Saturday, May 16, 2015

The Wages of Affirmative Action

Affirmative action is affirmative discrimination, especially towards those of Asian descent:
More than 60 Asian American organizations filed a complaint (see below) with the federal government on Friday alleging that Harvard University discriminates against Asian Americans in the admissions process and calling for an investigation.

The Harvard Crimson, a student newspaper on campus, wrote in this story that 64 groups filed the complaint with the U.S. Education and Justice departments, arguing that the university makes an “unlawful use of race” in its decisions that hurts Asian Americans...

This is the second complaint against Harvard admissions  practices on behalf of Asian Americans in a month. A legal defense group called Project on Fair Representation filed a lawsuit against Harvard about a month ago on behalf of a group called Students for Fair Admissions. It accuses Harvard of “employing racially and ethnically discriminatory policies” in its admissions practices. You can read that suit here.
Our colleges and universities, at least those who get taxpayer money, should focus on academics, and if I as a taxpayer have to pay for the education of others because somehow it's a public good that I do so, I should at least have the satisfaction of knowing that I'm paying for the best and brightest, those at the top end of the academic performance spectrum.

And if that means that our colleges and universities are overwhelmingly Asian, so be it.  Why we're still looking at skin color and eye shape in 2015 is a mystery to me.  Chief Justice Roberts said it best when he said in the Parents Involved case, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

1 comment:

maxutils said...

It's not 'somehow' a public good; it IS a public good. But you're correct -- we pay for way too many people in public universities who prove themselves not worthy of being there -- and that's what the community colleges are for. Or trade schools. Much of the problem is due to our insistence that the US would be a better place if everyone went to college … well, no it wouldn't.

On the other hand … I don't know what the exact figures are -- but if you go merit ONLY you're going to get a UC Berkeley which has a student population of Asian students wildly disproportionate to their percentage in the population. And that's not what the public Universities are there for… it's de facto segregation. And I am NOT in favor of giving underrepresented races preferential treatment … but, GPAs have become ridiculous. When I got in to UCD, my first choice, I did it with a 3.39. Due to grade inflation, which is rampant (ask me about what my daughter's English teacher gives extra credit for …) and the increase in AP courses? You could have a 4.2 and not get in to Davis, and I'd be willing to bet you aren't any smarter than me …

The question is access: lower income school which perform less well don't have nearly as many AP classes … so youcan be the smartest kid in your school, graduate with an unblemished 4.0, and still lose out to the rich kid from the rich district, who got to take 8 AP classes. That isn't fair, and that's why you need to look at the whole package.

What I would suggest? Have HS s administer the placement exams for English an d math before application time -- you fail to meet UC/CSUS (translate for your own state) and they don't take your application.