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Comment by privateSFacct | Hacker News Reader

The stats on how they scored asians were pretty incredible.

Asian personalities were only 2 or better at the top decile (top 10%), african-americans scored 2 or better 8 deciles in (top 80%, only the worst 20% didn't score 2 or better).

Personalities were scored on: likability, helpfulness, courage, kindness, positive personality, people like to be around them, the person is widely respected.

Harvard insists this was unbiased, but it's pretty incredible that Asians score so low on these measures and African-Americans so highly.

This was a key scoring measure because it was the one area Asians got crushed in (and was very subjective). They actually used I think a similar subjective scoring tool in the past to keep out other groups.

Interesting article here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/opinion/harvard-asian-ame...

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"Race differences aren't real unless they're the ones that lead to the a priori outcomes we prescribe".

> Harvard insists this was unbiased, but it's pretty incredible that Asians score so low on these measures and African-Americans so highly.

Considering asians are considered "model minorities" and the best "assimilated" minority group in the US, it does seem odd. Also considering harvard alumni interviewers generally rated asian personalities just as high as everyone else's, I wonder why there is such a divergence from american culture at large/alumni and admissions' officers?

I wonder if there are transcripts or video recordings of interviews and a methodology these admissions officers used.

It would be great if harvard released all data ( minus identifying info ) and we could look through the dataset.

> asians are considered "model minorities" and the best "assimilated" minority

By who? What data is there? A stereotype is not evidence; repetition doesn't make it more likely. Nor can we infer from a stereotype - or even real data about assimilation - something about the personalities of individuals.

When people complain about diversity in Silicon Valley, Asians don't count.

Right, because there isn't much racial discrimination against Asians (though perhaps among founders and CEOs), and not against white people and males either. There is against women and other minorities, so that would seem to be the place to focus our efforts.

There isn't much discrimination against women or other minorities either.

There is overwhelming and widely accepted evidence that there is discrimination and women and minorities.

> By who?

"whom". By us? By our culture? By the media?

> What data is there? A stereotype is not evidence;

Education attainment? Income? Interracial Marriage? Sure a stereotype isn't evidence. But my point is that both the nation at large "stereotypically" and alumni ( after interviewing asians ) both rated asian personalities at the same level or better than other races. Given that evidence, why did admissions officers rate asians a couple of standard deviations below other races?

> something about the personalities of individuals.

But we aren't inferring personalities of individuals. We are inferring personalities of racial groups.

> We are inferring personalities of racial groups.

Personalities are characteristics of individuals. Racial groups don't have a scientific basis regardless, and "Asia" covers a vast world from India to Korea to Indonesia to Kazakhstan to Pakistan to Tibet to Cambodia to Japan ... it's absurd to suggest you can say anything about all these individuals that doesn't apply to all humanity. My own family members have very different personalities.

> By us? By our culture? By the media?

> the nation at large "stereotypically" ... rated asian personalities at the same level or better than other races

Not in my experience and I sure don't. Is there any basis for this? And see my comment above.

Any bias against Asian people has nothing to do with African-American people. Let's leave the racial competition off HN.

Hey man, race is the topic of this conversation. No disrespect but if there is a place to have this slightly sensitive discussion politely on HN, it's in threads like this.

Hey man - I have no problem talking about race. But the whole premise of what I was responding to is bullshit: humans shouldn't be discriminated against due to their 'race'; it's not a competition, it about protecting people's rights and giving them opportunity, regardless of their supposed 'race'.

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