Question about heritage/ancestry?

Question

How much (what fraction) of your heritage does something have to be to effect your
-physical appearance?
-health?
-things such as college scholarships/government stuff?

no, i'm talking about stuff like being native american or something, you know like there is a black college fund, native american college fund, ect.

Answer 1

your dna affects a lot of your appearence and health, but your environment affects your health a lot and can somewhat affect your appearence.

your background can affect how much you get for scholarships. jobs even. a lot of places are trying to get diversity in their schools, organizations, and workplaces. So if you are anything but the majority, in that you already have an advantage. One time I wanted to apply for a program and it said you could apply if you were african american, asian american, of middle eastern descent, etc. Everything but white. I really wanted to do that program too :-(

I love that I am involved in a school that loves diversity because I love meeting new people, but as a white female I often find it puts me at a disadvantage. I am still in a majority in my school but they often try to have a good balance of ethnic and religious backgrounds in all programs -_- When the majority tries to go for it, they are at a disadvantage because there is more competition. A lot of my friends of nonwhite ancestory recieved a lot more scholarships than me even with the same resumes.

Answer 2

The answer to your question is that even a tiny fraction of DNA from an ancestor can affect your health and physical appearance if the genes are dominant enough. There were some studies done in Canada about a disease that was passed from 3 sisters who were born in the 1600s and how it is still passed to their descendents 400 years later. So even though it's many, many generations later, the eye disease is still in the tree.

Eye and hair color and other traits in your appearance pop in and out from one generation to another. There isn't a magic point where something just disappears.

Scholarships and government stuff only have a magic number if you're a First Nations/Native American because of treaties. Otherwise you aren't going to get special treatment because the Supreme Court set aside special race tests in a case against the University of Michigan a couple of years ago and said that the Equal Protection clause added to the Constitution prevents set asides.

Answer 3

Your question is extensive and has many parts however, the basic issue here is if your heritage affects your physical appearance - yes! health - yes! As far as college scholarships - well - I'm not sure what you're getting at. My minds says that you are suggesting that if you are of 'color' perhaps you might stand getting a scholarship quicker than someone who is not of "color". That might have been true 10 years ago - but that is not the case today. If you review the research, you will find that many of the 'laws' of our country were designed to fit the people who were living here. (whites were proven and established as correct - Native Americans were placed on reservations and managed by the government, restricted in movements and ability to grow) As our country grew and we accepted more creeds, colors, cultures, those laws did not seem to apply to 'them'. As a result, Amendments were created to incorporate everyone who felt left out. When the term "all men" was used - it didn't mean - "all men" - the right to vote was always on the books - but blacks didn't have the right to vote (without fear of reprise, injury, death....) until 1965. Standards in many cases were lowered because in the school systems, it was found that unequal opportunities for education were dividing the groups of people. Now, the research tells us that they are raising these standards again. (well, Bush really jacked things up when he pushed this "No Child Left Behind" law.....our grades have changed. 75 used to be a"D" in anybody's book - now it' s a "C" to accept the students who might be 'left behind' and the effort to promote that 'every child can learn". I think I've managed to ramble about your questions -but I hope I've answered some of it. Oh - by the way - here at Tennessee State U - a predominately African American College - White students do receive stipends and scholarships to come - it's a state school - to get state money , you have to show that you have a mixture of students of various ethnic groups attending. Who knows? Go figure.

Answer 4

I think I am answering this correctly--
as far as physical appearance--i am the blonde haired blue eyed Belgian, inherited from my mothers side as she is from Belgium.
Health--I could not figure out why I had so many health problems and my parents or brother did not. When I was 28 I found out that the man I thought was my father wasn't. Met my real father, knew the family, being from a small town, and soon discovered that my health problems ran in his side of the family i.e. diabetes, lupus, MS, heart disease ( that is why I firmly believe that adopted children should know)
I was also , being that the parents on my birth certificate, were both from Belgium and not citizens, that I was entitled for additional funding for college as I was considered a minority.

I remember my mother saying when i was young " you are just like your father" Could never figure it out cuz I did not look or act like him. When I met my real father, then i saw where she was coming from. Although I did not know him , I was just like him personality wise and would read a book every 3 days as he did. Funny how that is genetic.

Answer 5

*I suspect the first poster assumes that all states were alike pre-1965 but I don't believe they were.