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"Too Asian"
Nov. 10th, 2010 08:56 amhttp://www2.macleans.ca/2010/11/10/too-asian/
Discussing the role that race plays in the self-selecting communities that more and more characterize university campuses makes many people uncomfortable. Still, an “Asian” school has come to mean one that is so academically focused that some students feel they can no longer compete or have fun. Indeed, Rachel, Alexandra and her brother belong to a growing cohort of student that’s eschewing some big-name schools over perceptions that they’re “too Asian.” It’s a term being used in some U.S. academic circles to describe a phenomenon that’s become such a cause for concern to university admissions officers and high school guidance counsellors that several elite universities to the south have faced scandals in recent years over limiting Asian applicants and keeping the numbers of white students artificially high.
Although university administrators here are loath to discuss the issue, students talk about it all the time. “Too Asian” is not about racism, say students like Alexandra: many white students simply believe that competing with Asians—both Asian Canadians and international students—requires a sacrifice of time and freedom they’re not willing to make. They complain that they can’t compete for spots in the best schools and can’t party as much as they’d like (too bad for them, most will say). Asian kids, meanwhile, say they are resented for taking the spots of white kids. “At graduation a Canadian—i.e. ‘white’—mother told me that I’m the reason her son didn’t get a space in university and that all the immigrants in the country are taking up university spots,” says Frankie Mao, a 22-year-old arts student at the University of British Columbia. “I knew it was wrong, being generalized in this category,” says Mao, “but f–k, I worked hard for it.”
(Bolded for emphasis)
So, the fact that people are so fucking head-in-ass-of-white-supremacy to assume they were entitled to go to a university by color of skin more than hard work? That they get to declare "too many of YOU PEOPLE" as if other folks were plants in their garden, to move about at will?
I think I understand better the logic behind racist cries against affirmative action, now. Of course they imagine it can only be based on skin color and not, say, merit, because they themselves were counting on that same logic to get them in.
Of course they can't tell the difference between being excluded due to structural racism vs. excluded due to simply not being up to standard - although they will have no problem having it go both ways whichever way serves them best- "I should get in because I'm white/you shouldn't get in because of quotas"/"If there's no black or native people here, it's because they're too dumb and lazy/but don't expect me to compete with asians, that's not fair".
And of course, that kind of dumbassery also means the real issue, that yes, asian folks grind to suicide to get up on it and are allowed that much as long as they're not too dark, is still a sign of problems with higher education and institutionalized discrimination.
Instead, of course, we'll just be seeing folks use asians as the model minority against other folks and yet, at the same time, unwilling to accept they they, too, don't make the cut by merit either.
Discussing the role that race plays in the self-selecting communities that more and more characterize university campuses makes many people uncomfortable. Still, an “Asian” school has come to mean one that is so academically focused that some students feel they can no longer compete or have fun. Indeed, Rachel, Alexandra and her brother belong to a growing cohort of student that’s eschewing some big-name schools over perceptions that they’re “too Asian.” It’s a term being used in some U.S. academic circles to describe a phenomenon that’s become such a cause for concern to university admissions officers and high school guidance counsellors that several elite universities to the south have faced scandals in recent years over limiting Asian applicants and keeping the numbers of white students artificially high.
Although university administrators here are loath to discuss the issue, students talk about it all the time. “Too Asian” is not about racism, say students like Alexandra: many white students simply believe that competing with Asians—both Asian Canadians and international students—requires a sacrifice of time and freedom they’re not willing to make. They complain that they can’t compete for spots in the best schools and can’t party as much as they’d like (too bad for them, most will say). Asian kids, meanwhile, say they are resented for taking the spots of white kids. “At graduation a Canadian—i.e. ‘white’—mother told me that I’m the reason her son didn’t get a space in university and that all the immigrants in the country are taking up university spots,” says Frankie Mao, a 22-year-old arts student at the University of British Columbia. “I knew it was wrong, being generalized in this category,” says Mao, “but f–k, I worked hard for it.”
(Bolded for emphasis)
So, the fact that people are so fucking head-in-ass-of-white-supremacy to assume they were entitled to go to a university by color of skin more than hard work? That they get to declare "too many of YOU PEOPLE" as if other folks were plants in their garden, to move about at will?
I think I understand better the logic behind racist cries against affirmative action, now. Of course they imagine it can only be based on skin color and not, say, merit, because they themselves were counting on that same logic to get them in.
Of course they can't tell the difference between being excluded due to structural racism vs. excluded due to simply not being up to standard - although they will have no problem having it go both ways whichever way serves them best- "I should get in because I'm white/you shouldn't get in because of quotas"/"If there's no black or native people here, it's because they're too dumb and lazy/but don't expect me to compete with asians, that's not fair".
And of course, that kind of dumbassery also means the real issue, that yes, asian folks grind to suicide to get up on it and are allowed that much as long as they're not too dark, is still a sign of problems with higher education and institutionalized discrimination.
Instead, of course, we'll just be seeing folks use asians as the model minority against other folks and yet, at the same time, unwilling to accept they they, too, don't make the cut by merit either.
