Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Getting it backwards

Firstly, Rick Perry's situation is not analogous to Galileo's. Galileo stuck to the data, upsetting the religious establishment which ultimately persecuted him. Rick Perry is with the gang of thugs that is suppressing the data. Read the statement by Texas scientists who stick to the data.

The "diversity bake sale" price list also has it backwards. The campus republicans charged $2 to whites and $1.50 to Asians. If they stuck to the admissions data before passage of proposition 209, they should have charged Asians more than whites. The problem had become so severe, that the gap in SAT between admitted Asian and white students was larger than that between whites and blacks. That's ancient history in internet time and the only current link I could find is this lame NYT article.
In the late 1980s, administrators appeared to be limiting Asian-American admissions, prompting a federal investigation. The result was an apology by the chancellor at the time, and a vow that there would be no cap on Asian enrollment.
I am embarrassed that today's students at my Alma mater could be so ignorant of history. They totally demean the value of my degree. ;)

Note also that the campus republicans charged men more than women. In actuality, colleges are admitting less qualified men over women in the name of "gender balance" due to the higher numbers and qualifications of women applying to college.

Why do white males have such a persecution complex despite contrary evidence?

Aside:
Before Prop 209, it was a tough time for white students in the sciences at Cal for the same reason Ward Connerly cited for the harmful effect of affirmative action on black students. Professors assumed that white students got in on affirmative action and devoted their time and attention to the Asian students who got in on merit.

One highly qualified white classmate complained that teachers ignored him at office hours, assuming that he had only stupid questions. They would much rather take questions from Asian students, who were perceived as smarter and had higher order questions. I watched class dynamics after that and he had a good point.

Bad Dad, a white male (also a Berkeley alum), states that he doesn't feel persecuted--quite the opposite. "How can we be discriminated against when we run everything?"

But I still notice that he "drives while white". A black, latino or Asian driver could never roll through stop signs in a "California stop" in front of the police and get away with it. He insists it is fine and I have seen many a person of color stopped for driving violations that he makes every day.

4 comments:

  1. I would really like to understand the source of the poor persecuted white male complex. I'm sure it has been studied- but I have never come across a data-backed explanation for it.

    I went to college back when the gender ratio was still skewed towards men, and I got my share of comments implying I got something (college admission, scholarships, etc) due to my gender. The most egregious was the C student who told me (an A student) that he wished he was a girl so that he could get scholarships, too. I was dumbfounded. The difference in our performance was obvious... but not to him. He only saw the difference in our genders.

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  2. As a white male, I think I'll try it out: Everything I've ever accomplished in my life has been _despite_ the obstacles I've had to overcome due to my race and gender.
    Tee-hee.
    Nope. It fails the giggle test.

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  3. I live surrounded in SW Florida by many of these angry guys and it's quite true that they typify the remark that "nobody like change except a wet baby." It's tiring to even be around so much resentment and anger.

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  4. Hmmm very interesting. It seems racism is still alive and well; which is a very regrettable state of affairs. I look forward to the day in which race is not an issue worth mentioning.

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