When I was in college I learned that I had to spend a great deal on a course that I didn’t need. The course was a test preparation course. I was a little bitter because the college required it and I didn’t need it. I felt duly prepared for the test. I found out that the college was in trouble for one ethnicity on campus not having a 95% pass rate on the test or higher. Rather than discriminate and make only those of that ethnicity take the course, EVERYONE had to pay a hunk of cash, do the time, and wait to take the test. It doesn’t sound like too bad of a plan. But wait. In our area, there might be 2 pacific islanders at our college. If one doesn’t pass that test, guess what? We’ve got a 50% fail rate for that ethnicity on the test. That may be an exaggerated example, but you see how the numbers can lie. I asked several questions in response.
Why do they aggregate the data into races in the first place? Isn’t that a little racist itself? My source said it was not for him to say.
How do they know our ethnicity? We bubble it in on the test, next to all our other personal info.
Is it required? By law, no.
So I can choose not to bubble it in? It would seem so.
What if everyone decided not to bubble it in? What then? My source said it was not for him to encourage such behavior.
I decided right then and there I’d never answer another ethnicity question again on any sort of paperwork ever. It just wasn’t to my advantage. Ever.