Affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been challenged in court.
A lawsuit against Harvard alleges the university limits the number of Asian-Americans it admits each year, arguing that white, black, and Hispanic applicants are given racial preferences over better qualified Asian-American applicants.
If our universities get more Asian and less white/black/brown, what do I care? I believe that the primary purpose of universities is to educate, and the people who show the most potential for education should be the ones let in. I'm not one to concern myself with skin color in this or just about any other situation.
Merit. It's the scores, baby.
The problem is … with grade inflation as it is these days, Universities are not picking solely on scores -- schools like Harvard or UCB could fill their freshman class entirely with students over 4.0, and still have plenty left. High school teachers really have a duty to not let this happen … and if a school, especially a private one, wants to set reasonable quotas for essentially equally qualified candidates by race … so be it. I would probably have a different view if I felt that high school grades represented anything meaningful...
ReplyDeleteIsn't that why God invented the SAT?
ReplyDeleteThe SAT certainly helps … but it's one test, on one day, and I know first hand that SAT prep courses are designed to beat the test rather than help the student learn. I trained to be a math instructor for one of these courses, and I dropped out because the criticism of me was that I actually wanted to explain how to do a problem, rather than get the right answer by trickery. So -- I'm aware that these courses don't statistically raise scores that much, but I have lost some faith in the test. I believe performance should be the primary factor, but as long as the students selected are qualified to do the work? I don't see why other factors can't also be considered. What is wrong is when, as with our UC and CSU campuses, people are admitted who can't pass high school math and English tests.
ReplyDeleteJust saw a news segment reporting that many universities are choosing not to use SAT/ACT scores as criteria for admittance anymore.
ReplyDeleteMax, the problem with what you've described is that it's the floor--you think they should take anyone who's minimally qualified. I choose the other end of the spectrum, choosing those who are *most* qualified.
ReplyDeleteYours is the more pure position, Darren … but I think that the argument that a campus might benefit from having a qualified but more diverse student population has some merit. I think it would also be a good thing if we kind of backed off the idea that you needed to take 3 AP classes a year to build your GPA and totally stress out your kids … as I have seen, personally. When i went to UCD? They suggested that you not attempt more than 12 units your first semester (3 classes) but we have high school students who do that, plus three or four other classes … and they expect, and get, better grades. And … don't even get me started on the teachers who will bump already weighted grades up based on AP performance … if you were getting a C in my class, and you got a 5 on the AP …then you got a 5 on the AP and a C in my class. Why would I raise your entire grade based on one test?
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