May 21, 2013

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Misc Ramblings

Konnect Magazine - Category - Misc Ramblings

A Note on Suffering & Loneliness (By Kee Won Huh)

January 28, 2013 By

Suffering and Loneliness
Relatively speaking, I’ve suffered very little in my life. But with the suffering I have experienced, I’ve learned something of my heart, and I believe it’s probably true for most.

I’ve wrestled with the paralyzing fear that comes with waiting for certain diagnoses. I’ve also tasted a bit of chronic illness. And my life has on occasion been crippled by the anxiety and depression that hammers away relentlessly at the hearts and minds of those who struggle with illness or the possibility of it. When the imagination is left to its own devices during these times, it becomes a vicious tormentor that I would say is unparalleled in the human experience.

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Asians Too Smart for Their Own Good? Interesting Article in the New York Times.

January 16, 2013 By

Smart Asians Colleges and Universities College Entrance New York Times

For all the smart Asians out there – take a look at this interesting article. Going to a top notch school may actually be much harder than you would think – if you’re an Asian.

In a 2009 study of more than 9,000 students who applied to selective universities, the sociologists Thomas J. Espenshade and Alexandria Walton Radford found that white students were three times more likely to be admitted than Asians with the same academic record.

Sound familiar? In the 1920s, as high-achieving Jews began to compete with WASP prep schoolers, Ivy League schools started asking about family background and sought vague qualities like “character,” “vigor,” “manliness” and “leadership” to cap Jewish enrollment. These unofficial Jewish quotas weren’t lifted until the early 1960s, as the sociologist Jerome Karabel found in his 2005 history of admissions practices at Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

In the 1920s, people asked: will Harvard still be Harvard with so many Jews? Today we ask: will Harvard still be Harvard with so many Asians? Yale’s student population is 58 percent white and 18 percent Asian. Would it be such a calamity if those numbers were reversed? Source: New York Times

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The Capacity to Rise Above my Own Expectations of Mediocrity (By Garam Yun)

January 10, 2013 By

The Capacity to Rise Above my Own Expectations of Mediocrity

For the past few weeks, I have advised my little cousin on his college applications. I can’t help but reflect on my own experience applying to schools as he and I go through the process of meeting deadlines, editing essays, and hoping for the best outcomes.

Is it just me or do most, if not all, Korean Americans, including myself, feel at one point or another inadequate in comparison to peers of other ethnic and racial backgrounds? At times, it’s the Korean American girl who feels unpretty next to her classmate who seems to resemble the idealized standard for American beauty–one that she doesn’t feel she meets. It can be the guy who feels desexualized because he is shorter than many middle school kids. Or it’s the Korean American student, like my cousin, who clearly has accomplished academic feats within the demanding schedule of sports practices, extra-curricular clubs, and socializing to maintain relevance in his community. Yet the same student chooses to see the negative over the positive and still doubts his ability to compete for a place at the top schools.

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