Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that affirmative action, as used by Harvard University (among others), is unconstitutional, I thought I would repost my original thoughts on the subject – from, believe it or not, May 16th, 2015.
Not only will this show you my opinions and reasoning, but will also establish that the “you cannot solve racism by creating more of it” line – which I have heard/read incessantly from others in the last few days, was mine long, long before they were saying/writing it…
…and, as an extra added attraction, it also ends with a thinly veiled reference to Native American fraud Elizabeth Warren.
Here, in its entirety, is the May 16, 2015 blog:
TRYING TO SOLVE RACISM BY CREATING MORE OF IT?
2015-05-16
BY KEN BERWITZ
I have lost count of how many times have I written that racism cannot be solved by creating more of it…
…and here I am, having to write it again.
Excerpted from a Wall Street Journal article which was posted at foxnews.com:
A complaint Friday alleged that Harvard University discriminates against Asian-American applicants by setting a higher bar for admissions than that faced by other groups.
The complaint, filed by a coalition of 64 organizations, says the university has set quotas to keep the numbers of Asian-American students significantly lower than the quality of their applications merits. It cites third-party academic research on the SAT exam showing that Asian-Americans have to score on average about 140 points higher than white students, 270 points higher than Hispanic students and 450 points higher than African-American students to equal their chances of gaining admission to Harvard. The exam is scored on a 2400-point scale.
The complaint was filed with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
Robert Iuliano, Harvard’s general counsel, said the school\’s admissions policies are “fully compliant with the law.” The school says its admissions process takes into account a variety of factors besides academics, including applicants’ extracurricular activities and leadership qualities.
But the group that filed the complaint said (the percentage of Asian students) should be much higher given the increasing numbers of Asian-American students that apply.
“There is a lot of discrimination, and it hurts not just Asian-Americans, it hurts the whole country,” said Yukong Zhao, a 52-year-old Chinese-American author who helped organize the coalition.
How much extra-curricular activity makes up for a difference of 140 points in the SATs? I would think the answer is a lot. Now, how about 270 points? Or 450 points? What the hell would you have to do? Personally hand-build a new multi-lane bridge across the Charles River?
I appreciate Harvard’s interest in bumping up the percentage of minorities in its student body. But I wonder if the folks at that venerable institution consider the fact that for every student who skates in with lowered criteria, a student who has the expected criteria is rejected.
I wonder if they consider the fact that allowing Latino and Black students in with lower qualifications inherently puts an asterisk in front of every Latino and Black student, including those who met the full qualifications.
I wonder if they consider the fact that people might assume that lower-criteria students would be given similarly special consideration – i.e. they would be expected to meet lower standards – in their classes as well, just to make sure Harvard doesn’t have too many minority students dropping out.
Let me finish as I started. Racism cannot be solved by creating more of it. These people are educators; maybe it is time they learned as much.
Oh, one other thing: Is a school that has no problem lowring entrance qualifications to get more Latino and Black students into the school also a school that has no problem lowering entrance qualifications to bring in a minority faculty member? Say, a professor who claimed – with no proof of any kind to back it up – that she was “native American”?
Just asking……
