It has been hard for weeks now to focus on anything other than the scandals engulfing the Obama administration. Each time we think that there will be a quiet moment in the ongoing Scandalpalooza, something new leaks about Obama and his people which holds them up as the epitome of impropriety. Even so, we have to try to focus on the other business of the country now and then.
Today, let's try to focus on "diversity" as a goal in colleges and universities. Beginning in the 1960's, various universities used affirmative action to increase the number of minorities admitted as students. The concept was to give minority students an advantage to overcome the legacy of past discrimination. That practice was used for more than a generation until the courts ruled that public universities could not base admission on race alone. After that, race became just one criteria considered, but the justification of overcoming past discrimination was no longer accepted.
The issue is now before the Supreme Court and a decision is expected during this month. It seems more than likely that the general prohibition in the constitution against racial discrimination will be used to eliminate race as an allowable factor altogether.
Some of the so called "progressive" movement want to change the focus from race to "economic class" in deciding about admissions. This proposal was strongly supported earlier this week by the editor of the New York Times. I do not know why anyone would call that progressive when it clearly is a regressive move. Instead of dividing people by race, they now want to first put people into a class and then use that for admissions to universities. Can you picture the debates in the admissions' offices about whether John Jones is really lower class or lower - middle class? What happens if someone comes from a wealthy family which suddenly suffers a financial disaster? Will that person be upper, upper middle or, after the bankruptcy, lower class? Will race be used to decide on class status -- knowing the progressives, the answer must be yes.
I realize that admision based upon grades and test scores may be too bland and too blind for many who think that admission based upon merit is discriminatory. Nearly all schools include a factor in their admissions for the quality of the essay that the student writes or some other item on the application that indicates some kind of "sparkle" pertaining to that student. That ought to be sufficient. Otherwise, we will have universities making totally subjective decisions about which group ought to go to school and which should not. That result would be just plain wrong.
Today, let's try to focus on "diversity" as a goal in colleges and universities. Beginning in the 1960's, various universities used affirmative action to increase the number of minorities admitted as students. The concept was to give minority students an advantage to overcome the legacy of past discrimination. That practice was used for more than a generation until the courts ruled that public universities could not base admission on race alone. After that, race became just one criteria considered, but the justification of overcoming past discrimination was no longer accepted.
The issue is now before the Supreme Court and a decision is expected during this month. It seems more than likely that the general prohibition in the constitution against racial discrimination will be used to eliminate race as an allowable factor altogether.
Some of the so called "progressive" movement want to change the focus from race to "economic class" in deciding about admissions. This proposal was strongly supported earlier this week by the editor of the New York Times. I do not know why anyone would call that progressive when it clearly is a regressive move. Instead of dividing people by race, they now want to first put people into a class and then use that for admissions to universities. Can you picture the debates in the admissions' offices about whether John Jones is really lower class or lower - middle class? What happens if someone comes from a wealthy family which suddenly suffers a financial disaster? Will that person be upper, upper middle or, after the bankruptcy, lower class? Will race be used to decide on class status -- knowing the progressives, the answer must be yes.
I realize that admision based upon grades and test scores may be too bland and too blind for many who think that admission based upon merit is discriminatory. Nearly all schools include a factor in their admissions for the quality of the essay that the student writes or some other item on the application that indicates some kind of "sparkle" pertaining to that student. That ought to be sufficient. Otherwise, we will have universities making totally subjective decisions about which group ought to go to school and which should not. That result would be just plain wrong.
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