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Why are there so few black people in STEM?

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Re: Why are there so few black people in STEM?

#141

Post by tuatoru »

opportune wrote: post #132
rayiner wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The system you’re talking about already exists! Half of all K-12 funding comes from state and federal sources, and is directed to the neediest kids. Here is the district by district breakdown in Maryland: https://i2.wp.com/conduitstreet.mdcounties.org/wp-content/up... Baltimore City has less than half the local education funding of Anne Arundel (a predominantly white, upper middle class county containing Annapolis an…

No amount of funding towards schools can make up for a home life or general environment that's not conducive towards education. I wish we in the US looked at solutions beyond throwing money at it (or at least, in a different way) because it obviously doesn't work.

Yeah, it depends where the money is thrown.

Experiments in Brazil and India suggest that the really simple, dumb solution works best: give poor people money, no strings attached.

Sure, they'll waste some of it. But not all that much, maybe a third. To economists, that's very effective targeting.

(If you demand perfect targeting and use of funds here, why not with private-sector investments (67%-90% loss rate) or 'normal' government investments (50% - 75% losses)? )

Re: Why are there so few black people in STEM?

#142

Post by ikeyany »

_8j50 wrote: post #118

They sure love that 13% figure. Why are so many nigerians in america so well educated [1] ? Not doubting any other assertions but my theory is that historically, STEM has not been a well reputed path to success,recognition and respect for black americans both in their communities and nationally. Segregation is only half a century ago,but even these days being STEM educated and black is associated with negative stereo…

Are these ideal Nigerians you're referring to from poor families? Or are their parents upper-middle class?

Re: Why are there so few black people in STEM?

#143

Post by harpratap »

DuskStar wrote: post #115
neffy wrote: post #10

For the same reason there are so few poor whites in STEM. America's dysfunctional education funding. Make education funding federal, and have a nationwide push to have small classes and well funded schools for everybody, and this would be fixed in 10 years. As it is, rich districts pay more taxes and get better schools. Funny that.

What makes you think that "more funding" would improve outcomes? As far as I'm aware, states that spend more per pupil don't significantly outperform those that spend less...

It's not about "more" funding as it is much about "targeted" funding. Ones who are deprived and poor should get more opportunities for free and quality education.

Re: Why are there so few black people in STEM?

#144

Post by ilaksh »

It seems like since he wasn't really clearly specifying a region, I should be a little suspicious of the premise. I mean, if you go to a country with mostly black people in good economic standing and find a major university, it seems unlikely that generalization would hold.

Re: Why are there so few black people in STEM?

#145

Post by whymauri »

dragonwriter wrote: post #129
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #2

Why are there so few white people in pro basketball?

> Why are there so few white people in pro basketball? Because Whites don't face systematic discrimination in (or in the pipeline leading to) the whole host of fields where Blacks do, so taking a shot that is about as reliable as investing all your income in lottery tickets if you have the signs that you might be able to make it to shoot for a pro basketball career isn't as likely to make any kind of sense for Whites…

For more on this, William Rhoden wrote a book on the topic:

"Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete"

For those who may pass judgment based on the title and the inclusion of the word slave, I leave this NYT review from historian Warren Goldstein as a mark of quality. [0]

[0] https://www.nytimes.com./2006/07/23/books/review/23goldstein...

Re: Why are there so few black people in STEM?

#146

Post by harpratap »

rootusrootus wrote: post #76
crooked-v wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But from the perspective of a parent, why should I be disallowed from providing my own kids every possible advantage I can afford? Because it's bad for society, and because there's a long since established moral precedent in favor of things that may make life slightly worse for any given individual but better for a large majority of everyone. It's also worth keeping in mind that there's a massive difference between…

> Because it's bad for society That is a very big claim. It seems just as plausible to suggest that society will in fact be collectively better off if every parent gives their kid the best possible start in life, even if some kids will miss out due to circumstance.

We are at a point in human history where at least the developed countries can easily afford to not let even a single child miss out.

Re: Why are there so few black people in STEM?

#147

Post by andromeduck »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #43

I wonder how many people on HN have experienced being the only person of their race in the room. In my case I was put into a French public school where I was the only Asian student. It took me a bit to realize why I found that experience so shitty. The language and culture barrier was definitely a factor. But also it just sucks standing out. Sometimes this difference manifests as racism. Sometimes it manifests as sim…

I've been there, I think a lot depends on the specific situation and what you make of it, I ended up with a bunch of eastern european and middle eastern friends, all refugees/immigrants and few of us much above the peoverty line.

I've noticed of them have become pretty alt right in recent years though, a lot of it arising out of resentment on being accused of having benefited from white privilege when they get they were afforded neither the opportunites of wealth or acceptance/fitting-in growing up because they weren't the right kind of white growing up all the societal support, sympathy and recognition of their hardships now because they're too white.

Re: Why are there so few black people in STEM?

#148

Post by harpratap »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #106
Ghjklov wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Would it also be okay to suggest Asians are over-represented because of unearned Asian privilege? That would be an incredibly stupid and unequivocally false thing to suggest because the odds are actually stacked against Asians, and they must work harder than most other people to achieve the same thing. Asians have earned everything they've attained in this country. They deserve whatever success they've gotten, and f…

> " That would be an incredibly stupid and unequivocally false thing to suggest because the odds are actually stacked against Asians, and they must work harder than most other people to achieve the same thing. " As an Asian, I don't agree with that. Many Asians emigrated from Asia with very little possessions and started their lives in Western countries in conditions as bad or worse than the poorest native born, incl…

Not sure about other Asians, but most South Asians that immigrated to US already had degrees and were upper-middle class (having the money to buy international plane tickets automatically qualifies you to be upper-middle class). Sure they had to live poor initially but their mentality was "this is temporary and we will improve our situation soon enough".

Re: Why are there so few black people in STEM?

#149

Post by Noos »

somewhereoutth wrote: post #121
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #2

Why are there so few white people in pro basketball?

Pro sports are (nowadays) highly specialized, highly optimized professions, where one millisecond counts. Whether it be though underlying genetic predisposition, or social opportunities/incentives (both discussed in other replies), it is not unlikely that one identifiable section of the population would have inherent advantages. STEM (or similar endeavors) are no such thing and never will be. Progress in these fields…

The thing is, basketball is no such thing either.

There's nothing really stopping anyone from playing or enjoying a game, and as kids back in the day we used to play for fun on schoolyard courts. The problem is cultural; we as a culture have not really valued sports as recreation, but as either professional calling or consumer activity.

Trying to argue from the outlier really doesn't work as you said, but its also more of a cultural issue that we really don't value participation in sport over production of it.

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