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Comment by strikelaserclaw | Hacker News Reader

But they are not second class citizens, they are completely over represented in high paying jobs, elite schools and what not. This is mainly an argument to make the playing field in a way which favors their style of culture (hardcore work ethic, to the exclusion of balance) to even a higher degree. Look at Asia, which is a supposed meritocracy when it comes to exams, a single exam determines the entire life of a person for the most part, don't know about you but to me that is not the type of country i want america to become.

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> This is mainly an argument to make the playing field in a way which favors their style of culture (hardcore work ethic, to the exclusion of balance) to even a higher degree.

Aren't progressives supposed to be in favor of diversity of cultures? Whether they are or not, a hardcore work ethic is hardly what most Americans would consider to be a problem.

Only the good parts. I don't consider the extreme pressure Asian societies place on young children to succeed to be a good thing.

> america to become.

Have you not heard of the Protestant Work Ethic? and how Europeans complain that Americans work too much, and don't all have 6 weeks vacation?

Asians have been discriminated against, but instead of whining about it they got to work to become the best. Now they're being punished for not sitting around waiting for handouts.

But they are not being punished! They are extremely represented (except for politics), much more than their population would indicate. The amount of Asians I've seen in elite schools like Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford is just mind blowing. Pure "merit" based would be a system which would solely rely on test scores/grades, which would give enormous advantage to people raised by "tiger parents." Elite schools are ideally made to find potential talents with the ability to impact society in a big way through original contributions, these people are not always the people with the best examination scores.

They are being punished by setting the bar higher for them based on ethnicity. So for an asian, you have to be the tigerest of tigers to get admitted, making the problem you describe even worse.

The strategy adapted by the Chinese, due to their small numbers, was to work harder than the next group. Only now are the number of Chinese significant enough to mount a political challenge to the status quo.

Blacks, for all their problems, have the votes to change the system electorally. But while there have been some success, there are strong oppositions from the status quo, and their progress has been hampered by political apathy from within that resulted from push back that slowed or killed further progress.

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