Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Those Whom Affirmative Action Hurts

Without affirmative action, California's universities would have significantly more Asians than they do now.  More affirmative action, even few Asians.  Some aren't happy about that:
Asians in the San Gabriel Valley and beyond joined forces Friday to rally against a proposed Senate constitutional amendment that they said would punish their children for working hard to achieve the American Dream.

Olivia Liao, president of the Joint Chinese University Alumni Association, said Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 5 is racist because it allows public education institutions to give preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.

“(Legislators) feel like the Chinese-American community isn’t paying attention to politics,” Liao said. “We are concerned citizens. We need to stand up when things are not right; we need to be heard. We shouldn’t have any (exceptions) related to race. After all, America is a free country.”

State Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, is sponsoring SCA 5, an amendment that would repeal portions of Proposition 209, which prohibited discrimination against people based on their unchangeable identities. If passed, the amendment would allow public education institutions to give preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.
In California we don't seem to like people who actually work hard in school.

4 comments:

allen (in Michigan) said...

If it's any consolation California doesn't have a corner of the racism-for-the-best-of-reasons market.

Anonymous said...

And yet, on average, Asian-Americans seem to vote Democrat. From Wiki: "Overall, Asian Americans as a whole tend to vote for Democrats, but this trend has been fairly recent. ... In 2008, polls indicated that 35% considered themselves non-partisan, 32% Democrats, 19% independents, and 14% Republicans."

I wonder how long this sort of dissonance can last. It probably didn't help Republicans that Pete Wilson managed to convince non-whites that Republicans hate them (via support for prop 87). But, eventually the Democrats shafting Asian-Americans in terms of education (which Asian-Americans care about deeply) should matter. I'd think.

On the other hand, we might get an early read by watching what private sector unions do over the next few years. Back the Democrats? Or something else (I don't expect them to back the Republicans under any circumstances)? Given the fallout from ObamaCare on Cadillac health care, the unions are unhappy. But are they unhappy enough to do anything differently?

-Mark Roulo

Ellen K said...

In the middle of college registration, my largely Asian student population was hitting elite Ivy League schools hard. Unfortunately, the message they have been given is that Asians need not apply. While Hispanic and African American kids with lower GPA's get admission, Asian kids-which incidentally includes kids from Indonesia to Vietnam to the Middle East-are moved down to state schools where their stellar grades don't command as much scholarship money.

allen (in Michigan) said...

Let's not forget the ostensible beneficiaries of affirmative action - poor, black kids - as another group that suffers due to affirmative action.

Affirmative action kids flunk out at better then twice the rate of non-affirmative action kids and through the manifold blessings of the student loan industry/law they can end up with no degree and a mountain of debt. Without affirmative action, and student loans, they'd be forced to take a hard look at themselves and come to terms with their situation. But through the good offices of affirmative action kids who have no business in a highly-competitive school can check in and flunk out.