With affirmative action gone, Asian American families are increasingly anxious over college admissions

Photo by Mikhail Nilov from Pexels

It’s the first college admissions season in the United States after the Supreme Court banned affirmative action policies in college admissions in June—ruling race-conscious admissions as a violation of the equal-protection clause under the constitution.

Designed to rectify historical discrimination and foster diversity, affirmative action has helped selective public and private colleges and universities actively make more inclusive decisions for student populations from different backgrounds.

The repeal was met with protests. Now, Asian Americans, who’ve historically benefitted from the policy, are beginning to deal with its repercussions.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, admissions consultant Sasha Chada of Ivy Scholars spoke about how “Asian American students need to be extremely strategic in how they present themselves to avoid anti-Asian discrimination.”

Chada stated that Asian American parents who moved to the US for their children’s education “feel desperate and in the dark” as “even students with superhuman qualifications are regularly rejected from Harvard and UC Berkeley.”

More Asian American parents, especially those from South Korea, China, and India, are shelling out thousands out of fear that not being able to enter a top school is a death sentence for their children’s future—sometimes at the request of their equally anxious children.

“The worst part of stress comes out when kids feel helpless, not when someone sets a high bar for them,” says Chada.

While the Times notes that skeptics question whether consultant claims are just part of a scare-mongering tactic to drive business, the effect of the policy ban in putting even more pressure on families is undeniable despite split and seemingly conflicting opinions on whether the ban was a right call.

You may also like: US colleges face loss of racial diversity if race-conscious admissions banned – study

According to an October Washington Post-Schar School poll, 63 percent of US adults and 65 percent of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders support the ban on the consideration of race in college admissions. However, 64 percent of US adults and 66 percent of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders also endorse programs to boost racial diversity on campuses.

We’ll have to wait and see if the fears of Asian American families will be reflected in student population demographics in the incoming school year. For now though, we can already list insecurity in higher education as a consequence disproportionately impacting the Asian American community.

As education policy expert and the former dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco Kevin Kumashiro told Nikkei, there is still a need for policies based on racial justice.

“Let’s imagine universities as not merely creaming off the top the best. Let’s imagine universities having a very different kind of impact in the world, more egalitarian, more equitable. More about advancing democracy, like preparing everyone to flourish,” he said.