Linsanity

I found this article extremely interesting because it was something that we have all seen first hand. The racism and discrimination towards Asian-Americans is something that has become extremely prevalent in our society, and usually does not even turn a head. It's hard to say what would be a valid survey to test this racism, but there are a variety of different ways to go about it. For one, you could ask show 100 random people a picture of an Asian-American, and tally how many people think this person could be in the NBA. Many people would most likely say no, that it would be extremely unlikely for this person to be in the NBA. They'd more likely have musical talent, or be good at math, etc., would be the common answer. You could ask about Jeremy Lin, and it seems to me that most people would claim that he is the exception and nothing else, which deems ridiculous in my mind. Another option would be to show the same picture and ask what subjects this person would most likely be good at. Math and Science again would be the most bourgeois answer. Many would not even blink an eye when saying this. They would not even realize they had followed what could be viewed as an offensive stereotype.

Although I do agree that the discrimination towards Asian-Americans is extremely un-American, this survey does not seem very valid. This is because, the information presented is 20 years old, making it irrelevant, as this may not be the case anymore. Also, they only provided information from a few Ivy Leagues, rather than providing information from multiple different sources, including the non-Ivy League's to show the difference.