OT but fascinating: data on ethnicity in colleges

[bags27]

For anyone interested in higher ed, this is amazing data. UConn is listed under public flagship universities.

Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics Are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 Years Ago

 

[BroadwayVa]

For anyone interested in higher ed, this is amazing data. UConn is listed under public flagship universities.thi

Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics Are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 Years Ago

My kids, as I did, sat along side of Black kids our age in every grade in Connecticut schools. Here in Harrisonburg and surrounding towns Black kids, Hispanic kids and white kids sit side by side and are presented the same education.
This report is disconcerting. How is it after 60 years of affirmative action a gap like this exists. I have not been a great fan of some of the students that come out of Public Education of any race. I don't know if vouchers are the answer but something other than "no child left behind" must happen.

 

[diggerfoot]

This may be a case of one step forward but two steps backwards. For decades wealth disparity has increased, no homeostatic fluctuation mind you, just a few pauses. A growing body of research has brought to light that poverty shrinks brain size. Poverty correlates with stress, which shrinks brain size. Poverty correlates with lack of exercise, which shrinks brain size. Poverty correlates with poor nutrition, which shrinks brain size. Under these conditions Affirmative Action likely doesn't even amount to the "one step forward;" that's probably due more to programs like Head Start. However, our society's reaction to increasing wealth disparity has been increasing resistance to social programs, a confusion of cause and effect cultivated by some of the finest corporate-funded think tanks in the land. Think tanks are now a billion dollar plus industry; their rapid expansion has occurred over the same time span as the growing wealth disparity. Bottom line corporations don't spend a cool billion on something seemingly unrelated to making a profit unless they have to, as in convincing folks that black is white. The famous Asch conformity and Milgram authority studies reveal this is easier to do than we might think.

 

[bags27]

And to the point of sports (after all, this is a sports site), black athletes in particular continue to feel isolated and valued exclusively for their physical skills within an overwhelmingly white academic environment. Which is why we are especially blessed that so many black female basketball players become role models and purposeful adults of great character.

 

[BroadwayVa]

This may be a case of one step forward but two steps backwards. For decades wealth disparity has increased, no homeostatic fluctuation mind you, just a few pauses. A growing body of research has brought to light that poverty shrinks brain size. Poverty correlates with stress, which shrinks brain size. Poverty correlates with lack of exercise, which shrinks brain size. Poverty correlates with poor nutrition, which shrinks brain size. Under these conditions Affirmative Action likely doesn't even amount to the "one step forward;" that's probably due more to programs like Head Start. However, our society's reaction to increasing wealth disparity has been increasing resistance to social programs, a confusion of cause and effect cultivated by some of the finest corporate-funded think tanks in the land. Think tanks are now a billion dollar plus industry; their rapid expansion has occurred over the same time span as the growing wealth disparity. Bottom line corporations don't spend a cool billion on something seemingly unrelated to making a profit unless they have to, as in convincing folks that black is white. The famous Asch conformity and Milgram authority studies reveal this is easier to do than we might think.

Brain size shrinkage seems to compete with some of those studies done between 1890 and 1930--- ..
I'd argue most of the above but ---- I could show a family that lived in poverty or near poverty, lived in fear and stress and lack of food for nearly 500 years Something that could be said of many European inhabitants over the last 5000 years. -That family has doctors, lawyers, PHD's , LLD's, engineers and mathematiticians. I believe that a certain amount of intellect comes from ancestors, some for environment, much from access to education and study habits. No doubt having access to food aids in being educated. Again--I won't argue your studies and their conclusion--they sound like the studies from earlier times I ask 2 questions: 1. How long does it take for shrinkage to be reversed 2 how long does the reversal process take?
However even that study wouldn't explain my pea headed cousin.

 

[BroadwayVa]

And to the point of sports (after all, this is a sports site), black athletes in particular continue to feel isolated and valued exclusively for their physical skills within an overwhelmingly white academic environment. Which is why we are especially blessed that so many black female basketball players become role models and purposeful adults of great character.

But you fail to see--Uconn is special in so many ways.

Bags---see what you started????

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

And to the point of sports (after all, this is a sports site), black athletes in particular continue to feel isolated and valued exclusively for their physical skills within an overwhelmingly white academic environment. Which is why we are especially blessed that so many black female basketball players become role models and purposeful adults of great character.

To the article itself - I think it very simply addressed the under-representation - particularly in top, high level schools - as being due to factors during their K-12 education. I think that is, on the whole, a very sad but most likely accurate tale. I'll add that public schools here in Arizona are particularly dreadful on most measurements, for a variety of reasons. But the issue of attracting quality teachers, mentioned in the article, is one of the issues, due to low salaries.

One interesting take-away from the charts is the high quantities of Asian students. While you might anticipate that with stereotypical and anecdotal reporting, obviously one sees from the charts that they represent a far greater proportion of students at many schools than percentage of the population.

As to your immediate point, bags, I would suggest that many athletes (not necessarily only the black athletes) are primarily valued for their physical skills and looked down upon in the academic environment. I understand that it would be worse for black athletes, potentially, but it is reflective (unfortunately) of the sports culture.

And finally, as to you comment about black female basketball players - well, in general, I don't think most are in the situation of feeling valued only for their athletic skills. Just compare the crowd at a women's and men's event. In any case, they are many - just saw a notice "liked" by a Facebook friend that a former Rutgers WBB player (not a big star) has started a line of clothing for taller women. Many success stories out there, not just among the ones who continued their career to great acclaim.

 

[Bigboote]

To the article itself - I think it very simply addressed the under-representation - particularly in top, high level schools - as being due to factors during their K-12 education. I think that is, on the whole, a very sad but most likely accurate tale. I'll add that public schools here in Arizona are particularly dreadful on most measurements, for a variety of reasons. But the issue of attracting quality teachers, mentioned in the article, is one of the issues, due to low salaries.

While I agree that the education system deserves some of the blame, I think the problem is way more than the schools can solve. The problem begins before school. As Digger pointed out (or at least alluded), the class divide has been growing for at least a couple of decades, and this (along with lack of affordable housing) has led to increased economic and racial/ethnic segregation. So you have large swaths of society, largely minority, where being smart is looked down upon. Large segments with single-parent households, a strong indicator of lack of preparedness for elementary school. In a perfect world, public schools could overcome these hurdles, but it's a huge thing to ask of a teacher who has 20-30 kids for six hours a day.

The DC public schools report card came out earlier this week. Achievement has improved at every level for every ethnic group for at least the last few years, BUT -- the achievement gap has widened each year. Does anyone know of a large urban public school system that doesn't have an achievement gap?

 

[Monte]

While I agree that the education system deserves some of the blame, I think the problem is way more than the schools can solve. The problem begins before school. As Digger pointed out (or at least alluded), the class divide has been growing for at least a couple of decades, and this (along with lack of affordable housing) has led to increased economic and racial/ethnic segregation. So you have large swaths of society, largely minority, where being smart is looked down upon. Large segments with single-parent households, a strong indicator of lack of preparedness for elementary school. In a perfect world, public schools could overcome these hurdles, but it's a huge thing to ask of a teacher who has 20-30 kids for six hours a day.

The DC public schools report card came out earlier this week. Achievement has improved at every level for every ethnic group for at least the last few years, BUT -- the achievement gap has widened each year. Does anyone know of a large urban public school system that doesn't have an achievement gap?

A key factor you mentioned is single-parent households. In addition, there is the language barrier........last year, there were over 6,ooo students in New Haven schools whose primary language was NOT English. There were over 60 languages spoken by these students.

 

[diggerfoot]

Brain size shrinkage seems to compete with some of those studies done between 1890 and 1930--- ..
I'd argue most of the above but ---- I could show a family that lived in poverty or near poverty, lived in fear and stress and lack of food for nearly 500 years Something that could be said of many European inhabitants over the last 5000 years. -That family has doctors, lawyers, PHD's , LLD's, engineers and mathematiticians. I believe that a certain amount of intellect comes from ancestors, some for environment, much from access to education and study habits. No doubt having access to food aids in being educated. Again--I won't argue your studies and their conclusion--they sound like the studies from earlier times I ask 2 questions: 1. How long does it take for shrinkage to be reversed 2 how long does the reversal process take?
However even that study wouldn't explain my pea headed cousin.

Since this is something I actively research, I would be interested in those studies done between 1890 and 1930, I don't know what you are referring to. As to your direct questions to me, exercise can restore brain tissue at virtually any age, though at old age that gets problematic. How long to reverse? I don't have an answer for that.

The virtue of exercise underlies a problem with your inferences from anecdotal data; everything is relative. The correlation of poverty with lack of exercise may be unique for this society, this time period. An impoverished family in Africa may walk 5 miles or more a day for water. An impoverished family in Flint draws water from the tap in their kitchen.

Your inference of greater stress in European culture may not be making a distinction between episodal and chronic stress; one is adaptive, the other a health hazard. I would guess that for most of those 5,000 years, most of the stress you infer was episodal, very acute at times, perhaps life-threatening, but not the type of chronic stress that occurs when all the images of mass media reveal to you just how much you are deprived on an hourly basis. Aboriginal cultures have next to nothing, but that does not cause stress because they do not know what they are missing.

Life expectancy in the "Dark Ages" was actually greater than the preceding Roman Empire or subsequent Industrial Revolution, because peasants did not have the stress, lack of exercise or even the poor diet of a modern day American "peasant." This is anecdotal, but I had a conversation with a Cooperative Extension worker at Kansas State University, whose goal it was to bridge local ranch with immigrant Hispanic cultures. The immigrants, who after all come to America for a better life, had a worse diet after they came to this country. Like I said, the impacts of poverty is relative to the society of the impoverished.