Affirmative Action Harms Asian Students

Affirmative action is not in the interest of Asian students. When you examine how affirmative action—or race-conscious admissions—is put into operation in the admissions process, it becomes clear that this policy harms Asian students. I talk about the case against Harvard currently before the Supreme Court.

This doesn't necessarily mean that Asians should immediately call for the abolition of affirmative action; rather, we need to fight to have our voice be heard on this matter, and have society acknowledge this impact as they debate this issue. We cannot kowtow to forces that want us to uncritically accept this state of affairs, nor to those who would have you believe that our interests must always be subjugated to the interests of other communities for us to be "in solidarity" with them and remain in their good graces.

00:00 Intro
00:48 Race as the Determining Factor
06:29 The Harvard Case
15:09 My Opinion

[chinitocharlie]

Hi everyone. Most peeps won’t watch the whole video so tl;dr—affirmative action harms Asian students. The recent court case brings to light how this policy is resulting in colleges engaging in overt discrimination, like rating us lower on personality traits to artificially depress the number of our young students. We can’t expect everything to be in our interest when living in a multiracial society, but at the same time, we’re not fighting enough for ourselves. There is benefit to affirmative action; diversity benefits us all. But if we want to have an honest convo about AA, we should also be talking about the actual impact it has on young Asian kids. This convo is left out, and we hear from progressive folks, including progressive Asians and Asian led orgs, that AA doesnt harm Asians. Some incredulously say Asians are the direct beneficiaries of AA. They don’t have the right to muddy the water as to the truth just so that ppl don’t have to face this difficult question.

[jt-rex]

100% true! I have a friend who's Asian with 4.5 GPA, 1580 SAT, an Eagle scout, a classical pianist, black belt in karate, a certified rescue diver, and volunteers at multiple He applied to all of the Ivy League schools and did not get into any of them! Who the hell are those schools accepting if they didn't even look at somebody like this??!?! He did go to a great school (UCLA) which I know is the same school you (Charlie) went to. He's currently a Senior at UCLA and has straight A's!

[David-hrml]

I applaud your courage considering that any time someone speaks the truth they are labeled as hateful. Don't stop. You have the bravery that I lack.

[kevincao]

I hope Youtube recommends this more. People need to hear more about this.

[laquicha]

It used to be illegal to ask for or gather data on race in educational admissions and loan applications and job applications, etc.The problem now is that we even include it in the considerations in the first place. I like how you looked at the statistical data here to support your thesis.

[shefk]

Omg Charlie- it takes guts to say these things. You are bang on here. If race is a debilitating factor- no one talks about the racism Asians face. It's also often downplayed as a joke. Asians deserve representation in universities too.

[Ameri_Patriot]

"What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander."
- Elie Weisel

[chrism]

Not only are they harming asian kids, but the kids they promote instead get placed into programs theyre hopelessly unequipt for and end up either failing, or being completely insane neurotic messes forever due to their few years of school.
Merit is the ONLY way forward, all other ways are going to send us backwards

[Thellenwang]

The US used to be a country where if you worked hard and took responsibility of your actions, you had the opportunity to succeed. Now it’s a nation that rewards whomever complains the loudest. The truth is, every race has had it hard in the past, and we should not use racism as a crutch, this is just going create more division and lead to more racism. How are we supposed to succeed as a nation if we can’t focus on the important things?

[Cheekibreeki]

The big issue with affirmative action is its a band aid solution to an issue that's deep under the surface. I'm not advocating for any type of racial superiority, its all bad in every case (obviously). I think a lot of this could be solved by looking the US education system, and how lower income public education is sometimes a complete joke.

[HANKHILLFORTXGOVERNOR]

Its an actual form of institutional racism.

[nate_up_north]

Saw your most recent video and had to check out the rest of your videos. I'm happy to see another smart young man out there speaking the truth. Your content is interesting, and you have a way of explaining things in a manner that is easy to understand. You have the potential for major views and subs. Keep going, man, looking forward to seeing more from you!

[hightierplayers]

So much more attention needs to be brought to this. Once this whole case was brought to light, I and a lot of my colleagues started immediately wondering if the places we hadn't gotten into (ivy leagues) for universities were because of this.

Whether it actually caused it or not (there's evidence by our scores/grades compared to people of other races that got in), the fact we even have to actually think that this very well COULD have been why we didn't get the best university options (and thus life and income choices) is enough to lose sleep and have elevated blood pressure over.

[Moch]

This guy speaks common sense but nowadays you'll get cancelled for saying such things. Bravery to him

[xxaavviieerrrrr]

bro please dont stop. ur doing all of us a favor

[poogissploogis]

A friend of mine's little brother (half white half Asian) had a 4.5 GPA, is an elite gymnast and gym coach, did all kinds of extracurriculars, applied to an elite school and did not get in because his race was listed as Asian. His girlfriend, a Hispanic with a GPA of around 3.5 with no extracurriculars, got in. He is now racked with regret because he knows that if he had listed himself as mixed race or something else, he could have gotten into his dream school. Besides taking away opportunities from students who deserve them, it is also putting black and brown students into academic settings that they may not be prepared for, and it has caused the drop-out rate in those demographics to sky rocket. It is not good for anyone. The solution is to fix the K-12 school systems in the communities that aren't doing well. AA is nothing more than a bandage on a knife wound.

I'm white, and I've started listing my race as "other" on job applications because I just know that being white is holding me back in society nowadays. At what point can we finally admit that the discrimination has been reversed? Whites and Asians are now officially being robbed of academic and economic opportunities based on our races. That's about as discriminatory as it gets.

[faxenmacher]

Ability is the closest thing we have to determine effort, meritocracy is the closest thing we have to reward effort. Nobody should have their determination undermined.

I find it disgusting that immutable characteristics like race or subjective interpretations of personality are even a consideration.

I'm not keen on universities and I'm not asian, but things like that makes me believe that modern education is an utterly ridiculous joke.

[Briellevansant]

This is a very well thought out video. I like how you show that when the determining margin of who gets into college or doesn’t is thin, especially among students who have similar grades and extracurriculars, it’s a big deal that your race (something you can’t control) can make or break you. Also Asian kids being rated the lowest on integrity and compassion? Whaaaat? That is NOT my experience with my Asian friends.

[personreanimation]

Between this and your video denouncing the racism levied towards white Americans you earn a new sub. Fantastic work here man.

[nicolasbouchard]

I'm insanely happy to see how many ppl got this guy video recommended these past couples of days.