Jay Caspian Kang – Affirmative Elitism

0:00 How Jay’s position on affirmative action changed

12:15 Jay: I can’t see the virtue in affirmative action as it’s practiced

20:07 Why did so many Asian students defend policies that discriminated against Asians?

25:35 The hidden cultural argument in the California Mathematics Framework

32:01 Is the “people of color coalition” coming apart?

34:55 Why so little outrage over the SCOTUS affirmative action decision?

42:26 When students internalize artificial trauma narratives

49:06 America can’t economically decouple itself from China. Will anti-China rhetoric wane?

55:49 What will and won’t change in the wake of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard

1:05:29 Isn’t there some value to diversity in education?

Recorded July 24, 2023

Links and Readings

Jay’s New Yorker piece, “Why the Champions of Affirmative Action Had to Leave Asian Americans Behind”

Jay’s book, The Loneliest Americans

Jay’s podcast with E. Tammy Kim, Time to Say Goodbye

Jay’s 2019 New York Times Magazine piece, “Where Does Affirmative Action Leave Asian-Americans?”

Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou’s book, The Asian American Achievement Paradox

Natasha Warikoo’s book, Race at the Top: Asian Americans and Whites in Pursuit of the American Dream in Suburban Schools

The California Mathematics Framework

Roland Fryer’s NYT piece, “How to Fix College Admissions Now”

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