From: georgew@hspice.portal.com (George Wu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american,alt.discrimination
Subject: Re: What is real racism? (Re: Was: Why rish asians should vote Republican)
Date: 18 Nov 92 20:13:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: hspice.1992Nov18.201300.4162
Organization: Meta - Software

In article <BxwG8M.Exq@acsu.buffalo.edu> dtwei@acsu.buffalo.edu (Danielle T Wei) writes:
>In article <1992Nov18.030305.3564@hspice.portal.com> georgew@hspice.portal.com (George Wu) writes:

>>     There are those who would argue this is simply because the black man
>>has had far more obstacles to overcome merely to become qualified to apply
>>for admission.  That, of course, doesn't justify turning away the Asian,
>>merely helping the black man overcome societal/institutionalized obstacles.
>>Unfortunately, one implies the other.

>In other words, you agree?

     I agree it is possible blacks have more obstacles to overcome in order
to even qualify to apply to college.  I even believe it's possible that such
a person might be more qualified than mere numbers show, since SAT scores
don't measure the man's ability to fight those obstacles.  However, I don't
agree that an Asian should be turned away merely to meet some "quota" of
blacks.  I see the need for redress, but don't find the current means of
implementing that redress as adequate to the task.

>My solutions? Make America aware of its educational problems. Support academics
>not atheletics. If kids today see their football captains as their heroes and
>A students as nerds, what are their chances of taking academics seriously??
>They must learn to understand the importance of and appreciate knowledge, to
>realize that it's the survival of the fittest, that intelligence IS life.

     I agree, something needs to be done.  However, I argue blacks go into
athletics because it is in actuality their best avenue of hope, not just their
perception of hope.  Institutionalized racism significantly reduces a black
man's chances of succeeding in acedemia.

     I think we can agree on this much: the real solution to the problem is
not to treat the result, but to treat the cause.  Affirmative action attempts
to compensate a black man for a lifetime of additional obstacles.  Such
action has the most undesirable side affect of disenfranchising an also
qualified candidate.  The real solution is to remove those obstacles the
black community faces before their kids can even apply for college.

      Then there is the argument that affirmative action does just that.
I've heard the argument that by allowing a perhaps less qualified minority
to succeed, his subsequent wealth will truely level the playing field for
his kids.

     Again, I don't know what to make of all this.  A lifelong Republican,
I've traditionally criticized affirmative action.  However, my opinions
appear to be under reconstruction.  In this past election, for the first
time, I did not vote Republican for president.

							George


-- 
----
George J Wu,  georgew@hspice.portal.com or georgew@metasw.com
Meta-Software,  1300 White Oaks Road,  Campbell, CA 95008,  (408) 369-5400
Never be the first to believe.  Never be the last to deceive.  ---  Chess
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american,soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan,alt.discrimination