Systemic racism: Students downplay stereotypically Asian hobbies to boost college odds

Asian American college applicants go to extraordinary lengths to conceal their race, New York Times announced on Friday, stripping their apps of activities and achievements that might seem stereotypically Asian.

Students interviewed by times said they downplayed their interests in chess, violin and piano in an effort to avoid being rejected on racial grounds.

“It’s a little sad now that I think about it,” Marissa Lee, a student at Harvard University, told times. “I really didn’t get to talk about the activities that meant the most to me.”

Other students said they chose not to declare their race for fear of being penalized for admissions, a practice that has been going on for years. In 2004, the test preparation company Princeton Review advised Asian test takers to hide their racial identity.

It is now routine for college counselors to advise against activities deemed stereotypically Asian. Shin Wei, the founder of IvyMax, said he tells students to choose an instrument other than piano or violin. Sacha Chadha, the founder of Ivy Scholars, said he does the same.

“It doesn’t make me happy to tell ninth graders that there are musical instruments they shouldn’t play or academics they shouldn’t do because it will make them look bad because of their ethnicity,” Chadha said. in front of times.

The walkouts reflect a widespread feeling, heightened after recent legal battles, that affirmative action policies discriminate against Asian students. A 2009 study found that Asians needed to score 140 points higher on the SAT than whites — and 450 points higher than blacks — to have an equivalent chance of admission. The lawsuit filed by Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard University revealed similar data that could lead the Supreme Court to ban affirmative action when it rules on the case next term.

A major point of contention in this case is Harvard’s “personal assessment,” which admissions officers base on essays, recommendations, and interviews. Asian applicants consistently receive lower personal evaluations than applicants of other races, which Students for Fair Admissions claims is a back door to racial discrimination.

The dynamic has drawn comparisons to the Ivy League’s Jewish quotas in the 1920s, when schools like Harvard were concerned that having too many Jewish students would dilute their brand.

“The same stereotypes used to downgrade Jewish applicants in the 1920s—that they were nerds or brave, that they would spend too much time studying to be ‘well-rounded’—are being used today against Asian- American candidates,” Mark Oppenheimer, who hosts the Ivy League Jewish History Podcast, told times.