College Application Strategy for Some Asians — Don‘t Check ’Asian’
- Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:00pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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(AP) Lanya Olmstead was born in Florida to a mother who immigrated from Taiwan and an American father of Norwegian ancestry. Ethnically, she considers herself half Taiwanese and half Norwegian. But when applying to Harvard, Olmstead checked only one box for her race: white.
“I didn‘t want to put ’Asian’ down,” Olmstead says, “because my mom told me there’s discrimination against Asians in the application process.”
For years, many Asian-Americans have been convinced that it‘s harder for them to gain admission to the nation’s top colleges.
Studies show that Asian-Americans meet these colleges’ admissions standards far out of proportion to their 6 percent representation in the U.S. population, and that they often need test scores hundreds of points higher than applicants from other ethnic groups to have an equal chance of admission. Critics say these numbers, along with the fact that some top colleges with race-blind admissions have double the Asian percentage of Ivy League schools, prove the existence of discrimination.
The way it works, the critics believe, is that Asian-Americans are evaluated not as individuals, but against the thousands of other ultra-achieving Asians who are stereotyped as boring academic robots.
Now, an unknown number of students are responding to this concern by declining to identify themselves as Asian on their applications.
For those with only one Asian parent, whose names don’t give away their heritage, that decision can be relatively easy. Harder are the questions that it raises: What’s behind the admissions difficulties? What, exactly, is an Asian-American — and is being one a choice?
Olmstead is a freshman at Harvard and a member of HAPA, the Half-Asian People’s Association. In high school she had a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and scored 2150 out of a possible 2400 on the SAT, which she calls “pretty low.”
College applications ask for parent information, so Olmstead knows that admissions officers could figure out a student’s background that way. She did write in the word “multiracial” on her own application.
Still, she would advise students with one Asian parent to “check whatever race is not Asian.”
“Not to really generalize, but a lot of Asians, they have perfect SATs, perfect GPAs, … so it’s hard to let them all in,” Olmstead says.
Amalia Halikias is a Yale freshman whose mother was born in America to Chinese immigrants; her father is a Greek immigrant. She also checked only the “white” box on her application.
“As someone who was applying with relatively strong scores, I didn’t want to be grouped into that stereotype,” Halikias says. “I didn’t want to be written off as one of the 1.4 billion Asians that were applying.”
Her mother was “extremely encouraging” of that decision, Halikias says, even though she places a high value on preserving their Chinese heritage.
“Asian-American is more a scale or a gradient than a discrete combination . I think it’s a choice,” Halikias says.
But leaving the Asian box blank felt wrong to Jodi Balfe, a Harvard freshman who was born in Korea and came here at age 3 with her Korean mother and white American father. She checked the box against the advice of her high school guidance counselor, teachers and friends.
“I felt very uncomfortable with the idea of trying to hide half of my ethnic background,” Balfe says. “It’s been a major influence on how I developed as a person. It felt like selling out, like selling too much of my soul.”
“I thought admission wouldn’t be worth it. It would be like only half of me was accepted.”
Other students, however, feel no conflict between a strong Asian identity and their response to what they believe is injustice.
“If you know you’re going to be discriminated against, it’s absolutely justifiable to not check the Asian box,” says Halikias.
Immigration from Asian countries was heavily restricted until laws were changed in 1965. When the gates finally opened, many Asian arrivals were well-educated, endured hardships to secure more opportunities for their families, and were determined to seize the American dream through effort and education.
These immigrants, and their descendants, often demanded that children work as hard as humanly possible to achieve. Parental respect is paramount in Asian culture, so many children have obeyed — and excelled.
“Chinese parents can order their kids to get straight As. Western parents can only ask their kids to try their best,” wrote Amy Chua, only half tongue-in-cheek, in her recent best-selling book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”
“Chinese parents can say, ‘You’re lazy. All your classmates are getting ahead of you,’” Chua wrote. “By contrast, Western parents have to struggle with their own conflicted feelings about achievement, and try to persuade themselves that they’re not disappointed about how their kids turned out.”
Of course, not all Asian-Americans fit this stereotype. They are not always obedient hard workers who get top marks. Some embrace American rather than Asian culture. Their economic status, ancestral countries and customs vary, and their forebears may have been rich or poor.
But compared with American society in general, Asian-Americans have developed a much stronger emphasis on intense academic preparation as a path to a handful of the very best schools.
“The whole Tiger Mom stereotype is grounded in truth,” says Tao Tao Holmes, a Yale sophomore with a Chinese-born mother and white American father. She did not check “Asian” on her application.
“My math scores aren’t high enough for the Asian box,” she says. “I say it jokingly, but there is the underlying sentiment of, if I had emphasized myself as Asian, I would have (been expected to) excel more in stereotypically Asian-dominated subjects.”
“I was definitely held to a different standard (by my mom), and to different standards than my friends,” Holmes says. She sees the same rigorous academic focus among many other students with immigrant parents, even non-Asian ones.
Does Holmes think children of American parents are generally spoiled and lazy by comparison? “That‘s essentially what I’m trying to say.”
Asian students have higher average SAT scores than any other group, including whites. A study by Princeton sociologist Thomas Espenshade examined applicants to top colleges from 1997, when the maximum SAT score was 1600 (today it’s 2400). Espenshade found that Asian-Americans needed a 1550 SAT to have an equal chance of getting into an elite college as white students with a 1410 or black students with an 1100.
Top schools that don’t ask about race in admissions process have very high percentages of Asian students. The California Institute of Technology, a private school that chooses not to consider race, is about one-third Asian. (Thirteen percent of California residents have Asian heritage.) The University of California-Berkeley, which is forbidden by state law to consider race in admissions, is more than 40 percent Asian — up from about 20 percent before the law was passed.
Steven Hsu, a physics professor at the University of Oregon and a vocal critic of current admissions policies, says there is a clear statistical case that discrimination exists.
“The actual dynamics of how it happens are really quite subtle,” he says, mentioning factors like horse-trading among admissions officers for their favorite candidates.
Also, “when Asians are the largest group on campus, I can easily imagine a fund-raiser saying, ‘This is jarring to our alumni,’” Hsu says. Noting that most Ivy League schools have roughly the same percentage of Asians, he wonders if “that’s the maximum number where diversity is still good, and it’s not, ‘we’re being overwhelmed by the yellow horde.’”
Yale, Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania declined to make admissions officers available for interviews for this story.
Kara Miller helped review applications for Yale as an admissions office reader, and participated in meetings where admissions decisions were made. She says it often felt like Asians were held to a higher standard.
“Asian kids know that when you look at the average SAT for the school, they need to add 50 or 100 to it. If you’re Asian, that‘s what you’ll need to get in,” says Miller, now an English professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
Highly selective colleges do use much more than SAT scores and grades to evaluate applicants. Other important factors include extracurricular activities, community service, leadership, maturity, engagement in learning, and overcoming adversity.
Admissions preferences are sometimes given to the children of alumni, the wealthy and celebrities, which is an overwhelmingly white group. Recruited athletes get breaks. Since the top colleges say diversity is crucial to a world-class education, African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders also may get in despite lower scores than other applicants.
A college like Yale “could fill their entire freshman class twice over with qualified Asian students or white students or valedictorians,” says Rosita Fernandez-Rojo, a former college admissions officer who is now director of college counseling at Rye Country Day School outside of New York City.
But applicants are not ranked by results of a qualifications test, she says — “it’s a selection process.”
“People are always looking for reasons they didn’t get in,” she continues. “You can’t always know what those reasons are. Sometimes during the admissions process they say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with that kid. We just don’t have room.’”
In the end, elite colleges often don’t have room for Asian students with outstanding scores and grades.
That’s one reason why Harvard freshman Heather Pickerell, born in Hong Kong to a Taiwanese mother and American father, refused to check any race box on her application.
“I figured it might help my chances of getting in,” she says. “But I figured if Harvard wouldn’t take me for refusing to list my ethnicity, then maybe I shouldn’t go there.”
She considers drawing lines between different ethnic groups a form of racism — and says her ethnic identity depends on where she is.
“In America, I identify more as Asian, having grown up there, and actually being Asian, and having grown up in an Asian family,” she says. “But when I’m back in Hong Kong I feel more American, because everyone there is more Asian than I am.”
Holmes, the Yale sophomore with the Chinese-born mother, also has problems fitting herself into the Asian box — “it doesn’t make sense to me.”
“I feel like an American,” she says, “…an Asian person who grew up in America.”
Susanna Koetter, a Yale junior with an American father and Korean mother, was adamant about identifying her Asian side on her application. Yet she calls herself “not fully Asian-American. I’m mixed Asian-American. When I go to Korea, I’m like, blatantly white.”
And yet, asked whether she would have considered leaving the Asian box blank, she says: “That would be messed up. I’m not white.”
“Identity is very malleable,” says Jasmine Zhuang, a Yale junior whose parents were both born in Taiwan.
She didn’t check the box, even though her last name is a giveaway and her essay was about Asian-American identity.
“Looking back I don’t agree with what I did,” Zhuang says. “It was more like a symbolic action for me, to rebel against the higher standard placed on Asian-American applicants.”
“There‘s no way someone’s race can automatically tell you something about them, or represent who they are to an admissions committee,” Zhuang says. “Using race by itself is extremely dangerous.”
Hsu, the physics professor, says that if the current admissions policies continue, it will become more common for Asian students to avoid identifying themselves as such, and schools will have to react.
“They’ll have to decide: A half-Asian kid, what is that? I don’t think they really know.”
The lines are already blurred at Yale, where almost 26,000 students applied for the current freshman class, according to the school’s web site.
About 1,300 students were admitted. Twenty percent of them marked the Asian-American box on their applications; 15 percent of freshmen marked two or more ethnicities.
Ten percent of Yale’s freshmen class did not check a single box.
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Comments (83)
flatbroke
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 3:52pmIts not so much about race here, but culture, often Asians and folks of asian decent, academics achievement is stressed by there families, so to is it in some white families, but not as much, there are believe it or not black families as well that stress academic achievement as well, so it depends on the culture that a particular family or parents chooses to embrace. If a parent or parents of any race chooses to embrace a culture of dependance, and “ popculture lifestyle” then you will have little sucess, but if a parent/ parents choose to limit t.v. and stress academics early, your results will be a sucessfull, responsible, thoughtful, intelligent, child who is sucessful in life. oh and i am not asian.
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 9:48pmYeah, ITs ABOUT ILLEGAL ALIENS let in by OUR politicians who refuse to enforce the law. The business lobby is using them in class and racial warfare against AMERICANS to lower wages and remove our citizens power, YEAH its that simple
Report Post »YoungConservativesRule
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 8:53pm@No Room For Socialism
I honestly can‘t tell if you’re retarded or trolling. Anyway, in your mind anybody who’s not white is not considered a citizen of the U.S.. Believe it or not you’re being racist.
Report Post »JoeInMichigan
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 9:06amI was once turned down for a loan application, which was also signed by my wife, based on both of our incomes.
Report Post »My wife re-applied, using the same info, but claiming “Hispanic” for herself (she’s not, but can easily pass), and was approved in nothing flat BY THE SAME BANK!
loriann12
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 10:27amI did a survey and they asked my ethnic background. I jokingly said I was 1/8th Osage, 1/16th Blackfoot and a trace of Cherokee, and was asked if I wante to put down Native American. I said, no, I’m caucasan.
Report Post »BSdetector
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 12:17pmI click African American because my great great great great great grandfather was from South Africa. I’m whiter than milk, but it’s so much easier to be approved for anything and everything by clicking african american or hispanic.
Report Post »robert
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 1:47pm“Asian” isn’t exactly the correct terminology here for ethnic categorization, because it is NOT all Asians that have a good work ethic and study habits that can be considered excellent.. It is mostly all Northeast Asians, consisting of Japanese, Koreans and Chinese.
Although other Asians in the US, like Indians, Vitnamese, etc., usually have slightly above the norm study habits they don’t score….as a group….as well on SAT tests and the like nor is their grade point average as high as the Northeast Asians.
Other Asians like the Hmong, Malysians, Indonesians, etc. score even lower, so citing just the ethnic category of Asians to include them all in an excellent category isn’t correct. Though it is a fact that ALL ASIANS in general do far, far better than blacks and Hispanics in the US.
Lou Dobbs once said that if it were the Taiweanese who occupied Mexico right now instead of the people there now, it would be a beautiful first world country. Of course, that earned him the maximum amount of usual hate directed his way, but there’s no disputing that he slipped up and told the truth.
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 5:36pmI was at a meeting once where a black woman stated that when black children are given ethnic names, it impedes their ability to get a good job. I wondered about that, so I went back and took my own personal resume and added an ethnic name instead of my own. I submitted that resume to three of my former bosses who I had been employed by for no less than two years and parted with on good terms. Since I had been known to refer good job candidates to them in the past, no one raised an eyebrow when I gave them the resume of “someone I knew that [they] might possibly be interested in.” All three turned down the new applicant. However, I’ve got to admit that two of the bosses had been seriously burned (one lengthy lawsuit and a major theft) by previous employees of the same race. As a former supervisor, I also had an employee steal from the company we were working for.
Report Post »Mr Sanders
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 8:51amWhat about the candidate meeting the criteria on their merits, accomplishments, Go-Getter attitude? t is very sad to hear these stats on applicants – I think they should abolish this rediculous, ethnic group crap….. if we are in the age we are in, then it shouldn’t be a big deal anymore?!
When I applied to my particular school of interest, the school said I had, “… not a spec of talent to proceed.” Even though I had been working toward this degree for years and even worked in the field for 3 years just to see if I really wanted to do it. With there disapproval and de-legitimizing my entire track in life, I went in undeclared and paid out of state for two years. Yeah, I was discriminated, but what could I do, it was their game. I signed in on all the higher-end courses whilst side-stepping the system of starting low to high, in the meantime I took the classes I wanted to take and, at the last minute/last quarter, I declared my degree and had met all the requirements and got a few minors along the way. I finished —-> and I was glad to be out of there!!!!!
Nonetheless, even though I got a degree in another school of non-training, I’m doing the very thing they said I would never go anywhere in. Moral of the story – anyone can do what they want if they apply themselves and anyone, if they have the grades or fortitude, should be able to practice/apply to a college without threat of being turned down by ethnicity or lack of perceived “skillsets”
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 5:39pmIt will be very interesting to see what happens now that there are online universities competing with regular classrooms.
Report Post »Marsh626
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 7:46amThe reality is, Whites have been climbing to the top through sheer brain power as well.
Now, the ugly part of IQ statistics is that all of the other races besides those 3 all have very low IQs. There’s no getting around it. Non-White hispanics, arabs, blacks, etc, just have low IQs.
And the implications of that are obvious: The real reason those ethnic groups are failing, isn’t because of White Supremacism and discrimination, but because they just aren’t very bright…
How else can you explain the success of East Asians other than IQ? If there really was a top secret White Supremacist conspiracy to hold down non-Whites, then how did East Asians slip through our clutches?
The answer is obvious: There is no such White Supremacist conspiracy to hold back non-Whites. Those other non-White ethnic groups fail because of their lower mental capacity…
And since leftists who dominate academia believe so strongly in “diversity”, they have to actively discriminate against people based on race, or as this article implied, all of our top schools would be filled with brainy Jews, Asians and Whites.
Discriminating against people because they’re smart is ridiculous. I’m TOTALLY opposed to “affirmative action” and “diversity” policies. The most qualified people should ALWAYS get the spot, period. Diversity be damned. If that means our schools are dominated by East Asians, so be it.
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 10:33amI was just explaining affirmative action to my son. If you have 100 applicants for a job, and the average for Asians is 6%, African American is (total guess here) 19%, you have to only hire 6 Asians (no matter how many score high) and 19 African Americans. If the blacks didn’t score high enough, you take the highest scoring until you get 19. If more than 6 Asians qualified, you take the top 6, even if number 7 scored higher than any of the blacks. I don’t think ethnicity should even factor. I think the next time I apply for anything, I’ll claim the small amount of American Indian I have.
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 10:23pmWell if were allowed to keep OUR spot there would be not a spot for Other Than Americans, 1965 and the LBJ minortiys rule over the majority ended that
YEA! unconstitutional
Report Post »Marsh626
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 7:40amThe reality can be found in IQ statistics.
Ashkenazi Jews have the highest average IQ out of any ethnic group in the world. And THAT‘S why they’re so insanely successful everywhere they migrate to. It isn’t a secret Jewish conspiracy. They’re just smarter than the rest of the people in that society and thus they naturally rise to the tops of those societies.
Next comes East Asians in IQ rankings. It’s incorrect to say that all Asians are successful. They’re not. Only East Asians are. Southeast Asians, not so much. Neither are ethnic groups from other parts of Asia. So the reason why East Asians do so well anywhere they live isn’t because of their mythical work ethic, although that certainly helps, it’s just simply raw brain power that takes them to the top of a society.
Whites come in at 3rd behind Ashkenazi Jews and East Asians in IQ rankings. Although Whites and East Asians tend to battle back and forth for the 2nd place spot because their IQs are very similar. The SAT statistics you cited in this article are a bit misleading. While yes, East Asians tend to score slightly higher than Whites in Math, it flucuates from year to year and Whites usually score higher in other categories; which results in Whites and East Asians trading turns with who has the higher overall SAT score.
These 3 ethnic groups all have very high 100+ average IQs. And THAT’S why these 3 ethnic groups are so successful. People have blamed White success on racism for decades now.
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 9:44pmI wonder how my poor dumb Caucasian Protestant Christian family has helped make America the best without the rest. ESTB in America 1609 thank you and we were here in Texas before it was a Republic and again before any of you got here.
Enjoy the FRUITS of OUR 400+ year labor you prideful racist freaks
What are you people first gen
Report Post »robert
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 10:30amNoRoomForSocialismHere
“Enjoy the FRUITS of OUR 400+ year labor you prideful racist freaks.”
While I can’t agree with the above poster 100%, he’s mostly right on. I.Q. While playing a very important role in the advancement of mankind isn’t the only attribute that will factor into the equation of intelligence.
East Asians and whites are pretty close in overall I.Q. scores, with Asians….on average….scoring a bit better on math and whites scoring a bit better on verbal tests.
However, dismissing intelligence as being comprised only of high math and verbal aptitudes, isn’t very smart in that many other important factors are not being considered.
For example, how about innovativeness? Originality? Intellectual curiosity? A sense of adventure and spirit? An ability to be well-rounded enough to think outside the box? A driving desire to learn, explore, invent and construct seemingly impossible things?
All these things….and more….factor into the basic equation of human intelligence, and it has been whites who have outdistanced the world so greatly throughout the history of mankind no other group has even come close to these accomplishments. Caucasians were going to the moon when Asians were still plowing their fields with oxen.
And Ashkanzi Jews are Caucasoids who have more European DNA than Semitic.
You can cite two or three points on group I.Q. averages, but you’ll never have a complete picture untill all is factored in.
You can’t arg
Report Post »Annika2011
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 3:30amThis concerns me. My daughter-in-law is Asian born.
Report Post »I have 2 grandchildren: a toddler and a baby that I love more than life itself.
Is this insanity in my little angels future? Why will they be judged by loony liberals
on their appearance or assumed race when both of their parents are Americans.
I came through Ellis Island as a baby from war torn Europe and am a patriotic naturalized
American. I always write in human if asked my race.
PS- love the user name DARMOK AND JALAD. Such peaceful associations.
onebigassmistakeamerica
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 3:58amTop thing I love about this story; This weird form of ‘discrimination’ is a direct result of affirmative action.
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 10:30pmThankfully they stopped Elllis Island. The immigration that came thru it was stictly for industry and its sweat shops. We got our worst immigrant until this last batch that has broken thru since 1965, 1985 and 1990.
Report Post »YOU HAVE RUINED WHAT WE BUILT over the last 400 yrs and I am pissed
mauijonny
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 2:49amRace and money is all the left thinks about – that‘s why they’re constantly projecting it onto everything. And I quit checking those boxes a long time ago as it just creeped me out.
Report Post »dylan
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 12:24amI‘m from the deep south and I always put ’C’-for Caucasian. You can probably guess why.
Report Post »eric6161
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:58pmWhy not learn how to bounce a big ball and get 4 years college paid for?
Report Post »Collbuzz
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:15pmFOOBEAR what are you even talking about; she’s 50% Asian. That’s more than one drop of blood.
Report Post »Collbuzz
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:08pmsaranda, I TOOK no insult.
Report Post »Conservative New Yorker
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:03pmCheating? Really? For choosing to not check off their ethnicity.
How about the fact that these Asians blow other minorities out of the water with their grades and test scores because of their hard work? What’s cheating is allowing other students in because their ethnicity is given more allowances and latitude than Asians.
And oh yeah, I worked my tail off to get good grades, get into a good private university and got scholarships based on those grades. BTW, I’m an American whose ethnicity is Asian.
Your post, IMO, was astoundingly ignorant.
Report Post »rogerover12
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:44pmJewish is right there with Asian yet they are in the white category and overlooked. 3% of the pop with a huge majority in Ivy League schools.
Report Post »gengwen
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:37pmI was recently at the doctor’s office and was given a form with boxes to check all of which had to do with my ethnicity. As has been my position for a number of years, I refuse to answer what my ethnicity is. If there is a box with “Other”, i put American. I mentioned to the clerk that I resented this questionaire – she said it would go in my chart and be able to help the doctors with my medical problems based on my ethnic background. I said “baloney” it’s being collected for the federal government so they can use that information in a deliterious way to the American citizens.
Report Post »As you can see by this article, students who state they are of Asian descent are being discriminated against due to they and their parents strong belief in the importance of education. How hypocritical the colleges/universities and the federal government have become!
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:54pmI never get why they need to know Race anyway. Aren’t we supposed to be a racist free soceity and color blind? What are they going to do when ManBearPig applies for school.
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 5:52pmWe routinely check “Other” and declare ourselves “Human”. That didn’t sit well in the 2000 census and they sent someone out to check. Fortunately, the day they came, we happened to be out and our next door neighbors answered the door. They were in the process of having a major painting party and quite a few people were there, including our other neighbors who are Hispanic and some black friends from Jamaica. Apparently, Armando (the Hispanic) and Bentley (the Jamaican) gave the census take a run for his money. From what I heard later, from our neighbor, who is British, it might have actually qualified for American’s Funnies Videos. Oddly enough, there was no further inquiry when we did the same thing in 2010. I wonder why?
Report Post »Collbuzz
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:34pmOh and its spelled misogenist.
Report Post »saranda
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:44pmCOLLBUZZ
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:34pm
Oh and its spelled misogenist.
Are you trying to spell misogynist? Or maybe miscegenist? Either way you are way off in your understanding of the insult you took.
Report Post »foobear
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 1:32am@Collbuzz: “It’s spelled misogenist”
Hahahaha… oh, that’s a triple fail right there.
I think you were trying to spell “misogynist”, which means woman-hater, which you misspelled in your attempt to correct my misspellign.
Which is NOT what I was talking about, but rather the anti-miscegenation laws that were passed in the South which defined as “black” people with even “one drop of blood”.
Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule and edumify yourself.
And yeah, if you think a half-white, half-Asian person is Asian, you’re just as bad as them.
Report Post »foobear
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 1:33amUnless you think a “misogenist” is someone that makes Miso soup, which would be amusingly germane to the article.
Report Post »Collbuzz
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:32pmWhatever, Foobear.
Report Post »foobear
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:30pmHow’s that racism working out for you there, Kicky?
The sad fact is that Asians tend to study harder than whites, because their parents crack the whip more.
If you want to call that “cheating” go move to France with the rest of your kind.
Report Post »Azzman
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:25pmReally, who checks white anymore?
Report Post »RossPoldark
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:31pmI make my own little box to check. It says ‘human.’
Report Post »MOLLYPITCHER
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 6:15am@ross
Report Post »I did that on the census form.
Collbuzz
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:24pmShe’s a lovely girl; too bad her momma didn’t teach her that being dishonest is of poor character.
Report Post »foobear
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:27pmYou’re calling a halfie dishonest for marking down white instead of Asian?
You sound like one of those “one drop of blood” miscegenists during Jim Crow.
Report Post »AOL_REFUGEE
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:05pmThis whole process is F’ed up and racist. And pretty much all because of blacks – the precious, precious blacks, to whom society apparently owes a living from now until Kingdom Come, for some God-unknown reason.
Report Post »normbal
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:04pmI always check “other” then write in “human.” Same thing I’ve done on the last three census forms.
there IS just one race.
Report Post »foobear
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:31pmThis is probably the best choice, really.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:35pmFor Race on one form, I put NASCAR.
Report Post »Californiasodbuster
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 1:21amMy brother wrote in human race on an Los Angeles county job application in the late 60′s, he was hired.
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 5:56pmDarmok, I’m going to tell a friend about that. Her significant other will get a real kick out it and probably be putting NASCAR on all his forms from now on.
Report Post »82dAirborne
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:23pmBlack, white, red or yellow. Pick one – with no hyphens!!!!
It should not matter. Yeah that’s the ticket! STOP ASKING DAMNIT!!!
Report Post »smackdown33
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:42pmIf they don’t ask they can not control outcome. This is why they ask.
You see, it’s okay to watch Georgetown play Alabama on the basketball court and not see one white guy. But, it’s not okay to see a medical school, or a school of engineering without any black guys.
For Asians it’s even worse. Affirmative Action means that institutions are taking affirmative actions against whites and Asians on behalf of the darker races/ethnicities.
Racial profiling is good when it comes to matriculation into colleges and universities, but profiling is bad when you’re trying to save lives, limbs, and property.
This I affirm to be true.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:50pmThey should just start asking if you have a spine or not. Maybe ask, “Which head do you think with” or “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be”
That would be a better entrance criteria.
Report Post »semihardrock
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:22pmWhat’s FUNNY is…….I wouldn’t check “White” either!
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:21pmTIME FOR A RANT!!!!!!!!!!!
There should be no hyphenated American in this country! One is either an American or they are not! The minority in this country is most likely the one who is pure any original familial country of origin. We have truly become a melting pot so quit the effin’ hyphenation already!!!!!!!! NO ONE deserves any special designation or benefit in this country based on their parents origin!
Report Post »chicago76
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 7:10amAfrican- American implies there is an Africa- America. Ok, where is this Africa-America. I suggest that they ought to live in a genuinely Africa-America country and send all of them there, so those who claim to be African-Americans can honestly say that is where they are from. Same with any race who wants to claim they are other than simply American. Latin or Hispanic- Americans could be sent to Latin America countries since they are Latin -Americans. African-Americans could be sent to genuinely Africa-America countries such as Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica etc. Anyone who claims to be simply American can stay.
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 6:11pmActually, I‘ve known three African who were white and it really bent people’s minds.
One student was from South Africa and her school here in the US of A could not comprehend this. The school kept trying to change it to African American. Not only that, but she spoke English, Afrikaans and Dutch. It was hilarious at first, but after about three months, became a real pain. The school kept telling her that she needed to take a language and offered her Spanish. We finally managed to arrange for her to take a CLEP test in Dutch to fulfill the language requirement.
One of my non-white trainees was a woman from Mali. On Voting Day, I arrived at work with an “I Voted Today” sticker on my sweater. Mary, my trainee, met me in the parking lot and we walked into work together. No less than three people stopped her and told her she needed to vote. She patiently explained that she was NOT an American citizen, but was told three times, that she still needed to vote. We got around that one when I gave her my voting sticker. We had too much other work to do to be bothered with arguing it down to the ground with everyone who walked in the door.
I always find it fascinating to see how people are so willing to label others into slots and pigeon holes. Y’all keep trying to do that, ya hear??
Report Post »godhatesacoward
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:13pmIf you decide to disect, all you will find is filth!
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:05pmMy son is lucky, he can check Caucasian, Asian, or Native American.
I guess its going to be, which one is the minority this week.
Report Post »Pouncing Porcupine
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:27pmOut of morbid curiosity I googled your handle. Get a life.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:43pmI have one, I don’t spend time google peoples handles, or commenting on them.
Report Post »Pouncing Porcupine
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:06pmI wasn’t commenting on your handle, dimwit. I was commenting on you. Now I’ll comment on your handle: Like I said, it out out of pure morbid curiosity that I googled it. I‘m sure you think you’re very clever with your mysterious moniker and its elitist esoteric meaning. I know…Star Trek is your Religion, and people don’t like it when their Religion is attacked. Do you speak Klingon, too? Dork.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:16pmYou pass judegement on others without knowing them. How pathetic your life must be. By the way, I took this “Handle” after listening to a Glenn Beck radio show where he kept saying, “Tanagra, when the walls fell”, I did remember that episode and thus, Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. So I guess maybe Beck needs to “Get a Life” too. Now go play in the street.
Report Post »foobear
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 10:29pm@Prancing Prok: You just failed at life.
I laughed the first time I saw Darmok and Jalad’s handle (because I didn’t NEED to Google it, you see). One of my favorite episodes of TNG.
Report Post »Pouncing Porcupine
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:08pm@Foo
Report Post »Yes, I failed at life by starting and running a sucessful business. I’m such a Pathetic Earthling. And you, of course, must be a professional tv show watcher. How exciting your life must be.
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:17pmPouncing Porcupine
Report Post »Good for you owning your own buisness, you still shouldn’t judge others without knowing what you are talking about. Hopefully your buisness is stocking vending machines, because your people skills aren’t very good.
Pouncing Porcupine
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:29pmNope, not a vending machine stocker. I actually deal with all my customers personally. Being anonymous online allows me to be the snarky a-hole that I occasionally wish I could be in business.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:41pmPouncing Porcupine
Report Post »Are you Daniel Tosh? You are a comedian and snarky. By the way, you spend way too much time on Youtube.
discus02
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 12:56amAll Three!
Report Post »Californiasodbuster
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 1:01amIt’s cool, either one of you have my vote, if you ran for president.
Report Post »ginger100
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 2:55amI can’t believe I read this whole thread, cause now I need to get a life. Porkypine “Live Long and Prosper”. Darmak, that was one of the more memorable episode I thought also.
Report Post »sawbuck
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 12:13pm@ginger100
Report Post »Me too…!
And worse yet……We took the time to reply.
Oooh time for my pill…!
Taquoshi
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 6:15pmDarmok – I knew your handle was familiar from someplace, but I couldn’t place it. I love it! Thanks, Porcupine for cluing me in.
Report Post »foobear
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 1:26am@Prancing Pork: Don’t want TV. Do love me some Star Trek, though, and pick it up on Netflix.
I think I like my own company I founded better than yours, if yours is filled with haters like yourself.
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