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Comment by Naracion | Hacker News Reader

I realize your heart is in the right place, but I just want to call out that what you're saying is actually propagating the stereotype of Asians scoring high / other PoCs not scoring as much in exams. This can create undue expectations which can lead to feustration, anxiety, and depression amongst people that are stereotyped to be high performers. Add to that the layer of being systemically discriminated against, and it gets rather bad.

Again, I'm not questioning your heart, but I do think that words are powerful and words are how the society group think evolves.

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This has been covered to death wrt the Harvard discrimination scandal.

Asians do (on average) score higher. Asians were discriminated against due to this.

As if admission into Harvard (and most other elite schools) is solely based on test scores (and even grades). Give me a break.

For reasons folks may or may not agree with, most elite schools look at a wider range of factors than just scores and grades. Does this lead to there being room for discrimination? Yes. Does it guarantee that discrimination is happening? No.

Just as a simple example, there are plenty of non-Asian folks with high scores and high grades that get rejected too, often for similar reasons — namely, being narrowly focused on academics and not even being world-class at that.

I think it would be much better if admission into elite schools were based on objective test scores. It's easy to see how racism seeps into "Your extra-curriculars just aren't Harvard enough" or whatever subjective judgment call would be used to evaluate in-person interviews, extra-curriculars, essays, etc. It's a lot harder to see where the racism is coming from if the admissions criteria are "Higest X scores get admittance, random lottery to break ties." There is also transparent racism in the current system that says some races have to score higher than others to be admitted.

Again, this has been covered extensively in large schools discriminating against Asians. Go google it if you’re interested. Big scandal recently.

I am very aware of the details of the accusations. My personal belief, backed with some actual detailed real life knowledge, is that most people who think that discrimination is going on don’t understand one of two related things:

1. How elite school applicants are rated. Most folks seem to think it’s just test scores and maybe grades. It’s not.

2. What successful applicants at elite schools look like on paper. Most people think that elite school student bodies are just a bunch of brainiacs with near perfect grades and scores. While grades and scores are certainly high, the defining characteristic of the core admits are that they have done something of note at the regional, national, or international level (not always true of fringe admits, but that’s a different story). Sometimes these people don’t even have near perfect test scores or grades (frankly, some come across as not terribly smart at all), but they are able to get compelling things done.

I recommend reading Cal Newport’s book on elite school admissions to get a better idea of how to get in.

Also, it seems like two courts have said that Harvard in particular did not discriminate against Asians.

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/12/934122462/appeals-court-rules...

I think you’re making a lot of assumptions of the average readers’ views on the admissions policies of elite schools. I’d say I have a pretty solid view of how the admissions process works.

That’s not a stereotype- it’s true. Racial disparities is why the SAT got cancelled.

There is nothing in Asian brains that makes them different than non-Asian brains. SAT does not capture people's innate ability but something else.

Do you have any basis for thinking so? What else could explain it?

It's entirely cultural. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise.

Don't you think your theory requires evidence?

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