Selection should be on merit... merit should be assessed on some combination of existing grades and maybe an IQ test which identifies raw intelligence... color considerations should be thrown out... such considerations are a load of shit...
Don't you hate it when...
- Thread starter bungrider
- Start date
I agree with this. I would also add that I think that many professors/teachers are guilty of a type of "grading bias" as well. You see this more at smaller schools, with more subjective grading standards than you would see in larger classes that have standardized tests...But as an example, who is to say that the teacher, when reading an essay written by one student, whom the teacher might grade according to their "innate abilities" or their lack thereof, whereas another student receives a different standard when the teacher reads the essays...I think it would be a big step forward if each student randomly drew a number for each assignment, all essays, papers were typed and then the grading would be completed without any knowledge of who wrote the essays...
I think that others who have gone to smaller schools or have been in classes where the teachers "pet" received preferential treatment can see how this might be a preferred solution, not unlike omitting the section for race on the college applications...
Many graduate schools do this, and I am all for it, and then some.
Again, I am just bothered when people scapegoat such-and-such for why they didn't receive admission.
And regardless of race, colleges have long had policies of admitting people based on their geography (you've got a better chance of getting into Harvard if you are from Montana compared to NY), musicianship (if you play oboe, you're all set since nobody else does), athletic achievement, etc...
Wouldn't it be a bit inappropriate if they were to decide which rare qualities were worth more than others?? I mean, a college needs to have a good football team just as much as it needs to have a diverse student body.
And frankly, do you think Harvard would want a class of students who were all from NY and CA???
Why aren't those two women in the case mad that athletes enjoy lower academic standards for admission than they do?? Why must they automatically target minorities??
Race aint a "quality", its a fact...
Get lost, you Saddam-loving asshole...
come on, guys...
let's keep it on topic...
it seems that we've gotten it down to whether or not "race" counts as a potentially desirable quality in college admissions.
i think that most people say it should not, and at face value i agree, and i definitely agreed when my minority classmates in high school enjoyed an easier time in the college application process than i did. but the world is more complicated than that, and i think what colleges are trying to avoid is having classes composed solely of white, upper middle-class kids from NY and CA. when i was in high school, most of my classmates were just like me, and in college, the same was true (i'm a white, ango-saxon male). basically everybody had the same religion and european ethnic background, and it was kinda boring after a while.
i personally felt that my undergrad college did not make enough effort to actively recruit diverse students, but in graduate school, the opposite was true, and frankly, i really preferred the higher quality of life that a diverse student body afforded. there were simply more interesting things to do with diversity around, and i don't think that people appreciate the value of diversity, or maybe they are just unwilling to try something new.
just my .02 worth of experience. but i really do get annoyed when people get mad because minority students have an edge in admissions. i get mad because i once felt the same way, and i think it was dumb of me to feel that way.
