# Selective Magnet School in Virginia moving towards a lottery system **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 6, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selective-magnet-school-in-virginia-moving-towards-a-lottery-system/922347 "2020-10-06T15:59:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 67
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selective-magnet-school-in-virginia-moving-towards-a-lottery-system/922347/67 "2020-10-07T19:15:33Z")
> [@damuriajashi](#): > > They are not at all concerned with percentage increases, they are concerned with overall percentages. The overall percentage of whites increase at the expense of asians. How do you justify this? How do you justify the status quo, with virtually no black or Hispanic kids? I justify this change because it provides a better distribution of kids in terms of opportunity. It still allows tons and tons of Asian kids, and it doesn’t discriminate in any way at all, except by GPA. > [@](#): > > At least you seem to be recognizing that this is not a fair and equitable way to increase black/hispanic admissions. Only more fair and equitable than the status quo. Still not a perfectly fair or equitable solution. > [@](#): > > Now, if we could only get you to recognize that discrimination against asians is unacceptable. Huh? Where have I said anything contrary? And this new policy doesn’t discriminate against Asians in any way. > [@](#): > > If you want to increase black/hispanic admissions then have a set aside for kids on free-reduced lunch. Or have set asides for kids coming from title 1 schools. This would shift the burden of your social engineering from asian kids to white kids. But that is probably why it would never have the political traction that this bill has. That might be an even better solution. Feel free to argue for it. > [@](#): > > The studies done by FCPS specifically point out that asian admissions will shrink and black/hispanic/white admissions will increase. How do you justify rejecting more accomplished asians to make room for less accomplished white kids? That’s a side affect, not the goal. It’s still better than the status quo, though. With the status quo, black and Hispanic kids are underserved by this educational service. This lessens this, without underserving Asian kids. Asian kids still have plenty of access to this (and other) quality educational services in the area. > [@](#): > > Considering how dominant asian kids are in this arena, your reasoning would imply that society is actually favoring asian kids over white kids, by a lot. Why would the powers that be in virginia do this? I don’t think they do. I think there are other explanations – like the power of immigration. Immigrant kids and 1st generation kids always do better, on average, especially the further their journey. I bet Nigerian kids are heavily over-represented. It’s not superior Nigerian culture – it’s the immigration stats re: Nigerians. > [@](#): > > Why would someone with lots of close black and hispanic friends and family be upset that the most selective school in virginia has a low black/hispanic population? Academics are not the only measure of a person’s worth. > > I don’t like the racial imbalance but I do not believe that a disparity in results equal racism absent some actual evidence of racism. What brand of racism is causing the underrepresentation of hispanic students while at the same time causing overrepresentation of asian students? It’s not one thing. It’s a multitude of factors. We could talk for days (and have!) about all the things that can hold back black and Hispanic people in America. The success of immigrant kids is a different factor. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selective-magnet-school-in-virginia-moving-towards-a-lottery-system/922347)._