Saturday, December 18, 2010

That Was My First Question, Too!

Yet another PC tale, starting with an article from The Sheaf:

Macleans Magazine Gets Taxpayer Help?

Be careful, now. The Sheaf is the U of S's student newspaper. When I was attending school there, back in the stone age, it was a nasty little left-wing rag. They'll have their hands out soon looking for free money, too.

More on the story that we're supposed to be focused on, though:

Macleans no longer worthy of public funding, senator says

How 'bout you persuade our Heritage Minister to cut it then, as well as funding to most, if not all, of our arts and culture bleeding heart leeches.

'Too Asian' article repeats mistakes

Yah, we've been there before, haven't we, yet after all those years of political correctness and targeted funding, it's still here, ready and waiting to be exploited. Let's try something newer like actually interpreting things in more than one way. I'll give you an example below.

Council asks Maclean's for 'Too Asian' apology
"Toronto’s city council voted at the end of Thursday’s lengthy meeting to request an apology from Maclean’s magazine for publishing an article that raised the question of whether the University of Toronto and other Canadian universities are “too Asian.”

The motion to request an apology, tabled by Councillor Mike Layton, (brother to Jack Layton, by the way) passed easily, 27 votes to 11, without any debate. Though Mayor Rob Ford voted against it, three of his conservative allies — council speaker Frances Nunziata, economic development committee chair Michael Thompson and David Shiner — took the side of the left-wing Layton.

With no debate, and us passing it with such good numbers, it says that council is not going to stand for this type of article from a major Canadian (magazine),” Layton said at a City Hall news conference on Friday morning. “We’re going to speak out for our community and say, ‘That wasn’t appropriate, we deserve an apology.’ I think there’s a willingness to tackle the issues that come up on occasion that might not be about roads or streetcars or subways.”
I'll bet you not one of them read the article. And further, I'll bet you that's one of the reasons Rob Ford was against it. (Yay, Rob Ford!) Well, I have read the article and I think you could make a case that it actually puts Asian students in a much more favorable light than "white" students, who can't measure up against their "Asian" counterparts. But that's just me. I tend to read the whole thing so as not to get derailed by what isn't there. You know, by focusing on what actually is there. Just goes to show how deep and pervasive PC has become. So, on that note, wanna read the "offending" article yourself and make up your own mind? Go here.

Some examples (emphasis mine.):
"Still, an “Asian” school has come to mean one that is so academically focused that some students feel they can no longer compete or have fun. Indeed, Rachel, Alexandra and her brother belong to a growing cohort of student that’s eschewing some big-name schools over perceptions that they’re “too Asian.”"
Good grief! Affirmative Action was all fine and dandy with the elites, I suppose, until it actually worked. But back to the article:
"Although university administrators here are loath to discuss the issue, students talk about it all the time. “Too Asian” is not about racism, say students like Alexandra: many white students simply believe that competing with Asians—both Asian Canadians and international students—requires a sacrifice of time and freedom they’re not willing to make. They complain that they can’t compete for spots in the best schools and can’t party as much as they’d like (too bad for them, most will say)."
Let's face it, white kids are waaay too pampered. Let's learn something from our Asian brothers and sisters and adapt some of their values, for a change, instead of continually relying on these old worn out charges of political incorrectness and racism.

But to continue with what's actually in the article:
"To quell the influx of Jewish students, Ivy League schools abandoned their meritocratic admissions processes in favour of one that focused on the details of an applicant’s private life—questions about race, religion, even about the maiden name of an applicant’s mother. Schools also began looking at such intangibles as character, personality and leadership potential. Canadian universities, apart from highly competitive professional programs and faculties, don’t quiz applicants the same way, and rely entirely on transcripts. Likely that is a good thing. And yet, that meritocratic process results, especially in Canada’s elite university programs, in a concentration of Asian students.

The upshot is that race is defining Canadian university campuses in a way it did not 25 years ago. Diversity has enriched these schools, but it has also put them at risk of being increasingly fractured along ethnic lines. It’s a superficial form of multiculturalism that is expressed in the main through segregated, self-selecting, discrete communities. It would behoove the leadership of our universities to recognize these issues and take them seriously. And yet, that’s exactly what’s not happening. Indeed, discussions with Canada’s top university presidents reveal for the most part that they are in a state of denial."
[---]
"Among Canadian universities, UBC is one of the few institutions that publishes the ethnic makeup of its student body. Toope says that the university’s Asian student population is not “widely out of whack with the community,” although the stats tell a slightly different story. According to a 2009 UBC report on direct undergraduate entrants, 43 per cent of its students self-identify as ethnically Chinese, Korean or Japanese, as compared to 38 per cent who self-identify as white. Although Vancouver is a richly diverse city, according to data from the 2006 census, just 21.5 per cent of its residents identify as a Chinese, Korean or Japanese visible minority."
[---]
"Alexandra, who chose to go to Western for the party scene, found she “hated being away from home” and moved back to Toronto. In retrospect, she didn’t like the vibe. “Some people just want to drink 23 hours a day.” Alexandra says she still has friends at Western who live in an “all-blond house” and are “stick thin.”"

Yup. Must be culture. Seems we whine when East Asian culture results in a population with superior levels of education, and a commitment to excellence rather than partying, and hence the enhancement of our society and economy, yet Jack Layton's brother calls this racism. Perhaps it is. Just not in the way Layton wants us to believe.

As an aside, I have attended universities and worked in a profession in which I was side by side with many young persons of Asian decent, and yes, folks, they are superior. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for them. We would do well to follow their example. But first, we have to get rid of the Laytoons of this world and I would suggest we quit funding the "cultural" and "arts" "communities", and ask instead why our Asian citizens are so darned successful. We have nothing to learn from Layton and so much to emulate in the South East Asian culture. How 'bout we start on Monday, or at least make this a national New Year's resolution?

Here's my suggestion for a slogan to define 2011: "Down with political correctness. Up with meritocracy."

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://tinyurl.com/2e6cd8g -- it gets better cretian appointee as if i had to mention that

December 19, 2010 7:09 am  

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