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GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
ARE IVY DEGREES WORTH THE SACRIFICES
ending their kids to ivy league universities is the dream of every Asian American parent. Or so it seems. And there is no shortage of young AA willing to oblige. As of 2000, Asian Americans made up 12-19% of the undergrad enrollments of the top-20 ivy league universities.
No one questions the prestige associated with ivy degrees. In fact, sneer critics, that's the only thing bought with the extra money. And even that, they add, is wearing thin in a nation in which he cultural center of gravity has shifted to California.
It's true that investments in high ivy tuitions often don't show up in career earnings when compared with graduates of public universities of comparable student body profiles. But the criticisms run deeper than return on investment. Some Asian Americans who have attended ivy league colleges have come away regretting their decisions for other reasons.
Foremost is the sense that the ivies are structured for the benefit of legatees, the progeny of blueblooded alumni. Comprising upwards of 40% of some ivies, the legatees are often exempted from stringent admissions standards. The result is that AA students with excellent credentials are the workhorses preserving the institutions' high academic reputations, thereby giving a free ride to undeserving legatees.
Another common complaint is that the deck is stacked socially against Asian males in a system designed to preserve the princely status quo of the scions of WASP families. A disproportionate number of attractive AA females are admitted by the ivies, some have observed, while far fewer attractive AA males are admitted. This subtle bias, suspect critics, is implemented in the screening interviews used by most ivies.
Then there's the Eurocentric worldview imposed by the courses. Not to mention the lousy weather, bland food and having to put up with locals hostile toward Asians. Contrast all this against the majority-ease lifestyles enjoyed by the AA in, say, the UC campuses.
The bragging rights an ivy education affords parents, conclude critics, are far outweighed by the psychic and emotional sacrifices exacted from their kids.
Does an ivy education provide rewards commensurate with the sacrifices? Or is it a trap for AA with overzealous parents with old-world views?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:01:16 PM)
DV8 Ragazza,
From my understanding of world history from required college classes I slept through. The Islamic culture is the pre-cursor to the European Renaissance period. They were the only non stuggling culture (in the area) left after the Fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle ages in Europe. Europe went to a fiefdom economy and weak monarchy government. Hence, my earlier comment about the Roman Catholic Church acting as the a psuedo-government-like stabilizing force in Europe.
So the Islamic Empire became the keepers of all Greek, Roman, Old/New Testiments knowledge for a few hundred years. Made up a few innovation along the way. And pass the knowledge to Pre-cursor Renaissance Europe. Since European were known for their make-love-not-war-free-information-sharing ways the Renaissance take a few hundred years to make it through all the countries in Europe. Once it reaches England, a few religous felones in order to escape conviction get on a boat, and viola the USA is born.
Not to up-play or down-play European achievement. But without paper or the number "0", it is pretty tough to do anything.
AC dropout
Thursday, December 27, 2001 at 13:01:38 (PST)
Dang it people,
why can't we just admit that there are great things done by ALL races and NONE are superior to any other. Plato and Confucius all had their contributions.
Kevin Yang
Thursday, December 27, 2001 at 10:35:07 (PST)
I must admit my patience for the anti-Euro bigotry is starting to wear thin, Mak. Thankfully, your ignorance gave me a good laugh. Your so-called "knowledge" of Italia, and even Europe for that matter couldn't be more biased and prejudiced. Tossing in tons of irrelevant babble about the Gauri empire and so on makes it clear that you're yet another in a long string of fools who thinks spouting everything you came across from web searches will make you appear well-versed on a subject.
Ancient Rome was influenced by *many* cultures. Romans learned from Greeks, Asians, Egyptians, Jews and others(and no, simple one...everyone from north Africa and Asia wasn't a Moor). Your talk about Spain ending the Dark Ages...were you just trying to be funny? BTW Cannons and ships were not Moor inventions.(**fun fact: The cannon was invented by a German)
Now, about universities. I'm sure a person such as yourself would also claim that Plato, Dante and every other intelligent European owes everything to the Moors, and that would be nonsense. It's very simple: the first university in Europe...EVER...was in the region now known as Italia(or "Italy" for the Eng-speakers). It wasn't in Spain, England, Ireland or any of those...but Bologna. Spaniards didn't do it and the Moors didn't start it either. People flocked to Italian universities from Egypt, North Africa, Arabia, Greece, Spain, Asia and countless other places to study. Even Moors travelled to the Italian region to study at the renowned libraries.
Finally, let's just cut the crap about Arab slave-traders, shall we? You are not going to slither your way out of admitting the truth by throwing out every bad thing in Euro history you can think of. What the laws of Islam say is irrelevant. Facts are facts. I liked how you focused on how Europeans treated slaves...but when you talk about Moors you only spoke of how they were *supposed* to treat slaves. That was cute. I also liked your attempt to hide the truth about how Arabs, Jews, and other Semites got along(that's assuming you're not just plain ignorant). The Jews didn't even *have* a writing system until they conquered and obliterated the Canaanites. Have you even *heard* of Jesus? He was executed partly because some very influential Jews feared him and his new faith. Arabs were conquering people all over the place. I'm sitting here watching you try to make Arab slave traders out to be honorable folk and just shaking my head. It makes sense though. You couldn't deny that Arabs traded slaves...so you tried to make them out to be fair-minded gentlemen who bent over backwards making sure slaves felt appreciated.
Now, the moral of all this, is that you need to quit getting all your rantings from web sites made by 5 Percenters, the Nation of Islam, and so on. Countless great things done by Europeans are indeed great things, done by great Europeans. Know this, deal with it, and accept it.
P.S.-What's a "phobea"?
DV8 Ragazza
Wednesday, December 26, 2001 at 22:15:45 (PST)
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