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American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

economist.com

751–760 of 888 posts

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#751

Indian-American father here, living in the Bay Area. My wife and I came to this country with a few hundred dollars between us and have worked hard to reach where we’re at. We're far from privileged. I am 100% against affirmative action on the basis of race. I think there should be some measure of AA on the basis of economic status. It's quite personal for me this year. My 17-year old is applying to universities to st…

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But he didn't have anything to do with that. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul!

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#752

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You don't know me, writing about high caste and whatnot. I remember having $30 in the bank, sleeping in my car in Detroit, and being awakened by gunshots near Wayne State Univ. The reason I'm grateful for what we have is that I'll never forget those days. I forgive you since you wrote out of ignorance.

You came here with a strong educational background, either high school or Bachelor's in engineering and significant money in your sponsoring parents bank account.

You are privileged, and I know it because I wanted to study in the United states for a master's degree but my parents couldn't afford it. The students who were able to afford an education in the United states were the rich kids in my class, and 100% of them were upper caste.

Most American students graduate with a 100K+ debt burden. How much debt did you have on graduation?

I forgive you for being blind to your upper caste privileges.

Having said that, I believe SAT scores should be the key factor in admissions.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#753

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't know me, writing about high caste and whatnot. I remember having $30 in the bank, sleeping in my car in Detroit, and being awakened by gunshots near Wayne State Univ. The reason I'm grateful for what we have is that I'll never forget those days. I forgive you since you wrote out of ignorance.

I apologize for "high caste" assumption . you didn't address the crux of my comment. You came here with an education and momentum for success which is worth way more than whats in your pockets. Only a minuscule portion of Indian population has that privilege to get that education and immigrate to the states. Do you really belive you got into that tiny tiny population purely by your own hard work. Your comment portray…

Pay careful attention to his wording. He has not denied his high caste. He is upper caste.

If he was lower caste, he is being hypocritical as he would have benefited from affirmative action in India.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#754

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> The 'high' or 'dominant' castes make up more that more than 90% of Indian migrants as per a study in 2016. > The backward castes of South Asia, known as Dalits, form 1.5% of all Indian immigrants to the United States Calling me ignorant and a passive aggressive "forgive you" without actually addressing my comment isn't "kind". GP came here with a stem degree worth millions of dollars in lifetime earnings , NOT $30…

Astounding to see racism and ignorance represented as virtue signaling so blatantly! Are you aware that the majority of STEM seats in Indian colleges are set aside for either affirmative action for ‘lower’ castes (itself an arbitrary criteria) and women? The average man in India is competing for approx 10% of college seats! And saying an Indian STEM degree is worth millions in lifetime earnings reveals even more igno…

> Are you aware that the majority of STEM seats in Indian colleges are set aside for either affirmative action for ‘lower’ castes (itself an arbitrary criteria) and women?

And these seats are never filled and go to upper castes anyway?

My class was supposed to be 50% low caste with 25% Dalits in a class of 60. There were literally 2 Dalits in my class. And of late, the OBC categories are being crowded in by upper castes through political action.

A whole 50% of my class was actually "payment seats" where they paid double the fees to get seats with low entrance scores. Basically, a 50% quota for the privileged.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#755
post #610

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https://wkoury.github.io/harvard-admissions/ There is a huge difference between the Admission rates for Asians Vs African Americans. In fact the admission rate for Asians is lower than Whites! It does not matter that the current percentage is 27% when Harvard itself admitted that it would be 40% if not for AA. We should always consider admission rates for a particular student. And finally I do not understand where th…

Many good points. > There is a huge difference between the Admission rates for Asians Vs African Americans. In fact the admission rate for Asians is lower than Whites! You seem to assume that the applicant pool is equally strong across races, especially with reference to the parts of the application outside of test scores and grades. I humbly suggest that this is not true. > It does not matter that the current percen…

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Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#756
post #342
post #274

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The solution is not to create ever more complicated adjustments but to make sure that all children get great education (and nutrition) from early childhood, even if they are disadvantaged at home. Rolling it up from the other side by giving top college spots to kids who were disadvantaged in the first place never made sense to me.

You are assuming that education makes a difference? And that someone (the government?) can provide that 'great education'?

Yeah growing up in Germany gave me this illusion that all children can actually get a decent (even if not super spectacular) publicly funded education somewhat independent of social background.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#757

Indian-American father here, living in the Bay Area. My wife and I came to this country with a few hundred dollars between us and have worked hard to reach where we’re at. We're far from privileged. I am 100% against affirmative action on the basis of race. I think there should be some measure of AA on the basis of economic status. It's quite personal for me this year. My 17-year old is applying to universities to st…

As long as we're talking about fair, is it fair that your son, who was given every possible advantage by his well-educated and affluent parents, is graded on the same blind rubric as a kid whose father is a felon for possessing a couple ounces of marijuana and whose mother has to work 3 shitty retail jobs? Wouldn't it be reasonable to argue that the second kid getting, say, a nearly (but not quite) perfect SAT score…

That’s an argument for basing admissions decisions on economic status not race.

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#758

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I still stand with my point Degree is not worth this much.

A degree gets you in the door at all and starts you off with a higher salary (I would say significantly so) than someone with no comparable education. Those two things are a huge advantage, both in terms of money and in terms of the odds that you will be able to start making it at all.

Thats what i wrote - degree makes your start easier, but with years of exp. it becomes less and less relevant

So the biggest salary gap is at the beginning and later everything is up to the skill

If you want fancy jobs like Jane Street then "just" degree from random school may not be enough

Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#759

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> It is impossible to predict value of degree Surely a stem degree and an opportunity to get a post graduate stem degree in a blazing hot tech market is worth more than $30. Do you really think GP and a venezuelan asylee have same amount of privilege because they both came over with $30 in their pockets. Yet that was the logic GP used to justify his lack of privilege.

All im saying is that you are probably giving degree too much value You guys over there seem to be treating degree like the only way to better life

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Re: American society is so focused on race that it is blind to class

#760

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When I was in 11th grade, an Egyptian-American had a future scholarship rescinded because she was not African American.

That sounds silly, until you realize that "African-American" is just code for black, from a time when saying "black" was considered mildly racist.

Seriously...What?!??!
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