Over Diversification?

S

shocker611

Active member
After spending the last few hours applying for internships, I am pretty annoyed with the overemphasis of peoples race in academic settings. Every one of the internships has clauses at the bottom of them stating that special considerations will be made for those from ethnic or racial minorities. Shouldn't socioeconomic status have a much larger effect on these considerations than ones race? I have white friends that had to work MUCH harder than many of my black friends growing up due to their poverty. While the black kids were handed everything they could ever want by their parents, the white kids grew up knowing that they would never afford college unless they worked their asses off to get it paid for. They could never afford tutors, weren't taught the meaning of hard work by their parents, and grew up in a household of underachievement. Shouldn't these kids with rougher upbringings be the ones getting into the better schools and getting the better jobs, all else being equal? By making these special considerations, aren't we really just continuing racial prejudice by saying that no matter what your upbringing, you're going to have a harder time growing up if you are black than if you are white? Aren't we putting immediately placing minorities in a lower light by doing this?

On a related note, I am the only white, male, straight person at my work of about 50 people. How does this make sense? I refuse to believe that it is because the other white, straight, male applicants are less qualified, and while diversity is obviously an important part of a workplace, aren't you really decreasing diversity when there are probably 10 gay guys, and a ton of girls (which I'm not really complaining about mind you). If you have the same exact upbringing as someone else, are treated the exact same in school, and apply to the same position, why is it that they are more deserving of the spot than you are?

Sorry for the rant I was just interested to see what you're opinions are on the matter
 
ya man you make a good point. Income should play a much bigger role than race or sexual orientation. It's only my first year of college but I've been denied twice by people straight up saying I was a white male... haha
 
Valid point. I feel like we are entering into a time of Anti-Racism. Whites(IN AMERICA!!!) are being ignored and pushed aside to make room for others because of their skin color...
 
I would be against affirmative action if there was also no such thing as legacy or buying your way into school. there were plenty of white kids at my school who got into college based on legacy or having their parents on the board of trustees or because of "donations" where more qualified kids of color didnt get in.
 
It pisses me off to no end. I have been denied several opportunities for jobs/internships for minorities that I know for a fact were less qualified than me. I'm all for equality and everything but it gets really frustrating after it starts happening over and over.
 
Affirmative action likely benefits white people. Otherwise, schools would be full of Chens, Chins, and Nguyens. Look at the UC schools. No affirmative action and disproportionately Asian. Look at the Ivy League schools, Asians are held at a constant percent (although they all deny it). SCOTUS will actually be taking up the Texas race-based admissions case this term. (Previously they and said that race can be used as a criteria for admissions, but not the only criteria).

Most schools are now using holistic-based admissions which means they take overall ability, personal history, and struggle into account. Most employers do the same (from my experience).

You can always decline to state ethnicity or select other.
 
eh i don't really think affirmative action disadvantages whites so much as allows others a better chance at integration and a good life. however like OP said i sorta think affirmative action should be more geared towards income/socio-economic status rather than race, but I'm also white so I can't really say what advantages/disadvantages i would have had, had i grown up asian or black etc
 
Reverse-discrimination at its finest. That's actually how my mom got into the university of Washington. She applied and didn't get in, with high grades and good test scores. However, another kid from the same school, with significantly lower grades (around a 2.0) and poor test scores, who happened to be Asian, got in. She threatened to sue for reverse discrimination and was immediately accepted
 
I have two thoughts.

There are two different ways to go about creating equality coming in a society that has previously lacked it. One is to make people equal under the law. This gives previously legally disadvantaged people the theoretical opportunity to be equal. However this ignore the reality of context; if you have been disadvantaged and oppressed in the past, you will not be instantly practically equal. So I believe that these sorts of opportunities are not 'reverse discrimination' (which as a phrase is hilariously illogical :P) but a way to combat the inequality that was left even after legal equality because of past oppression.

However I think what you are saying is also interesting, considering economic status instead. Seems valid to me. My other thought would be that having diversity is valuable because different people from different lived experiences (culture, privledge or otheriwse) can be heard and contribute.

 
Reverse discrimination: When someone doesn't discriminate against you.

What you are trying to say is discrimination.
 
I guess people think discrimination is white people to black people so "reverse" discrimination means black people to white people... any race/group of people can be a minority/ discriminated against
 
When has there ever been a place where you select your sexual orientation on a college application? What does that even have to do with this discussion?
 
I mean come on dude white people are eventually going to pay for their crimes Against other races but untill then wooo. "Slightly quoted by Louis CK"
 
It is completely immoral.

Here in NZ, it's much easier to get into Medical School if you are part Maori (native) because the requirements are deliberately lower for them specifically.

End result? Hardworking whites/Asians/others miss out on a spot despite their excellent grades, and a Maori gets in despite averaging only a B-. This happens every year.

What is even more ridiculous is that these "Maori" entrants are often pretty much completely white anyway, except for maybe 1/8th of their heritage which isn't.

 
when was the last time that you applied to an internship that didn't have some sort of an essay with a title of something like "tell us how you will add to the diversity of the program and university". It's definitely a factor.
 
I actually didn't think about this point at all, but it is a good one. I do think that that is a relatively small percentage outside of the ivy leagues and other "prestigious" schools though. It was funny though when I went to visit yale in hs I had people either ask me or get into a conversation with me about who I knew that was alum/ was a "major contributor to society", so it definitely does happen.
 
A think you may be over thinking it just a little bit. Sometimes that is just another way of phrasing "why are you unique" or "what different perspective will you bring to our team".

I've done over a hundred interviews and we would always have a question along those lines where we weren't looking for an answer that was "well I'm not white."

Sometimes being the lone white guy makes you unique such as the example I cited of the UC system.
 
Exactly; what kind of employer hires someone that is only bringing their race or sexual orientation to the table? If thats all you have to offer you're not exactly a good candidate for any job. Thats basically telling them that all you're good for is being their diversity poster boy, which isn't what anyone is looking for. Of course, there are extreme cases like "I survived a racial genocide, and have had a unique life experience because of it" but you could say just as easily say "I survived poverty, and have had a unique life experience because of it".
 
I hate that, people make such a big deal over having diversity. They're all "race doesn't matter blah blah" but they're the ones making a big deal about hiring a black person, an asian and some guy from some Island I've never heard of.
 
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