For an Affirming Affirmative Action: How An Attempt at Increasing Diversity Ironically Decreases It

          A while ago, I read an article called “Affirmative Action is Over. Should Applicants Still Mention Their Race?” A line in the article illustrated the situation plainly. An Ecuadorian student named Francesco, who was aspiring to be an engineer, said, “I guess I’m kind of at a disadvantage because I kind of lost that (affirmative action).” Francesco’s worries are valid. In the past, states that have lost Affirmative Action have seen their proportion of black and Hispanic college enrollment drop significantly. For instance, California’s elimination of Affirmative Action in 1996 resulted in a 12 percent decline in the admission rates of all ethnic minorities. 

          Economic inequality is the main driver of grade school educational disparities. According to one Harvard study, the average black and Hispanic child is 1.3 times less likely to have access to electronic devices than white children due to a difference in socioeconomic status. The study further elaborates that this issue was significant during the Covid-19 pandemic, where a lack of access to electronics meant a lack of access to education.

          Yet in America, economic inequalities correlate with race. The Educational Trust Institute explains that, nationally, districts primarily consisting of people of color receive 16 percent less funding on average than predominantly white districts. With less funding, these students simply cannot compete against those coming from wealthier schools. Another report by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that a ten percent school spending cut reduced graduation rates by 2.6 to 6.2 percent. Affirmative Action is necessary to provide more educational opportunities for colored students and thus more cultural capital, which can mitigate racial and economic disparities in America.

          However, one consequence of Affirmative Action is rarely discussed: Asian stereotypes. It makes sense to balance race proportions in admissions, but the achievements Asian students are expected to reach are simply incomparable to Asian Americans of a lower economic status. While elite colleges have tried to balance their Asian population with the rest of the student body, college admission offices have formed negative stereotypes of the typical Asian student. The top 20 to 30 percent of the Asian American population is seen as the “typical” Asian student. This stereotype is detrimental to Asians of lower economic status who have significantly less access to educational resources and leads to discrimination in the college admissions process.

          Asian stereotypes have risen above the level of merely trying to balance the population of different races within admissions. For instance, according to The Washington Post, in the Fair Admissions Lawsuit against Harvard College, Harvard testified to creating personal scores that quantified each applicant’s academic and communal fit. Asians seemed to have the lowest general score out of all ethnic groups because of their academically excelling stereotype. To be accepted into Harvard, the average Asian student must also have an SAT score 140 points higher than the average white student and 450 points higher than the average black student. This enrollment discrimination has even gotten a name: the “Asian Tax.”

          People talk about economic inequality between white and black communities, but The Washington Post explains that Asians in America are just as economically divided, with the wealthiest 10 percent earning ten times more than the poorest 10 percent. This inequality extends to education. Indeed, The Brookings Institute divides the Asians who receive undergraduate education into five socioeconomic quintiles ranked from lowest wealth to highest wealth. Among the Asians enrolled in college, only 14 percent come from the first quintile (the lowest income quintile) and another 14 percent from the second lowest. Compared to 27 percent of enrolled black students coming from the first quintile, low-income Asian students are much less likely to be admitted than their wealthier counterparts. Poorer Asian people, without access to educational resources, cannot stand up to the challenge that the “overachieving Asian stereotype” is presenting.

          According to an article in The New Yorker, Asian students must distinguish themselves from the overachieving stereotype in order to be “competitive.” The article’s author, Jeannie Suk, discusses how when she was admitted to college, an admissions officer told her that she had “moving qualities of heart and originality that Asian applicants generally lacked.” This quote reveals that Asian applicants are grouped together and subject to stereotypes in the admissions process. While Asians are expected to have high academic achievements, they must also stand out in other respects so as to be allowed through this narrow door to a college education. In response, some Asian applicants resort to concealing their Asian identity during application to escape the bias against Asians and Asian Americans. Students have to face a penalty just for being Asian—no longer is this issue a matter of Affirmative Action and race-based admission, but has escalated to the point of discrimination.

          Affirmative Action is necessary, but it should change. It is a current source of immense inequality for Asian students because it generates negative stereotypes that escalate into discrimination. Asian students must achieve higher GPA and SAT score requirements and must stand out in other exceptional ways. But this overperforming stereotype fails to address the rights of lower-income Asian families who cannot afford to pay for aids like tutoring fees. Inequality is a tipping scale. It shifts constantly, and we must always put weight on the opposite end to bring the scale closer to balance. Affirmative Action should come back, but colleges must eliminate their prevailing perceptions of Asian applicants.