News Possible misconceptions about Affirmative Action

[Einstein Mcfly]

It's not quite so simple. There's been a reasonably well-conducted Canadian study that proved that job applicants with non-white sounding names had far fewer responses than those with white names.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...g-name-may-affect-the-job-hunt/article555082/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/05/20/bc-ubc-job-study.html

The discrimination is so entrenched that many applicants are not getting a fair shake simply because their names don't sound "white" enough. They never even get a chance to attend an interview, discuss their qualifications and experience, and convince the would-be employers that their language skills are up to scratch. Instead, they're being excluded because of the names they were given at birth.

This form of discrimination is very difficult to eradicate. Assuring equal access to education, etc. will not solve the problem entirely. A racial quota-based system is far from perfect, but at least it'll "force" employers to hire a fair proportion of qualified minorities and somewhat offset this sort of discrimination.

Indeed, this is very difficult to eradicate immediately. I would argue that the only way that this issue can be solved is to make all groups equally qualified and, after a period of time (which would likely be many years) this would disappear just as issues with peoples' makes being too Irish sounding disappeared. In the short term, the best solution would be to remove race from official documents as well as remove names on applications and such and go by initials or some such thing. I'd also do the same with sex on official documents. By including categories other than the truly relevant ones related to the qualifications of the applicant, we're actually increasing the probability that the discrimination you're talking about will occur.

 

[Dembadon]

This thread is growing tiresome, as you seem to be seizing on one specific and uncontroversial instance of one organization's phrasing of "affirmative action" and ignoring (either through ignorance or convenience) the many controversial instances of affirmative action. I don't see how anyone taking part in an honest argument about this can claim that they don't know about extra points for race in college admissions. This the entire point of the current case before the supreme court.

I didn't claim to be unaware of the point system; I asked how common it was.

If you wanted an honest argument, the least you could've done is avoided calling me ignorant for providing information I was specifically asked to provide. Did you read the posts in the thread before writing your response, or did you just skim them? My "one specific" example was given in response to a request to provide an example of an approved AA program that doesn't discriminate.

Somewhere I must've given the impression that I'm unwilling to change my views about AA. This is not the case; I'm open to learning more about it's faults and appreciate those who've provided evidence about its potential dangers when implemented incorrectly. Evo and Russ have provided cases showing cause for legitimate concern about how AA is implemented, but I don't believe a handful of cases is very convincing when one considers how many discrimination complaints are handled by the EEOC each year. If you believe issues due to AA are rampant, then show me. If the issues are not rampant, then do we really need to scrap it? If a few cases pop up here and there, that's what our justice system is for.

 

[Skrew]

What do you mean "Jews are over-represented in many sectors"? Jew(ish) is not a race. Like Christian is not a race. And please provide the valid source that backs up your statement.

Not quite, Ashkenazi jews can be considered a genetically distinct group, at least according to wiki.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews

Their evolution was looked at in a book I read called "The 10,000 year explosion".

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465020429/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Their IQ(which is also looked at here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jewish_intelligence) according to the book is at the top end of all groups tested so it would be no surprise if they dominated Ivy League universities or other intellectual areas, which I think Tosh was referring to(I actually believe I read they do in fact, but I can't find the source off hand).

 

[Evo]

Not quite, Ashkenazi jews can be considered a genetically distinct group, at least according to wiki.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews

Their evolution was looked at in a book I read called "The 10,000 year explosion".

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465020429/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Their IQ(which is also looked at here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jewish_intelligence) according to the book is at the top end of all groups tested so it would be no surprise if they dominated Ivy League universities or other intellectual areas, which I think Tosh was referring to(I actually believe I read they do in fact, but I can't find the source off hand).

They're not a different race. Let's stick to facts. And Tosh's rant was off topic to the thread.

 

[Einstein Mcfly]

They're not a different race. Let's stick to facts. And Tosh's rant was off topic to the thread.

This is very much on point as I see it, as however you decided to explain the grouping, they definitely have a distinct culture that prizes academic achievement, family stability etc and this, not race, seems to me to be the key to their (or any other groups') success.

 

[Evo]

This is very much on point as I see it, as however you decided to explain the grouping, they definitely have a distinct culture that prizes academic achievement, family stability etc and this, not race, seems to me to be the key to their (or any other groups') success.

Which is completely off topic for this thread. This is about Affirmative Action. Not about how cultures regard academic achievement.

This thread is done as it seems to have gone permanently off topic.