Asians and Affirmative Action

Asian-Americans face discrimination in the highly selective college admissions process. A brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court aims to end this discrimination.

Affirmative Action isn’t kind to Asians. If you didn’t already know, Asians face discrimination in the highly selective college admissions process (check out our post on Asians and Ivy League Admission). But this could soon end — though it’ll depend on a ruling from the Supreme Court. This past Tuesday, a brief was filed with the United States Supreme Court in which four Asian-American organizations seek to end admissions practices that consider race as a factor. According to Scott Jaschik of “Inside Higher Ed’s” article entitled “Asians and Affirmative Action,” “The new brief…say[s] that the policy at Texas and similar policies elsewhere hurt Asian-American applicants, not just white applicants. This view runs counter to the opinion of many Asian-American groups that have consistently backed affirmative action programs such as those in place at Texas.”

Not all Asian-American organizations are against affirmative action. Some are indeed for it, arguing that affirmative action helps Asian-Americans. We beg to differ. In the highly selective college admissions process (and the Ivy League admissions process), Asian-Americans are fighting for spots against other Asian-Americans. When an Asian-American plays the violin and is good at math, many admissions counselors think, “Another Asian kid.” That’s just how it is. It isn’t right. It isn’t fair. But it’s the truth. In fact, a book was even published that cited a startling statistic. In the book, the author writes that Asian-American applicants have to score 140 points higher than their Caucasian counterparts on the SAT to have the exact same chances of getting in. A pretty significant number, eh?

Do you think that Asian-Americans are discriminated against in the highly selective college admissions process? Do you think that they face tougher odds than students of every other ethnicity? If so, how do you propose this change? How can discrimination against Asian-Americans in the admissions process go away for good? Let us know your thoughts on the matter by posting below!

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