Racial question

[glen]

And, some of you are missing the point.
It is a form with check boxes, you can't exactly debate the issue on the form or refuse to "lable" yourself.

 

[cmdavid]

<< It is a form with check boxes, you can't exactly debate the issue on the form or refuse to "lable" yourself. >>


yes glen.. sorry.. I realize that and thats why i think you should check African American.... I understand that the general view of African American is black/dark skin... that is not your fault, it is the school's fault for assuming that African American=black... Egypt is in Africa, and is the best suited answer for you, i feel at least...




<< You may not label yourself but quite a few people do. >>


I know that, and that is going to happen regardless.. that is why when I explain who I am, i usually use Egyptian, because the American part is a given and I am usually sure that that is what whom I am speaking with is getting at, or eventually will.. because they want to label me.... not necessarily in a bad way, but just because they can SEE that I am not white...

 

[djheater]

go with African american because you are more likely to get in if you're a minority. Smaller pool of results.. higher percentage chance therefore...

 

[glen]

FWIW, I'm light blue.
This is a real question about my GF.
One medical school said of course you are.
The other acted like it was stupid and said of course you aren't.

 

[HombrePequeno]

<< And, some of you are missing the point.
It is a form with check boxes, you can't exactly debate the issue on the form or refuse to "lable" yourself. >>



I say she should check other and put Egyptian American. African American is synonomous with black for some reason. Does it really matter if she gets minority status though? Does she have lower grades and lower MCAT scores?

 

[eshrai]

i say just put african american.
your parents are from africa, so you count
the reason people like me don't say "german american" is because my ancestors from germany are so far in my past that my family is c completely americanized. we have no other cultural influences to claim.

 

[glen]

<< Does it really matter if she gets minority status though? >>


Always does.
The difference can be between getting in and not getting in, or going to the state school or an Ivy League school.

 

[mithrandir2001]

By the popular translation, African American = Black. You could be a Caucasian born in the US with parents from South Africa but you wouldn't be an African American, or at least, if you said you were, no one would lend you much credibility.

 

[hollowman]

African American

 

[Nefrodite]

btw is it a question you have to answering "correctly" on these forms? for an extreme example i as a chinese check off african american, would i get in trouble? esp if i defend it using the belief that race is an arbitrary and outdated idea?

 

[glen]

hmmmmmm... well you guess is as good as mine.
Some folks at the schools are probably genuinely interested in, as they see it, "making things more fair."
Some folks probably just want to be able to say they have so many "African-Americans," and are happy to pad their numbers.

 

[b0mbrman]

<< ...human
alot of people forget that when they start to catagorize people by race. >>



Yes, I couldn't agree more...However, the question matters because scholarships are much easier to come by if you're listed as an African American...

And you're getting mad at the wrong people (If in fact you are getting mad...) People who collect racial data are trying to *fix* racism problems, not cause more.

If she wanted data to make sense, she'd put "Arab American" and be done with it

 

[gopunk]

well this is a tough call...

african american is synonymous with blacks, but not any blacks, specifically blacks that have been here for a while. ever see immigrants from africa? they aren't the same as blacks that have been here for a while. but that is just the popular conception of the term.

in general, for people that are born in another country and move here, i consider them to be *whatever*, not *whatever* - american. in order to have the "american" i think they have to be born here.

this is a gray area, and is really just up to your gf. i guess this is obvious, but it all boils down to whether your gf interprets those labels as addressing geographic location or skin color. and it really does go both ways. on one hand, i'm 99.9% sure they *meant* people of dark skin. on the other hand, one has to ask, what would they call a haitian? hmm.

if i was her though, i'd put down african american for two reasons....

a.) affirmative action
b.) too lazy to write in "egyptian"

 

[Teatowel]

Interesting post Glen. In the UK they ask that question on entrance to any university, but they assure that it has no bearing on your application as the universities don't actually see that part - the responses are collated once the applicant decisions are made and then checked to see if there is any positive or negative discrimination.

Is it right to generalise that a person from a certain ethnic minority ought to have lower entrance criteria as they will not have had the same opportunity as a caucasian? No it isn't, as the Bill Cosby example above shows. Ideally each candidate should be judged individually.

 

[Cyberian]

<< One medical school said of course you are.
The other acted like it was stupid and said of course you aren't.
>>

Well, there's your answer then. Spelled right out by some of the most distinguished minds in Academia today.
How can you argue with logic like that?

 

[Jzero]

<< i think thats a very dumb thing to say.. just because she wasnt born there, she loses her individuality, her culture, her entire history and way of life?? I dont think thats proper, or right.. I was born in America, grew up speaking Arabic while living in Japan.... was raised w/ the customs of an Egyptian..
what you're saying is not fair.. the koreans or japanese or chinese here.. if they were born in the United States, they are no longer Japanese-American, or Chines-American, or Korean-American?? >>



You don't have to give up jack. It would just be nice if people would show a little pride in their REAL nationality. You can be American and have whatever heritage that you embrace and whatever. I come from Italian, Scots-Irish and German backgrounds, and my culture is an amalgamation of all those. I don't walk around saying I'm a "Germano-Italian-Scots-Irish-American." I am an American with a rich and varied history, like all other Americans. E pluribus unum. You might have heard of it.

The fact that you were born in America, grew up in Japan and lived like an Egyptian makes you still 100% American. The fact that you have your own individual culture is a part of being American.

I don't hear anyone from any other country ever say "I'm a Peruvian Mexican." "I'm a Japanese-Pakistani." If you can have pride in the past, why can't you have pride in the present?