r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	meepmeep13
Comment	> Promoting minority rights in the STEM field is asking to selectively choose who to accept in STEM fields at universities and colleges by discriminating against certain groups No, because that would be positive discrimination, which is illegal in the UK. Generally, it involves providing assistance to disadvantaged people in order to put them on a level pegging with others. For example, we might work through schools to identify people who come from families who have never had anyone go to university, and might normally be expected to leave school at 16. We might provide them with information about alternative future routes through education that they probably haven't previously considered, and give them support through the application process that other people from more advantaged backgrounds would get from their family or school. At the end of the day, though, they still have to meet the same requirements as anybody else, and there is no adjustment made to the competition for places - it's merely a support network, and it's available to anyone who wants to make use of it. It just so happens that the majority of people in such cases tend to come from ethnic minority backgrounds, either due to intrinsic higher rates of poverty / lower educational levels, or cultural differences in terms of valuing education. Similarly, we might send female engineers and scientists to present in schools with the intention of reversing the tendency of girls to reject those subjects at the earliest possible opportunity under peer pressure (and many of whom later regret this). Again, no change is made or preferential treatment given, it is just support and education it is available to anyone who wants it. The world is not a zero-sum game - helping one person does not come at an equivalent cost to another. > Nice, keep patting yourself on the back. Yes, when I see someone whose life I have improved in even some minor but quantifiable manner, then I do generally feel better about my own. I am a happy person, and working to support and improve the lives of others contributes to that.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/aq61x4/taken_last_saturday_this_was_the_sum_total_of_the/eghvy6p/
Created	Fri 15th Feb 2019 12:24am
Status	()

> Promoting minority rights in the STEM field is asking to selectively choose who to accept in STEM fields at universities and colleges by discriminating against certain groups

No, because that would be positive discrimination, which is illegal in the UK.

Generally, it involves providing assistance to disadvantaged people in order to put them on a level pegging with others. For example, we might work through schools to identify people who come from families who have never had anyone go to university, and might normally be expected to leave school at 16. We might provide them with information about alternative future routes through education that they probably haven't previously considered, and give them support through the application process that other people from more advantaged backgrounds would get from their family or school.

At the end of the day, though, they still have to meet the same requirements as anybody else, and there is no adjustment made to the competition for places - it's merely a support network, and it's available to anyone who wants to make use of it. It just so happens that the majority of people in such cases tend to come from ethnic minority backgrounds, either due to intrinsic higher rates of poverty / lower educational levels, or cultural differences in terms of valuing education.

Similarly, we might send female engineers and scientists to present in schools with the intention of reversing the tendency of girls to reject those subjects at the earliest possible opportunity under peer pressure (and many of whom later regret this). Again, no change is made or preferential treatment given, it is just support and education it is available to anyone who wants it.

The world is not a zero-sum game - helping one person does not come at an equivalent cost to another.

> Nice, keep patting yourself on the back.

Yes, when I see someone whose life I have improved in even some minor but quantifiable manner, then I do generally feel better about my own. I am a happy person, and working to support and improve the lives of others contributes to that.