Let me state first and foremost that I understand that Affirmative Action is not quotas. But another thing that it is not, when dealing with college admissions, is fair. This is going back a few years now, but surely some people still recall the opposition to the Michigan State admissions practices [1] [2]. At the time the news was such that it drew attention from President Bush and former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. For the most part, I agree with Bush on this issue (this very specific issue at Michigan State). However, I disagree that this is a quota. Bush stated:

A college education should teach respect and understanding and goodwill. And these values are strengthened when students live and learn with people from many backgrounds. Yet quota systems that use race to include or exclude people from higher education and the opportunities it offers are divisive, unfair and impossible to square with the Constitution.

Today the issue continues to be contentious in Missouri [1] [2].

I understand that Diversity is an extremely important issue on campuses throughout the United States. I am a strong supporter of Diversity. When I was the President of the Student Government at Purchase College (before I was married and added the “Stinger” to my maiden name of “Stein”), I fought tirelessly to promote Diversity on campus. I was directly responsible for the creation of the “Diversity Committee” and the creation of the school’s web pages on Diversity. I represented students from all sides of the issue when there were problems and I discovered that I could not please any side 100%, because emotions run high around this issue. I also took part in numerous search committees and worked directly with the former Affirmative Action officer on numerous issues. I state all of this because it is evidence of my strong support for Diversity on campus. I understand that Affirmative Action is not defined as “hiring the person of color,” but as “making sure the pool of candidates is diverse to begin with.” It is an effort to ensure that you hire the best candidate and that the pool is filled with great candidates from many backgrounds. And if you end up with two equally qualified candidates, you look more closely at the needs of the school. For instance, if you are hiring a psychologist and you have three white psychologists already and no psychologists of color, you need to find someone from a diverse background because students need diversity in the staff as well as in the student body.

All this being said, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that a school should ever reward an applicant extra points in the admissions process because of the color of his skin. I don’t care if it is 20 points or 1 point, such a reward is discriminatory. I think of the words of MLK, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Here’s the problem I have with points based on race or ethnicity, it could ensure that a rich black kid gets a college education, but a poor white kid does not. Think of it this way:

In Western New York there are a number of school districts. Some are extraordinarily wealthy. Some are terribly poor. The wealthy schools perform a lot better than the poor schools. Most Buffalo, NY high schools finish close to last. For this example, let’s look at Grover Cleveland High School. This is a terrible school. Why it is a terrible school is completely beside the point for a college admission officers. A cursory glance at the statistics shows us a few facts:

Total Students(2005 – 2006*): 1018
Fulltime teachers: 70.0
Student/Teacher Ratio: 14.5

Eligible for discounted/free lunch: 655 ( 64 %)

Am. Indian/Alaska Native: 10 ( 1 %)
Asian/Pacific Islander: 17 ( 2 %)
Hispanic: 296 ( 29 %)
African American: 571 ( 56 %)
White: 124 ( 12 %)
Unspecified: 0 ( 0 %)

Note that 124 students from this school are white and would therefore receive less consideration than their classmates if applying to the 2003 Michigan State admissions process. In 2006, the students’ average Regents math score was 25. Average Regents English score was 67. It seems that this school under-performs, but let’s compare it to a wealthier school less than an hour’s drive away.

Orchard Park High School is extremely wealthy and provides an excellent education. It receives a rank of 80 out of 799 (lower is better). And it shows in their Regents Math scores (98) and their Regents English scores (95). While 64% of Grover Cleveland students qualify for a free or discounted lunch, only 11% of Orchard Park student qualify. These students have been born or have been able to move to a school that provides and excellent education and offers a good chance of getting into college, regardless of race and ethnicity. But the question is, “Are there students of color at Orchard Park?” Well, let’s take a look:

Total Students(2005 – 2006*): 1651
Fulltime teachers: 113.0
Student/Teacher Ratio: 14.6

Eligible for discounted/free lunch: 181 ( 11 %)

Am. Indian/Alaska Native: 5 ( 0 %)
Asian/Pacific Islander: 14 ( 1 %)
Hispanic: 12 ( 1 %)
African American: 16 ( 1 %)
White: 1604 ( 97 %)
Unspecified: 0 ( 0 %)

There are 16 African American students, 12 Hispanic students, 5 American Indians students and 14 Asian/Pacific Islander students. There is no doubt that that is a tiny percentage. There is no doubt that in the case illustrated, students of color are receiving a disproportionately poor high school education. I am in strong favor of fixing the problem of piss poor high schools and the racial inequality that is associated with it. However, that does not change the fact that there are 124 white student at Grover Cleveland that are receiving a poor education and 47 students of color at Orchard Park who are receiving an excellent education. The students of color at Orchard Park qualify for bonus points in the 2003 Michigan State admissions process, while the poor white students at Grover Cleveland receive no such consideration. This is a major problem. This is racist.

So what is to be done?

I think that we need to create a system that rewards points based on the socioeconomic circumstances that a student comes from and the school that the prospective student comes from. New York State ranks its high schools. I don’t know whether all states do, but they need to. Then a comprehensive list of all the nation’s schools needs to be created. That list will need to be uniform in order to properly compare schools. The standardized tests of “No Child Left Behind” should help with this. Then the schools should be ranked and “scored.” Schools that perform well should not result in extra points for applicants, but schools that perform poorly should. Let’s take the 20 points that were rewarded for race in the Michigan State process and give those points to students who come from poorly performing schools. Perhaps 10 points should go to student who come from mediocre schools as well. This would be a system that properly compensates for the uneven playing-field of American High Schools.

Here's my guess. If the economy goes up, Obama's rating will too. If the economy goes down, so will Obama's rating. Now let's watch it right here. It may not happen immediately, but it will usually follow.

Subscribe to my RSS Feed