Sunday, February 13, 2011
Colorblind
I just got my first college guidebook, "The Princeton Review Best 373 Colleges", and while reading a variety of statistics, on a variety of schools, I came across something that caught my attention. Each school lists the percent of each race and ethnicity that attends the school. Out of all the things to document, I found listing the students' race and ethnicity out of place. Other stats and information were certainly relevant, such as: selectivity percentages, financial facts, deadlines, academic ratings, and some descriptions of the school. To go through the process of documenting ethnicity seems strange. What could be the purpose of documenting the ethnicity of students? These statistics are probably closely scrutinized by colleges and universities. I have heard that minorities have a better chance to get into schools, because schools want to diversify. To me, this seems very regressive. By determining the selection of students for a college based on their race, are colleges actually being racist, even if their intentions are good? In the "document" we saw in class of parents requesting to ban "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", the parents claimed that in the progressive times that we are in, literature like "Huck Finn" is offensive and should not be taught. Although the world has progressed in terms of accepting all ethnicities, there is still a focus and attention drawn to race and ethnicity. Will our world, can our world, ever be completely colorblind?
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Trevor, I think one reason they post statistics on the ethnic makeup of a school is because it is relevant to some students. I can only speak for myself, but if I was a member of a minority ethnic group or a culture that wasn't very common, I would want to go to a school that had at least some people I share cultural beliefs with. For example, I have a friend who moved to Japan after 8th grade and he chose to go to a school called ASIJ, the American School in Japan because he felt more comfortable at a school with people similar to him.
ReplyDeleteIan, I completely agree that a reason for posting statistics on ethnic groups is for people to have the opportunity to go to a school with people that are "similar" to them. I too do not think I would go to a school if there were few people "similar" to me. However, I wonder if there will ever be a time when people can go to a school without having to think about the cultural differences at different schools.
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