Spotlight on race-conscious college enrollment

Time to reflect on limitations of grade-seeking education

From the aspect of data analysis, Asian-Americans, who account for 6 percent of the total US population, account for 15-25 percent of the enrollment in Ivy League universities. Obviously, the percentage of Asian-Americans' admissions is relatively high.

But universities in the US set a higher threshold for the admission of Asian-American students, who usually have to achieve higher SAT scores to get an equal admission chance with other social groups. According to Students for Fair Admissions, which launched the lawsuit alleging Harvard was discriminating against Asian-American students, a report in 2013 circulated within the university said that without race-conscious admissions, the proportion of Asian-American students among freshmen would be 26 percent instead of the current 19 percent.

Based on the policy of affirmative action introduced in the 1960s, most US universities take ethnicity into consideration in their admissions practices to ensure diversity. Thus Harvard denies using quotas or discriminating against applicants of any race and says its admission process is reasonable and legal.
To some extent, the problem is the different idea of education between grade-seeking Asian-Americans and multiple-criteria universities.

So besides making sure of the fairness of admissions practices, Asian-Americans should also reconsider their educational philosophy and methods, which are regularly lost in pursuit of high scores and prestigious universities.

Asian-Americans should review the way their children are educated and welcome a more open and diverse admission standard. Certainly, a change to the traditional grade-focused education would benefit all, especially Asian-American students themselves.

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute