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Re: Affirmative Action (Was: Anthroplogists, I need advice!)
jbernst@pipeline.com
15 Sep 1996 19:16:06 GMT
In article <323B951E.389@megafauna.com>, Stephen Barnard writes:
>Daniel Maltz wrote:
>>
>> jbernst@pipeline.com wrote:
>> :
>> : Affirmative action has fucked up anthropology and academia in general
in
>> : the USA. You can't escape it by going to another coast. Any system
that
>> : works through discrimination and bases hiring on what ethnic or sexual
>> : group you are in rather than what kind of work you do will have dire
>> : results, and these results are in. It is not a pretty picture.
>> :
>> : Jay
>>
>> Sorry Jay, but I don't agree with you. As you know, I partially
>> overlapped with you at UC Berkeley and I firmly believe that affirmative
>> action improved anthropology and academia in general. I also believe
>> that affirmative action decreased rather than increased discrimination
in
>> hiring. If any contrary evidence is in, I certainly have not yet seen
it.
>
>I can't say much about hiring, but here's an anecdotal account of a
>recent admissions decision at Berkeley.
>
>A girl from California applied to Berkeley. She had a 4.3/4.0 GPA
>(extra credit). She was on 3 varsity athletic teams. She was the
>
>valedictorian of her class. Her family was very, very far from affluent
>-- they were pretty much trailer trash. Her SATs were merely very good
>-- maybe about 1300. As a consequence she was rejected in the second
>round of evaluations, passed over in favor of many objectively less
>qualified "minorities" with the right surname. She's now attending West
>Point and doing very well.
>
> Steve Barnard
>
See Dinesh D'Souza's brilliant "Illiberal Education" for a scathing attack
on Berkeley's admissions scams, and related shenanigens at Duke and
Michigan. I also highly recommend "Tenured Radicals" by Roger Kimball,
though not specifically about anthropology. Berkeley philosopher John
Searle wrote a series of articles (Daedalus, NYRB, Academic Questions) that
addresses the phenonomena that can be summed up in what I less eloquently
describe as academia getting fucked up.
My new address is jhb@nyct.net
See you all at the AAA maybe.
Glad you're still there Danny. L'Shana Tovah.
Jay
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