Why is the university of California dropping the SAT?

Post by bayesian_horse » Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 12:05 AM UTC

nullc wrote: post #576

bayesian_horse wrote: post #229

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Affirmative action is a shortcut, but sometimes the shortcut is the only way to make any progress. There may be a few very large issues, but also a gazillion small factors that make up systemic discrimination, both racially and against women. It is impossible for minorities to fight those individually, especially not from a position of weakness. It is more effective to counter at least a small part of the net discrim…

I'm dubious that economic standing isn't a better criteria than race in most situations where affirmative action would be desirable. Providing programs to help those in a weaker economic position more directly addresses the need, results in programs that everyone can feel that maybe they or their family might benefit from, and avoids perpetuating raced based discrimination and the resulting resentment. If when econom…

Post by washadjeffmad » Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 12:23 AM UTC

zozbot234 wrote: post #427

gjhh244 wrote: post #400

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Exactly. From an European perspective America's obsession with race seems absolutely idiotic. Progressive taxation and major help for poor communities and families regardless of skin colour is obviously the only sensible solution.

Racial groups are used as vote banks by the two major parties - that's all there is to it. It has nothing to with wanting to help the poor or improve social cohesion, rather the opposite. A divided society is great for the most incompetent politicians since it provides them an easy way to whip up their constituents against other groups and fish for more votes.

Post by jl2718 » Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 1:11 AM UTC

pfisherman wrote: post #15

I think the University of Texas has one of simplest and most egalitarian admissions policies that I have seen. If you graduate in the top 10 percent of your class, then you are guaranteed admission to all state funded universities. As a Californian I find it quite ironic that many policies in “conservative” Texas (ex. university admissions, property tax, income tax) are more much more progressive than what we have in…

Post by 1123581321 » Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 1:55 AM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #583

nonethewiser wrote: post #529

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Which is why chosing by merit is the only fair way

There are several problems with choosing by merit. One, you have to define merit and whether it really is merit. If a rich kid scores higher because he got an expensive private tutor that taught him how to do better on the test really more meritorious than the smarter poor kid who scored lower because she didn't have said private tutor? Second, you have historically marginalized groups that lose out because their anc…

Post by xyzzyz » Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 6:07 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #451

temp8964 wrote: post #443

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I read somewhere says "Asian American/Pacific Islander" is a totally made up term by the federal government and basically has no root in reality.

All human “races” are social constructs with no basis in reality other than the social perceptions of the group delineating them. So, yeah, that's true of API, but its just as true of, say, White.