Nerds

On one of the threads we’ve been talking about Jews and their contributions to science. I decided to check out the 40 finalists for the Intel Science Competition. Among these budding geeks, I counted 6 clear Jewish names-with another possible 3 or 4. On the order of 10-20% Jewish. I also counted 6 Indians, with 3 that are South Indian, likely Tamil. 11 East Asians-mostly Chinese, though one of the surnames (Kim) is obviously Korean (4 with the surname “Li,” the nerd version of Jones or Smith?). I also noted 2 “Muslim” seeming names. One seems Iranian, and the first name being “Raphael” indicates either a very assimilated family, or a Bahai or Zoroastrian one (Raphael Farzan-Kashani). The other name looks Arab to me, though I’m not an expert I am pretty sure he isn’t a South Asian Muslim as the combination of first and last name just isn’t too common (Tahir Ahmed) [1]. A large portion of the “non-ethnic” white finalists have names that can almost certainly be traced to the last pre-World War I immigration wave.

Perhaps this is what MIT is looking for when it means diversity? Uhh…never mind.

PS-I hope no one is taking this as a cue to assume I think WASPs are “inferior” (some of my best friends are WASPs)-just pointing out there is plenty of diversity in the sciences, just not the right kind…also, check out the finalists for the National Geography Bee, much more ethnically balanced, only 4 Asians (3 East Asians, and what looks to me like a Muslim Bengali).

[1] Assume Jews are 3% of the population (though a smaller portion of the youth segment), and Asians + Muslims (overlapped, but not identical) are about 7% of the population (probably about right if age group is taken into account). With 6+11+6 (I’m discounting the possible Jewish names, only the totally certain ones), that’s nearly 60% of the finalists coming from 10% of the population. In the interests of equity and fairness, we should perhaps look into doing something about this injustice so that other boys and girls who don’t have the same opportunities, with names like Smith, Jones and Johnson, black & white, can also have a chance to reach for geek glory….