College is a place where students learn far more things than can be learned in classes or even books.
In terms of teaching students to live in the real world, the value of racial and economic diversity in the student population of a college is often underrated.
EDIT: Given both downvotes and upvotes, I guess what I have said is controversial. For the record I am south-asian myself .
the value of racial and economic diversity in the student population of a college is often underrated.
Then why are colleges fighting for the right to discriminate on race alone (I've seen nothing suggesting that they're looking for economic diversity)?
The claim is that a multiracial student body enriches the educational experience, and there's truth to that. But having representatives of many races actually does little. Having a wife of a different race, I think I'm qualified to claim that racial differences make up the smallest of differences between people. Far more important, in real life as well as outlook on the world, are factors such as religion, urban/rural living, size of family, and more.
I don't see schools concerned about the portion of the student population of Buddhists relative to Catholics, or that there are enough kids who grew up on farms. So long as they are pursuing only racial diversity, I think that their claims about the value of diversity are a sham.
That's not quite true. From personal experience at two different Ivy Leagues schools, I can say that these schools and probably top schools in general are completely obsessive about fulfilling certain stated or unstated "requirements" for students. Yale, for example, where I went for undergrad, prides itself in having students from all 50 states--I can pretty confidently say that, if you're from a state with a smaller population, or simply a smaller number of people who are interested in attending a school far away, your chances of admission are substantially higher (think Montana versus New York).
As others have pointed out, although admissions is need-blind (it is not relevant whether you're rich or poor), I'm sure that socio-economic factors are also evident from where the student went to school, recommendation letters, information about parents and their professions/education (which are often asked on applications), and so on. So, while race may be the most obvious "discrimination" point, this is really, in my experience, not the case. And given these multifactored assessments, it is enormously difficult to "prove" that schools are discriminating based on race: it is NOT the case that the school gives everyone a number, and then increases or decreases that number based on your race, wealth, etc.: compare Gratz v. Bollinger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratz_v._Bollinger) (point allocation system where underrepresented minorities received more "points" on their application illegal) with Grutter v. Bolilnger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grutter_v._Bollinger) (less-rigid race-based affirmative action permissible).
Elite colleges are far more diverse than elite employers. Google, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, and McKinsey are dominated by whites and Asians, especially outside of entry-level jobs.
I also don't buy the idea that college is a way to teach people how to live in the real world, given that going to college is an alternative to working in the real world. That just sounds like the sort of thing college administrators would say in order to defend the status quo.
Assuming that is true, where do non-white non-asian (= black/hispanic?) students of elite colleges go, if they're not going to elite employers? Do they fail to graduate? Do they go into the public sector? Do they start more businesses? Do they go to non-elite employers?
College is a place where students learn far more things than can be learned in classes or even books.
In terms of teaching students to live in the real world, the value of racial and economic diversity in the student population of a college is often underrated.
EDIT: Given both downvotes and upvotes, I guess what I have said is controversial. For the record I am south-asian myself .