Affirmative Action is dead... here comes the hype!

Apparently, black students at Berkeley are like a needle in a haystack but before I get in to that I want to make a note of the use of statistics in the article. I'm not certain if the author is regurgitating what he was told, an idiot with regards to statistical presentation or trying to sensationalize his story by lying. This quote in particular troubles me immensely, "As of late spring, 98 black students had registered for fall enrollment out of an expected class of 3,821." Why not compare black students currently registered for fall enrollment vs. all students currently registered for fall enrollment? Because you want the problem to appear worse then it is.

(Similarly, this article leads with the information that minority applications are down 21% at the University of Michigan but then later mentions that overall applications are down 18%. What really happened is that minority applications dropped from something like 15% of all applications received to something like 14.5% of all applications received... a difference of about 25 kids out of 5,545)

Let's address the meat of the article though. Affirmative Action took quite a blow when the Supreme Court ruled that the University of Michigan's policy was in error. While they stopped short of saying Affirmative Action is wrong they essentially said what most people have been saying for a long time. It's wrong to associate color with a "point bonus" for getting into school. How anyone can say that isn't racist is beyond me.

I am a firm believer in Affirmative Action but not as it's used today. Ever since I understood what Affirmative Action was I've felt it was wrong. The premise is that blacks are disadvantaged to start with and discriminated against to keep them down. I will grant the premise (despite any disagreements I may have with it) but I don't like the solution. Instead let's give preferential treatment to the poor. Let's put our weight behind inner city schools rather then suburban ones. Let's admit the B+ student in the Bronx rather then the A- student the Hamptons. And let's provide enough need based scholarships that anyone can go to school. Now the issue of race is irrelevant. Are we helping blacks as fast as we would be if we used Affirmative Action the old way? No. Are we ensuring that more people get into the school that is best for them? Absolutely! And if blacks do represent a larger then normal portion of the downtrodden and oppressed (and I only say 'if' because I don't have any statistics at my fingertips) then they'll receive a larger then normal portion of the help. It has become almost hackneyed to talk about the daughter of a rich black family from England vs. the son of a coal miner from Pennsylvania but it's true and it does happen.

So let's agree to try to do something better. Let's strive for fairness and let's pressure our universities to become egalitarian bastions of knowledge rather then haphazard melting pots of color for no other point then it's politically correct.

For the record I find it ironic that sports remains the great meritocracy in America. In no other arena are you judged so purely on your output on the field of play. I don't see the NAACP filing briefs about the paucity of blacks on the soccer fields of America nor Hispanics in the hockey rinks nor whites on the basketball courts. That's because a pure meritocracy works and produces the best product possible. But I also suspect that the NAACP views the big three sports as a way for minorities to pull themselves up and get money.

I think it's sad but race does play a part in many people's decisions. I hate that but it seems to be true. But fighting one evil with another evil is bad for the soul. It breeds contempt and resentment. Divisiveness and hate. And it's especially unwise when such an obvious and logical alternative is available.