[inglor_cz]

There isn't much meritocracy in the system, at least as far as I can see. In Czech we have a saying "the wolf has eaten, but the goat remained whole" for situations like that.

The American elite wants to be seen as anti-racist, which means elevating at least some kids from the ghettos to the Ivy Leagues etc. At the same time, the American elite is still mostly white and does not want to jeopardize future of their own offspring, and many of those offspring are indeed average.

It seems to me that the current way to square those two interests is to raise tuition really high, combine it with legacy admissions (even an average kid of rich parents will be able to thread the needle there) and raise higher admission obstacles for Asians who would otherwise qualify in high numbers on knowledge alone.

[fallingknife]

Yes exactly. And also dumb down public schools by not teaching advanced classes and getting rid of magnet schools like the Democrats are doing in multiple states. While of course still teaching those classes at the private schools that upper middle class and above can afford. Gotta keep those smart poor people in their place.

[pclmulqdq]

This is fairly new. Magnet schools and accelerated classes for smart poor people used to be something that we considered good, because we want at least a few smart people getting educated. Now that "smart poor people" generally means "people of asian descent," we're changing course and getting rid of all of those programs.

[okaram]

Do you have a ref for any state that is eliminating magnets? I hadn't heard ...

[fallingknife]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/nyregion/nyc-schools-admi...

[tomp]

A disproportionate percentage of the US elite is also Jewish. Yet they, as a society, seem to have mostly overcome the tensions that have plagued Jews and white non-Jews in Europe for a very long time. What makes you think that the US "melting pot" culture cannot overcome other obstacles (currently IMO mostly exemplified with the rising Asian "elite")

[jkhdigital]

The elephant in the room is culture, of course. The relative freedom of the American economic system ensures that any group with strong “meritocratic” cultural values will eventually come to occupy a disproportionate share of the economic elite.

The obvious advantage of Jewish culture is (in part) its ancient tradition of demanding literacy from everyone. East Asian cultures also place a high value on literacy, and the Confucian emphasis on social harmony tends to promote an ideal of “self-cultivation”.

I think the real challenge here is that within the American “melting pot,” one particular group has a tragic history of cultural devastation, and no amount of money or assistance from outsiders can rebuild a strong culture—it can only come from within. In fact, outside interference is likely to obstruct this process.

[inglor_cz]

"Fresh" African immigrants are quite successful and I believe that Nigerian Americans have the highest share of PhDs of all groups. Selective immigration will do that.

But the fact that they share the same skin color with African-Americans is unlikely to help the latter. Common color does not mean common culture (as any white American traveling around Ukraine or Caucasus Mountains can find out quite easily) and rich and educated Nigerian-Americans live in a different world than descendants of slaves.

Paradoxically, a color-based affirmative action may help the already advantaged fresh immigrants at the cost of reducing the chances of one group it was supposed to help.

[inglor_cz]

Well, I think it definitely can and probably will; for example, given how hard the Asian children tend to be driven by their parents, I expect them to occupy a significant part of the elite in 2050, bringing with them very different perspectives, too.

(The same process, albeit on a much smaller scale, is taking place in the Czech Republic. We have a Vietnamese minority that began as convenience store owners, but their children are rising fast into the educated elite of the country.)

But that process will be fraught with a lot of conflict and will likely require abandonment of any efforts to pre-balance student bodies by ethnicity.

[watwut]

The from ghetto don't go to Ivy League. These are middle and upper class blacks studying there.

Like really, not every educated black rose from ghetto.

[DamnYuppie]

Yes the American elite is mostly white. Do you expect that to change over night when they have had the majority of the wealth since the dawn of the nation? White people still are make up ,I believe, ~60% of the population so even if far more minorities become successful for a very long time they will still be the majority.

These things take time to change and real progress didn't really get going until the 90's. Everyone wants instant change NOW but fails to realize things do take time.