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Lost In The Numbers: The Underrepresentation Of Asian American Groups And The Case For Disaggregating “Asian” Data, William W. Yu

William W Yu

While certain Asian ethnicities outperform Whites and other groups with respect to socioeconomic achievement, other Asian groups fail to reach the same levels of success. Despite this, the aggregate treatment of Asian Americans continues in affirmative action debates, especially in the educational context. As a result, the unique needs and issues of groups such as Southeast Asians are often ignored. The aggregate treatment is also used to justify the exclusion of Asian Americans from affirmative action policies because of a belief that Asian Americans as a whole are already adequately represented in schools, and thus no longer need affirmative action. …