“European-Based Races Excel Academically & Intellectually Over Other Races” Thoughts on Affirmative Action
I’m befuddled. I’ve been involved in a discussion about why there aren’t more minorities and women in academia – not just enrolled but teaching from the ivory tower. One can argue that there just aren’t many – period. Underlying this assumption is that minorities and women are second-rate by academic standards, unable to compete professionally and so they get strained out in the qualification process. Hence affirmative action. Does it bring in less-than-qualified teachers just for the sake of political-correctness? Or does it truly elevate and enhance the educational experience (as opposed to dilute the standards) to have minorities and women on board? Here is one comment from the convo from a random, but thoughtful blogger; I don’t appreciate the sarcasm and usually don’t entertain arguments with total strangers. But this one brings up important and unavoidable issues for me personally. I covet your thoughts.
I for one do not believe that the sacrifice of quality at the altar of diversity has been beneficial to academic standards in higher learning. Before I started job hunting, one of the colleagues in my field, explained to me how they did a job search at his California University (this was in circa 1994). He testified that they would receive maybe 100 applications. They would take the 95 or so from men and file them in the trash. Then they would choose three from the five women applicants and interview them, and then choose the best candidate from those three.
This means then that a woman can find a job in academics quite easily and men have a much harder time. This scenario is confirmed even by Prof. Stackhouse own confession above. Faculties will go out of their way to “recruit” women, but to hire a man, they just have to post the position and the applications come in.
The same holds true for racial minorities of the correct sort–forget it if you are either Jewish or Asian; that won’t help, because these are over-represented minorities–in fact only the best Chinese or Jewish kids can even get into some schools.
Now imagine if they did this with the NBA. Ok. We are going to give half-Korean men (they are underrepresented in the NBA, quelle horreur!) and females the preference for hiring. How long would it be before people would stop even watching the NBA and just start watching European league basketball instead? But in academics they’ve been selecting the team not to win championships(based strictly on the people with the best talent and the strongest dossier) but to create diversity–then telling the entire world that the team is better because of it. Well perhaps the faculty page on the website looks less monolithic, but I would rather watch European league academics where the concept of diversity has been much slower in catching on.
The original convo is here, on Professor John Stackhouse’ blog
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Hi Wayne: Well, I’m not that random. I also attended Regent College. Just wanted to let you know that I don’t actually believe the words that you put in quotation marks in your title, nor did I write them. Cheers.
Wayne: I was also wondering which part of my comment you found “sarcastic”. I think it must be the comment about the lack of half-Korean men in the NBA. I meant this to be more playful self-deprecating humor than sarcastic. Actually, I have a pretty good three-point shot, but that would only be useful if you tide the opposition’s hands behind their back and they couldn’t play defensive!
@P. W. Dunn
yes. but more so the following parenthetical comment. Regardless, I’m not splitting hairs here. I found the analogy pointed but somehow as analogies go, unhelpful, in the issue at hand.
I don’t know that PW is suggesting that European-based races excel intellectually over other races simple because they are European. In fact I don’t think he’s referring much at all to race qua race, but rather to the tendency to degrade standards in order to achieve what he views as a debatable good end. While I believe that, on- balance, increased diversification in the academy might be a good thing, I do not believe that achieving such diversity is, or should be, a goal that is pursued since it inevitably leads to either rank discrimination against those scholars who do not “fit the description” or alternately, to the aforementioned degrading of scholarship generally. It would be more interesting if the academy were more interested in achieving diversity of ideology since that is one area wherein it tends towards a serious monoculture.
thoughtful discussion.
I agree with the elder that PW’s point that the most interesting piece of the discussion is the “standards”. I’m all for high standards and I recognize that affirmative action type policy can often lead to major problems. I also think any discipline presented from a broader perspective than one specific culture is neccessary for a quality education, so a faculty that fails to be a diverse body fails to educate in a real way (for me).
Perhaps our selection process is what needs to be discussed. I think its like trying to solve the problem because it trys to find a new solution with the same process. I, for one think a major obstacle of minorities and women entering any previously obstructed field, is that they are basically asked to be an individual self-contained trailblazer as well as an productive contributer.
Perhaps instead of looking at every job individually, and for every job discarding applicants based on majority status, and potentially undermining the institution’s integrity in the process, a whole new way of hiring groups or pairs for projects or positions could be looked at… just a thought.
@PW – I see now what you meant by the self-deprecating humor. It was a mistaken generalization on my part for which I am sorry. I am also saddened that the deplorable epithet “tu ghee” was applied to you. That must have been terrible to go through.
re: affirmative action – I think a good case is made here from several voices as to why it is a flawed practice. It’s opening my eyes. Still, for the sake of knowing more, I’m wondering what you guys think of the idea that something like AA is needed to intentionally offset a system that is intrinsically set against hiring minorities and women, even when they are equally qualified?
Pastor Wayne: Don’t worry. It was a set up–because I forgot that “Park” is a Korean name, and you had no way of knowing that my mother was Korean. Besides I expected a certain level of backlash because I was raising controversial points. BTW, I grew up in Alaska and not in the Korean context. Once I read the article about the little half-Korean orphan, however, I considered growing up in the US a great blessing. So you don’t have to apologize to me about the term “tu ghee”–I don’t even speak Korean, and wouldn’t understand the epithet if even I ever heard it. I’m third generation–my mother’s parents moved from Korea to Hawaii when they were small children, in 1905.
As for affirmative action, I wanted to make sure that we realize that it only “affirms” certain minorities but it works against others: in particular Asians and Jews. I’ve read articles about how both Asians and Jews have been subject to quotas in academic settings–and so it makes it all the more difficult for them to find open doors. In fact, many people believe, as do I, that affirmative action has just been a program for shifting jobs that once belonged to aging white male professors to young white female professors. Well, I’m sure that has done a lot to redress systemic injustice … not!
Pro-AA:
On the one hand – something needs to be intentionally done to redress systemic (and repetitious) problems.
Anti-AA:
But on the other hand – does AA “fix” sin?
Wayne: I posted some links to articles about the systemic discrimination against Asians on my blog. This is to say that it is not just white males who suffer, but Asians suffer even more injustice. Affirmative action does not redress past discrimination it creates new discrimination. See: http://righteousinvestor.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/notes-on-affirmative-action/