A Quota on Excellence?: The Asian American Admissions Debate

Methodological issues in the study of diversity in higher education

“…Bureau of the Census, 1988a), and elsewhere, one indeed found that aggregated 1980 data about Asian Pacific Americans present rosy snapshots about socioeconomic and educational circumstances that mask the dire socioeconomic conditions for Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians. The percentages of Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian families living at the poverty level were found to be many times greater than the U.S. average (Hsia and Hirano- Nakanishi, 1989). Because federal service program funds are supposed to be allocated to groups in need and because a primary purpose of the census is to be a tool in this allocation, it ironically is rational and in the service of its mission for the census's racial and ethnic classifications to be unstable and untidy…”

“…The percentages of Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian families living at the poverty level were found to be many times greater than the U.S. average (Hsia and Hirano- Nakanishi, 1989). The 1980 census format finally permitted disaggregated analysis.…”

“…Along with Rodney King's and Reginald Denny's beatings in Los Angeles, the killing of Vincent Chin in Detroit because he looked Japanese to some white autoworkers is a dramatic reminder of the progress that we Americans need to make. There is a broad literature on the relationship of diversity factors beyond what people see or think they see-race/ethnicity-to educational and economic achievement (see, for example, Fernandez and Hirano- Nakanishi, 1984;5 Garcia, 1980;P Garcia, 1983;Hakuta, 1986;Hirano-Nakanishi, 1985;Hirano-Nakanishi, Tsang, and Saka, 1991;Hsia, 1988;Hsia and Hirano-Nakanishi, 1989;Lopez, 1976Lopez, , 1982McManus, Gould, and Welch, 1983;Nakanishi, 1988Nakanishi, , 1989National Commission on Employment Policy, 1982;Olivas, 1986;Pedraza-Bailey and Sullivan, 1979;Steinberg, Blinde, and Chan, 1984;Sue and Abe, 1988;Suzuki, 1977Suzuki, ,1988Tienda, 1983;Tsang and Wing, If one were to add a few items to an institutional information system on diversity, one might begin by adding an item to tap information about the studenl and the student's family tenure in this country Just as knowledge that a student is a first-generation college-goer can help us in orienting the student to the campus, knowledge that a student is an immigrant or refugee (first-generation American) or the son or daughter of one (second-generation American) can provide important cues about a student's familiarity with "mainstream" American culture. An item regarding country of origin, linked to first-and second-generation students, can provide additional, more specific, and relatively unambiguous information about newcomers to the campus who also are new to the United States.…”

Interest Convergence or Divergence?: A Critical Race Analysis of Asian Americans, Meritocracy, and Critical Mass in the Affirmative Action Debate

“…when the demographic shifts of the 1980s led to increasing numbers of asian americans participating in higher education, admissions debates abounded regarding narrow conceptions of merit vis-a-vis the virtues of selecting a diverse or balanced body of students. the lower admission rates for asian americans at highly selective institutions compared to other applicant groups led to questions about asian americans were being held to different standards of merit (Nakanishi, 1989). asian american admissions trends demonstrate that the idea of merit is neither concrete nor transparent; rather, it is a contextually defined and determined concept.…”

“…while many, if not most, of these students will attend non-selective or low-selectivity institutions, we wonder how the projected growth of the asian american population will affect admissions criteria at more selective institutions when there are an even greater number of students competing for a still-limited number of spots. history suggests that such dramatic demographic shifts will result in glass admissions ceilings for asian americans and calls for investigations into these unspoken limits (Nakanishi, 1989).…”