Letters to the Editor: The ‘open secret’ of anti-Asian bias in college admissions
I am writing because of a recent New York Times article on Asian American student cheating. The Times article makes two observations: first, that some Asian American students cheat while getting into schools, and secondly, that some colleges are particularly willing to cheat. I was one of those lucky Asian American students who got into one of the schools listed in the Times article after cheating on entrance exams, and I can attest that cheating is not a problem that just affects a few Asian students.
I read the piece with great interest. After reading my own admission test, I was shocked by the number and quality of Asian students who were admitted into my school who were not Asian. The percentage of Asian American students admitted to our school who were “non-Asian” ranges from 5 percent to 40 percent.
There are three ways that one could think of to explain the problem of cheating in Asian American admissions: one could think of Asian students cheating because of the test they took in high school or on the way to the campus where their application was processed; one could think that “non-Asian” Asian students “suck” the test because they don’t understand it; or, one could think of it as the result of some sort of anti-Asian bias on the part of the admissions committees.
If we accept the theory that the high schools that students cheat on are more affluent than average, then one interpretation of the data would be that the problem of Asian students cheating on high school entrance exams could be addressed by lowering the high school graduation requirements for enrollment. If this was true, one would then look to admissions departments to find ways to lower the admissions requirements for Asian American students. If Asian American students cheat more than non-Asian students, then we would expect the percentage of Asian American students admitted to lower-income schools to be higher than the 50 percent of non-Asian students admitted to lower-income schools. For example, if we accept the theory that Asian American students cheat more than non-Asian students, then we would expect the percentage of Asian American students admitted to the University of California to be higher than the 50 percent of non-Asian students admitted to the University of California.
The evidence is clear: the universities that I attended cheated on admissions tests. The only way to get out of this trap is to admit Asian American students of equal ability. If we accept the theory that the high
