However, every Asian American parent I've spoken with had the exact same thought when they first read this news--he got in because he is black. Now before you start saying this is just sour grapes, let me just go down the reasoning for our carping.
Mr. Enin's SAT scores are brought up in every article. He scored a 2,250 out of 2,400, which ranks him in the 99th percentile of all test takers. While that sounds wonderful, it's not out of the ordinary for high achieving students. Two thousand two hundred and fifty is just the bare minimum required for Asian students to get into a competitive school, much less an Ivy. I know Asian kids who scored a perfect 2,400 and still were not accepted by Stanford or tougher Ivies like Harvard. They may have a shot at lesser Ivies such as Brown or competitive University of California schools like Berkeley or UCLA. But 2,250 for Asian students will probably land them in the second tier of UC schools: Irvine, San Diego, or Davis.
Articles point out that Mr. Enin also participates in music and arts programs in school. He sings in an a cappella group and plays three instruments in orchestra. I would suggest that most Asian students, with equally high SAT scores, also play musical instruments. Heck, piano and violin are practically de rigueur for a proper Asian American upbringing. Three instruments in orchestra? I played four. It's not that hard if you play the same family of instruments such as B flat woodwinds or brass instruments. My precocious ability to play multiple parts in an orchestra never got me an invitation to an Ivy.
Sports as the reason Mr. Enin was accepted into multiple Ivies? While he is noted to participate in discus and shot-put, there is no mention that he got in on a sports scholarship. And since the Ivies don't offer any sports scholarships anyway, he didn't get accepted for his athletic abilities. Asian American kids also play actively in school sports, just not the usual football, basketball, baseball that many white and black kids play. We're more likely to excel in tennis or golf, which are not the usual glamor events that schools like to recruit for. If table tennis and badminton were NCAA Division I sports, we would totally rule. But since white people don't play or watch those activities, Asian kids don't benefit from these traditional Eastern pastimes.
Some people say that Mr. Enin probably received outstanding letters of recommendation from his counselors and teachers. That maybe true. But frankly, and not to put too delicate a way of saying this, his classmates probably made it easy for him to stand out. Studies have repeatedly shown that African American students score well below the averages of Asian and white kids. When a few of them inevitably break out of that mold and score above their peers, it is easy for their counselors and educators to sing their praises to the high heavens. They may see only one or two African American kids score that high each year. Meanwhile, in Asian predominant schools, a score of 2,250 with musical abilities will land you right in the middle of a pile of similar and not particularly outstanding students.
So once again, congratulations to Mr. Enin. He has achieved what most Asian American parents can only dream of. But his accomplishment only highlights the feeling that competitive colleges use race as a major factor in deciding who gets admitted. Though they all deny it, it is clear to many of us that affirmative action is alive and well in college admission offices around the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment