Saturday, January 19, 2013

Achieving Diversity At Universities

The ways they'll twist and contort to avoid what is so plainly obvious to us mere mortals:
After a morning here in which admissions leaders and legal experts discussed strategies for colleges to look beyond the grades and test scores of applicants, Art Coleman said that it was time to acknowledge the "proverbial elephant in the room." That's the issue of merit.

Coleman is a lawyer who has worked with numerous colleges and higher education groups to craft admissions policies that promote diversity and can also survive legal challenges. And he is sympathetic to the strategies discussed here, and to the idea that diversity is important to higher education, and that colleges have good reason to look beyond a formula of test scores and grades. But he said that if colleges fail to talk about merit and what it means, they are likely to lose the battle (in courts and public opinion) for the way they seek to diversify their classes.
My favorite line in the article:
"There is a fundamental disconnect between the ivory tower and Main Street on these issues," he said.
Well, duh.

3 comments:

allen (in Michigan) said...

Yeah, "main street" knows it for what it is, affirmative action, i.e. "good" racism and in the ivory tower it's a valuable pretense of tolerance. "Valuable" to those who enjoy the luxury of practicing bigotry at someone else's expense.

Anonymous said...

Diversity is all about letting less smarter kids into college period. Unfortunately, diversity relies only on color of skin. It should instead consider diversity of thought.

Anonymous said...

The state legislature where I currently live is discussing need-based scholarships to state schools. It seems to me that, as currently practiced, need-based operates as a code-word for "diverse" and that need, like diversity, is prioritized far above academic merit. (I've read reports of SAT gaps of 300-467 points) I will be writing my state reps today to state my unalterable opposition to any taxpayer-funded aid of any kind (grants, loans etc) to anyone whose SAT/ACT does not indicate readiness for real college-level, non-remedial, classes. Kids (of any sort, including athletes) below that barrier shouldn't be admitted under any conditions. Any need-based aid should go to those needy kids with the highest academic qualifications and I don't care if they're pink, green or striped.