Affirmative Action

Ooh, politically charged topic here, so we'll try to be both sides.

On the left, the perspective is roughly that certain minorities in certain parts of the country (i.e. Hispanics are a minority in Vermont, not in California), should be given lower standards to hurdle to win admission and/or scholarship into universities. The rationale is that they come from cultural backgrounds which are an integral part of the country, and need to be more integrated at the higher, more advanced academic levels.

So today, the mean SAT score grid for African American women at elite schools is something just over 1,100...while it's over 1,500 for Asian males.

Same schools. Different admission standards.

So you can imagine that, if you're a parent of a smart Asian boy who has just been rejected from Whatever Ivy and your neighbor's son with tangibly lower grades, scores, etc. was admitted...you might wonder why this political thing is called "affirmative."