An excellent ensemble cast in an important play that stretches your values to the breaking point. I strongly recommend it.
1
I saw the play and loved it. Thought Jessica Hecht was superb. The whole cast was.
2
A troubling play, not because of the first world problems of the privileged, but the snobby ignorance about the good work of community colleges.
1
As always in the NYT discussions of race and elite college admissions studiously avoids the narratively inconvenient elephant in the room -- rampant discrimination against Asians in the admission process to the benefit of all other "races" (sigh we still have to use that term). The data is all there. It's absolutely clear that Northen Asians (Chinese and Korean) and Indians face well designed much higher hurdles regarding test scores and assessments of outside activities and the "all roundedness" standards first devised to keep the number of Jews admitted to elite colleges down. No suprise here. People operating the levers of power are supporting themselves and their pet projects. Just be honest about it. But keeping the play about Blacks and Whites makes it so much easier doesn't it? Finally, on historical woes suffered by groups anyone with an ounce of knowledge of US history, encompassing the uniquely racist China Exclusion Act of 1882 and the long history of hostitliy, denial of citizenship including voting rights, racism, pogroms and violence,directed towards Chinese by both the privileged and unprivileged of this country knows the Chinese can make this argument as well. Funny thing all this was directed at the Chinese because they worked too hard and competed too well and were seen as not prone to "assimilating" enough to the dominant culture. Things haven't changed. The racism and inherent hostility to a threatening other are still there.
6
Actually the young boy, Charlie, mentions this issue during the epic rant he delivers upon receiving the bad news from Yale.
10
There are thousands of colleges and junior colleges in the country. Not every one can get into one of the "elite" schools; there are plenty of good alternatives.
I think the selection issue arises most among those who are desperate to get their children into top colleges that have hundreds of applicants for every opening. That is why prudent students--and their parents--follow a strategy of applying to multiple colleges.
Colleges already apply various selection criteria to choose each year's freshman class: grades, test scores, recommendations, talent (music, art, sports, whatever), family linkages, etc. What is so different--or wrong--about ensuring that each class includes some blacks, hispanics, poor, etc. who meet the academic criteria?
My takeaway is that the play is about the parents. They have constructed their lives around their ambitions for their son (a different play if it were a daughter). This is a wonderful story of the courage an adolescent has to muster to become an individual. And, as the worm turns, the entitlement of parents who have created the perfect edifice for success but is overtaken by their own success in incubating a truly unique person. The play operates on many levels, not merely the political plane.
3
Yale would/should never accept a student that only took 2 OR 3 AP courses.
3
My high school didn't offer AP courses, guess nobody there's getting into Yale!
3
Merit based admissions only
2
That's only fair when kids had equal opportunity and a level playing field before approaching college -- and in a country with such profound racial and economic inequalities that's impossible.
5
it's fair at any time that people are free - which is why non-white asian students are being kept out. regardless of the disadvantages of not being white, asians are killing it as students. they are held to a MUCH higher standard than white or black students. even if they live in one room with their families, who toil away at manual labor. I know such cases.
2
Oh, so the reality of PC admissions of students who are not as gifted or qualified as other applicants is in question? Oh, I forgot, it's The Times.
2
Words like Woke, inclusivity, diversity, white privilege, affirmative action glow with magnanimity and right-mindedness. It takes little effort to invoke them and gives their invokers moral superiority. When it comes down to a left liberal’s complaining he has lost his place at Yale because of affirmative action, he shows his hypocrisy, an easy thing to satirize. So many of us have silently submitted to these words to avoid being argumentatively trumped by the accusation of “racism.” I guess I would enjoy watching an audience of NY liberals uncomfortable and squirming in their theater seats, though the reviewer suggests the play goes off into a less chartable, more original direction.
5
You forgot 'virtue signaling'. My personal favorite.
2
For the record, when I saw this totally excellent show, the entire audience was white. (Or certainly appeared to be). Several of us were parents of high school kids deep into the admissions process. Charlie's anger hit home - especially when he brought up how the lack of intellectual diversity in the PC movement had creeped into his high school classes. We loved how the show underscored the hypocrisy of his smug parents who are more in love with academic brand names than substantive education and eventually use their arsenal of personal contacts to benefit their son.
5
I am reminded of attending an expensive private, very liberal PC college in the 70s. It was a tumultuous time there with strikes stopping classes and almost closing the school. Strikes organized and supported by the upper class kids whose parents paid full tuition. As kids started abandoning the school working class kids like me just went home to look for work while the upper class kids transfered to Harvard or MIT by their professor daddy. We need to start giving class equal emphasis in diversity admissions.
12
I wish people could hear this. Economic and class barriers are just as present as racial and gender ones, but don't get anywhere near the attention.
2
The part about the carefully posed diverse groupings in the admissions catalog and other college materials certainly rings true. And colleges agonize over it these days.
2
One of the most irksome thing about this conversation, and why I feel is difficult to seriously engage this topic, is many people who complain loudly about this tend to have very strong feeling of entitlement and grievance.
I'm not entirely sure where this sense of entitlement comes from, or why it is so deeply embedded in some people. Regardless these people or their overbearing helicopter parents have convinced themselves, have, they are deserving of spots at selective institutions. When they don't get accepted, the grievance kicks in, somehow someway someone must have wronged them (even though they applied to a school which rejects 95% of its applicants).
Perhaps, I feel so disheartened because the worse of it often comes from self proclaimed tolerant liberals, who when pushed are revealed to be depressingly self-centered, entitled, and shockingly tribal.
12
Really? You don't get it?
You don't understand why, for example, a couple who both went to University X, paid full fare and, over the years, have given generously to said university, and have seen to it that their offspring are well-educated and well rounded students, athletes, whatever, and now these parents are willing to pay the astonishingly high cost of tuition for their children who, at least on paper, are as strong candidates as any for admission -- you don't understand how they can feel frustrated because their kids are considered too mainstream white, or just one more Asian who plays violin, or one more anything that University X now feels it has enough of?
You don't get that? Then don't buy the expensive theater ticket to a play like this because your befuddlement will only increase
2
Are you saying that a couple who attended an elite school because their parents were wealthy enough to pay full tuition, and who in turn have been wealthy enough to donate to that university while also using their lion's share of wealth to send their kids to prep schools where everyone gets individual attention and excellent grades, and provide them with all the extra-curricular activities and "experiences" that should make an admission counselor's head spin -- do you mean that these parents are justified in their frustration when their kid is turned down in favor of a public school kid who is passionate about music and worked weekends and summers to afford her violin lessons, but who didn't have the money for an expensive SAT tutor or the spare time to bring her scores to the level of their kid's scores? Is that what you're saying?
8
Who are you to determine when people are "justified in their emotions"? Are you some sort of judge who decides when someone has the "right" to feel a certain way?
To answer your question: yes, these people have a right to feel the way they do. Because they feel a certain way doesn't mean the world should cater to them. That's more the thinking of those who would give into anyone whose emotions are deemed proper or "justified."
5
I'm a fan of the other two Harmon plays mentioned. This review, as well as the impassioned comments it (and the play) elicited make me want to see ADMISSIONS all the more.
Do the producers dare have talk-back sessions after performances -- along with referees to keep the discussions civil?!
12
As usual the aggrieved whites making comments here never mention economic class. Neither apparently does the playwright (or the critic).
14
Try working in an urban black school or a black neighborhood. The violence will cure political correctness very quickly.
25
In response to all those who support affirmative action, I ask: Who should be favored for admission to an elite college, all other things being equal (grades, SAT scores, etc.) An upper middle class black student with well educated parents (think Malia Obama) or a poor white Appalachian kid who is the first in his/her family to got to college? Under our current definition of affirmative action, the black kid would receive favorable treatment.
Rich kids, black or white, don't need a boost. Affirmative action should be based on class, not race (or the claim of a racial privilege.)
49
Actually some schools do consider economic status as a factor.
15
I've always thought poor American born white children are the same as poor blacks, they should receive free tuition. Both sets of children suffered due to slavery; white children's parents were forced into hate; but as MLK said, those children, when they come together will change the world. Admission, affirmative action, free tuition should be based on class.
7
I support affirmative action. Who really cares about the elite education? It's mainly about access to job, careers, money, wealth, power, etc. Most blacks would gladly trade affirmative action for a FAIRER shake in getting jobs. Here's my defense. Two business school professors (University of Chicago and MIT) sent out approximately 5000 resumes--the only difference was that half of the resumes had "white" sounding names and the other half had "black" sounding names. Other than that seemingly insignificant difference, the resumes were IDENTICAL. The resumes with white sounding names got over 50% more responses than the black sounding names. How is this FAIR? Is there anyone on these comment boards complaining about this real disparity and inequality? When a black applicant and a white applicant apply for a job, who checks to make sure that the hiring manager is not being biased against the minority? Yeah, I wish race were not a factor in any of our decisions but to pretend that races are treated equally and fairly away from college admissions is DISINGENOUS. So, if this means that a few white kids from Appalachia lose out or that a white kid with 3 AP courses loses out to a "black" with only 2 AP courses, I'll live with that. Because as soon as blacks leave the "idealistic" confines of the elite college, the 'ADVANTAGES OF RACE" evaporates and they return to their unequal existence.
11
This play sounds brilliant. It seems like it skewers our society's insistence on trying to solve social inequities at the college level when it is too little too late for many kids. Who can blame colleges for seizing on bright privileged kids from the sought-after minority groups? It's not the colleges' fault that no one has been able to address the problem further back up the education pipeline.
6
Merit is easier to measure than melanin.
6
Are you kidding? Melanin is easier to measure than merit. Merit always depends on who is "meriting" and what is "mertible". Melanin is much, much easier to quantify.
13
Racial Diversity and Affirmative Action are sugar-coated euphemisms for racial quotas. I'm neither white not black (about the only 2 races the NYT considers in its pieces), and I abhor racial quotas (racial preferences). The logical end to this - blacks and very liberal whites v. everyone else. A shame.
30
Racial Diversity is not racial quotas. That is a bold faced lie.
8
No, no, no.
Affirmative action means you take actions that affirm the values of diversity and inclusion such as taking extra steps to broaden the pool of qualified candidates and checking the entire hiring or selection process for implicit or confiaiton bias. That is hardly a quota.
2
Really interesting ideas about whether or not Perry is “black enough.” I know Brazil has some sort of affirmative-action-like program that attempts to favor people with physically darker skin—so one sibling might be considered “black,” while another might not. This is based on the idea that society at large will be kinder to lighter-skinned people, and the “diversity” we need to increase is in physical appearance. Interesting conundrum to contemplate...
10
It's hard to have honest discussions about race as it relates to affirmative action. One side is blinkered by idealistic naivety, the other by spiteful vindictiveness.
The result is that the truths that need to be said aloud aren't, for fear of giving the other side ammunition. This is no way to run a country.
40
I think this might be the best comment I've read this year so far.
5
I'm confused by the reviewer's comment that "In real life this plot wouldn't happen". I'm a recent college grad from a white, liberal family and almost everyone I know has been through this plot (or some variation of it).
58
I have debated with myself to make a comment on this article. Once, again the only diversity for admissions being talked about is the African American students. How about the other diversities like geographical colleges like people from diverse areas of the U.S. and international students, certain talents they many want someone who is a poet, people forget about the other sports like the squash coach or golf coach may want a player (not just the big sports give athletic scholarships), they also seek sexual diversity but the one that brings the largest consideration is alumna children. There are many things the admission office is considering when they are thinking of the make up of the next freshman class.
16
If we could see a play "Un-Documented"
about elites on the Upper East and West Sides of Mahattan
who refuse to hire anyone but "Un-Documented"
Nannies/Maids/Gardeners...
and then tell themselves they are helping the "poor"
when they would never hire a poor American.
27
To John Brown:
You need to get out of Idaho once in a while and learn a little before you make snarky uninformed comments and assumptions about elites. Most of the people who live on the upper east and west side of New York are hard working people who do not have household help. Those who do hire them from agencies who check documentation and set the rates. Many nannies make more than I, an upper westsider for 50 years, ever did, and their employers do not see their jobs as charity.
I wonder how many Idaho farmers, ranchers, restaurants, food processing plants, lumber, mining, and service companies hire undocumented workers.
19
Admissions based on race is wrong no matter how many ways the left wants to twist itself up about it.
I think Asians are suing Harvard over the fact that Asians need to score 450 points higher than blacks for admission. About time.
51
simon, admissions are not based solely on race. It is just one factor that's taken into account.
Too much whining from whites, who have run the country since its founding because they are white. For hundreds of years, and still today, whites have gotten ahead in part because of their color. Trying to help some blacks get ahead because of their color seems like the least we can do.
So your kid goes to Duke instead of Harvard. He or she will do fine.
26
Actually, for years the affirmative action at Harvard as for the children of Harvard grads, who had significantly lower scores than Asian applicants. In court Harvard argued that giving this preference to the privileged was a "business necessity" as parents stopped donating when child was rejected.
14
Why do so many focus ONLY on college admissions based on race? What about hiring based on race? Two professors from University of Chicago and MIT conducted a study in which they mailed out 5000 FICTITIOUS resumes applying for advertised jobs and positions. The ONLY difference in the resumes is that some had "white" sounding names and the other half of the resumes had black sounding names. Other than this seemingly innocuous difference, the resumes were IDENTICAL. RESULT: The resumes with white sounding name had over 50% greater response rate than the resumes with black sounding names. I wonder why aggrieved whites or Asians focus on admissions to IVY league schools but generally fail to condemn hiring managers/companies that practice reverse affirmative action in their hiring practices! I guarantee that blacks would be willing to give up the 'advantage' of race in admissions for a FAIRER shake a jobs, careers and other opportunities!
3
Our country practically destroyed Native American cultures and used Blacks as slaves. We do have an obligation to their descendants even though this hurts many of us, as individuals. Overall, it helps us as Americans.
In contrast to Native Americans and Black Americans, our country does not owe undocumented immigrants anything. Many of those who think our country should legitimize them, are not the ones who have to compete with them in their daily lives. Their children are not attending schools over-crowded with ESL learners who require an inordinate amount of teacher attention. People who support the undocumented are not in competition with them for affordable housing, for a limited number of government subsidies (eg. help with heating bills), for beds at the local hospital, or for jobs. Their wages have not been depressed by the large numbers of undocumented swelling the labor pool. Having no experience in what it is like to compete with the flood of undocumented migrants, some affluent people think our country should give them a path to citizenship. And then, they are shocked to realize that they, themselves, or their own children may not be admitted to a university or get a position because preference is being given to the undocumented.
We cannot help everyone.
29
This. This is what a lot of the extreme left doesn’t get. It’s easy to be magnanimous with people who aren’t competing with you for income or resources.
6
And it is this issue -- illegal immigration (a distinct the Times no longer deigns to make) -- that fuels the rise of people like Trump and actions like Brexit, and election results in Italy, France (through the second round), Poland and Hungary.
Until the Dems can face the fact that illegal entrants have drastically hurt the working class (eg, legal citizens in construction or fast food restaurants in LA) they will be fighting people like Trump with an arm behind their back -- when in fact both fists are needed.
1
The only thing you need to do to solve this is to cut a little fraction of the military budget. There are not enough beds in hospitals or spots for "elite" education not because of immigrants, but because the government would use the money to bomb poor countries and keep the military industry alive and kicking than taking care of its own people.
In a show about racism, all the actors, the author, the director and the night I saw it, every member of the audience was white. THAT made me uncomfortable.
41
It's a Broadway version of "Fifty Shades" -- liberal sado-masochism.
6
My friend and I were the only people of color when we went for the preview. I'm happy that I wasn't the only one who noticed and felt uncomfortable about it.
1
I am so very tired of identity politics in every aspect of our culture. I long for our culture to view the citizens of this country as that -- American citizens -- and people are judged by their integrity, compassion, intelligence and contributions to our society rather than on the color of their skin (to paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr.). I am a white person and I've never done harm to another being, yet cultural outlets, including most media, portray my identity as calculatingly evil. That's far from the truth.
60
“I am a white person and I've never done harm to another being, yet cultural outlets, including most media, portray my identity as calculatingly evil.”
Talk about clueless, self-absorbed, and exaggerating for effect.
2
It's amazing that the Left has abandoned MLK's vision of a color-blind society in favor of a hyper-color sensitive one, with the cultural institutions marshalled to promote reverse discrimination while mouthing Orwellian platitudes about "diversity."
49
And in consequence the Left is losing ground in ballot boxes everywhere.
Berkeleyans' vision has replaced that of Victor Hugo, and that is not a good thing.
12
The left seems to be doing pretty at ballot boxes recently, and are extremely optimistic heading into future elections.
6
I agree with the "amazing" part. At some point, the white elite, especially in universities, but throughout federal agencies, too, decided that the re-racialization of America was the path to progress. They abandoned the MLK dream and the Coltrane vision. Christian universalism was abandoned. The lessons of racialized societies of the past were forgotten. America as a different place, with aspirations of liberty for each person, inalienable rights for each person, was basically tossed off as hypocrisy instead of being seen as a difficult but worthy and living aspiration. I will never understand it. Never. This anti-vision is now widespread and permeates the managerial classes, the universities, and even K-12 education. These views are now what we inculcate in children. We are headed down a dangerous path, away from what was best about this country, down a path many countries take for granted as the only reality.
2
I enjoyed the play in preview. At times the audience seemed to be part of the drama. That's show biz!
8
Best new play I've seen in awhile. Strong acting with challenging ideas that turn the wheels of drama.
15
"Someone has to stand up and offer someone else his seat." That's all well and good on a bus - both parties will get where they are trying to go.
But in college admissions, corporate leadership, or political leadership, the same does not hold. If I give up my "seat" - i.e., by job as a corporate executive - where do I go? What do I do? Who pays my bills? Who puts my kids through college?
The examples cited in this play are real. My nephews are "black" because their mother is from Africa, although their father is white. They are growing up in an upper middle class family in the suburbs in a strong family. Their experiences aren't drastically different from my son's. But they will be considered "diverse," and my son will not be. They will be preferred admissions to college, and my son will not be. They will be desired "diverse" hires at companies, and my son will be the undesired, privileged, undeserving white male.
How is that advancing society? Why isn't our goal to evaluate each individual as an individual based on skills and accomplishments rather than inherent, immutable biological characteristics?
82
"My, my my, mine, mine, mine mine..." Maybe take away from your own comment your own level of privilege and entitlement. Is there a need for diversity because unqualified minorities don't have much chance at the best school/work placements or that the qualified one's don't? Obviously its because the qualified minorities still have a hurdle your son never will. Your son, by passport of white skin, will never be wanting for the best jobs and promotions or investor interest in his ideas no matter if he goes to Harvard or Kean. Statistics show that an ivy league degree means very little more to the career success of a white person vs that of a minority. I can understand as a parent that you want the best for your kid, but do they even need it? In all likelihood they don't. I can only speak to my own experiences, but being Black, educated, and a veteran has still meant competing very hard for the next from the lowest rungs on the ladder. I see my white counterparts flying to new heights with relative ease. As one of few minority persons in the office, we (Asian, Black various, Latino, Indian) discuss freely our challenges with getting jobs, and promotions. The biggest problem with white privilege is white denial or underestimation of just how broad & powerful it is. You are correct that when they are kids, the challenges can be similar as you described, but you better believe that as older teens and adults, the world becomes VERY different.
36
This system was created by white men in the first place, when they gave every seat at the table to someone who looked just like them, not based on meritocracy or skills or accomplishments. Just race and gender propelled white men forward to their current positions as today's 'leaders'. Those same 'leaders' are the very ones that brought our economy to a grinding halt; those same 'leaders' are why Dick Cheney and Halliburton started a needless war in Iraq. That's the bed white men made. Now sleep in it.
24
OK. So I shouldn't focus on me or mine, I should focus on you and your's? And who are you focusing on? Me or you?
13
Having first read a NYM/Vulture review that mostly took the audience to task for seemingly reacting positively to a skewering of political correctness, I was happy to read a review that noted that the audience's reactions through the play were subject to an uncomfortable guilt about its collective previous reactions.
23