the color of their skin.

[sumskilz]

Smart in what way? Is there a SAT section for music, for language, for being able to organize a lab, for managing a meeting, What is smart anyway?

Talents outside the standardized tests do play a role in admissions when they are relevant to the course of study. Most music degrees require an audition which is weighted fairly heavily. For language there is writing sample submissions that might bring out aspects that aren't assessed by the standardized tests. About standardized tests though, I don't really care what they measure as long as they are predictive.

[Condottiere 40K]

Robert E. Lee.

[Roma_Victrix]

Robert E. Lee.

Some call me Bruce.

Affirmative action sure made sense in the 1970s, when black people and Latinos were still at a complete disadvantage and, living in poorer conditions, wouldn't have had ready access to the resources that white kids in the suburbs had, such as a nice university or public library. The playing field has been leveled a bit since then.

[hellheaven1987]

Affirmative action sure made sense in the 1970s, when black people and Latinos were still at a complete disadvantage and, living in poorer conditions, wouldn't have had ready access to the resources that white kids in the suburbs had, such as a nice university or public library. The playing field has been leveled a bit since then.

The city I am living now has large number of African American population and three public libraries (plus a large public university with its own libraries too), and I rarely saw African Americans in library (I also rarely saw Asians in library too, however).

[ahawkTW]

It's already been mentioned, but I feel that affirmative action holds back those qualified to succeed more than it does help those under-qualified. If an Asian who has worked harder to get to their position is kept out of college in order to make room for a black/latino, then it is completely bigoted and infuriatingly racist. I find it quite dumbfounding that people always love to accuse the white majority of racism, yet the actual perpetrators of institutionalized racism BY MEANS OF GOVERNMENT are minority groups (aside from Asians obv.)!!!

The real irony in all of this is that the government tries to solve the problem of racial inequality with racial inequality. Just leave it be and let the most qualified person succeed the most! Sheesh...