For a review of recent Supreme Court rulings, in particular on affirmative action, a good source is this story from The Free Press:
Weekend Listening: Supreme Court Roundtable
Now, on to my rant…
First, let’s set up the premise: Assume that race-based affirmative action is continued, specifically so that college admissions are based on race such that each admitted class is comprised of race consistent with the population (the actual goal may be different, but let’s assume this one for now). The race fraction can be based on local or national populations depending on the typical source of applications. For instance, if the national population is 13% African-American then each incoming class of a national university should be comprised of 13% African-Americans. Got it?
So, you might ask, what’s so wrong with that? Plenty. But we only need one good reason, so here it is: It will never result in equality between the races – ever. It will only result in increased racism. This is such an obvious outcome that I find it hard to believe it isn’t the actual goal of affirmative action defenders.
Picture an elite university where only the best students – those with the highest test scores, the greatest academic achievement – are offered admission. In such a system all the applicants would be roughly equal; all would be in the same small upper fraction of achievement and capabilities. They would have had to compete against each other for entry, and thus would have similar academic backgrounds, resources (good schools, good support systems), and ability. In such a system no one would need to consider race when evaluating the abilities of these students. Regardless of their race, each admitted applicant would be assumed to be fully capable of excelling in this university setting.
Now picture a system where 13% of the admissions are reserved for African-Americans, consistent with the population of the United States. Also assume – for reasons that we do not need to consider just yet – that African-Americans do not score as well on standardized tests or academic achievement measures typically considered for college admissions as some other racial groups. (Note that this must be true; if not, then affirmative action for college admissions would not be needed.) Can you see the problem yet?
The problem is that African-Americans will not have to be among the highest-achieving students to obtain admission to this elite university; they will only have to be among the highest-achieving African-American students. As a result, such an affirmative action system will simply create multiple tiers of admissions based on the applicant’s race. This creates a multitude of unintended consequences, such as:
The “dumbing down” of our elite education institutions. How can you teach to a group of students with widely varying knowledge and skill sets? You have to teach to the lowest common denominator. This is critical, otherwise the minority admits with lower test scores (as a result of competing only against their own race’s scores, rather than the highest applicant scores) risk failure, which would defeat the purpose of the affirmative action program.
A permanent racial caste system for education. Without an incentive to improve test scores or pre-admission academic achievement, why would race-based applicants improve to the levels of the highest-rated students? After all, they only compete with the highest-scoring students of their own race, not necessarily the highest-scoring students. The result will require an ongoing, permanent, race-based admissions system – in direct contradiction with Sandra Day O’Connor’s prediction in Grutter v.Bollinger et al. that:
“…25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary…”
Ongoing racism. Recognition of the lesser skills required of minority students, in both admissions and achievement, will result in ongoing racism (unintentional or not), and fuel the intentional racism of those who see affirmative action as racism aimed at their own identity.
So what then is the solution? Well, it’s definitely not to lower the bar for applicants of specific races. Our goal must instead be to raise all applicants – of all races – to the the same high bar. Only then will race become irrelevant.
Easier said than done, but race-based admissions just got a lot more complicated, too….
