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A few weeks ago when the Supreme Court was debating the U Mich AA case, there were some good newspaper articles on finding alternative approaches to achieving diversity. One of them was "What if Affirmative Action in Education Ends?" (Wall Street Journal, 3/31, B1, by Daniel Golden). The article focused on undergrad admissions, but can be applied to med school admissions as well.
The article discussed the study by the Century Foundation (a New York liberal public-policy think tank) which concluded that black and Hispanic enrollment would drop to 4% from 12% at 146 most selective colleges (i.e. Barron's top 2 tiers) if affirmative action is eliminated and admision is based solely on grades/test scores.
The study calculated, however, that black and Hispanic enrollment would fall only to 10% (from the present 12%) if AA were to be replaced by preference for students of low socioeconomic status, measured by parental income, education and history of receiving federal/state aid.
Another interesting finding the study announced after analyzing federal education data is that low-income students are SCARCER THAN MINORITIES at the 146 elite colleges. Although colleges claim to give an edge to low-income apps, the researchers found wealthy students with the same grades and test scores are slightly more likely to be admitted. Students in the bottom quarter income level make up only 3% of enrollment at these colleges, compared with 74% for those at the top quarter income level.
Given the above findings and the ugliness/divisiveness of AA, I hope that undergrad & grad/professional schools will change to preference based on low socioeconomic status (or "disadvantaged status", as has been implemented in CA). Of course, these apps should be able to score within the avg range on standardized tests and be held to the same competence levels as their classmates. Such a system would still be vulnerable to certain flaws and abuses, but it would help to eliminate the AA backlash:
1) the "reverse discrimination" charges from white apps (low income white apps would receive special consideration not possible under AA)
2) the predicament of Asian apps, who are now lumped into the overrepresented minority category (under economic preference, recent poor immigrants would NOT be compared to their peers who have grown up in suburbia)
3) the prejudiced attitudes that black and Latino students now face as a result of the misconception that they are "underqualified"
Presently, the US educational system gives disproportionate advantage to students w/ high socioeconomic status (the New Yorker had a great article several weeks ago on the "back-scratching" admissions process @ the Ivies). Changing to socioeconomic preference would help to balance this inequality as well as to address the shortcomings of AA.
The article discussed the study by the Century Foundation (a New York liberal public-policy think tank) which concluded that black and Hispanic enrollment would drop to 4% from 12% at 146 most selective colleges (i.e. Barron's top 2 tiers) if affirmative action is eliminated and admision is based solely on grades/test scores.
The study calculated, however, that black and Hispanic enrollment would fall only to 10% (from the present 12%) if AA were to be replaced by preference for students of low socioeconomic status, measured by parental income, education and history of receiving federal/state aid.
Another interesting finding the study announced after analyzing federal education data is that low-income students are SCARCER THAN MINORITIES at the 146 elite colleges. Although colleges claim to give an edge to low-income apps, the researchers found wealthy students with the same grades and test scores are slightly more likely to be admitted. Students in the bottom quarter income level make up only 3% of enrollment at these colleges, compared with 74% for those at the top quarter income level.
Given the above findings and the ugliness/divisiveness of AA, I hope that undergrad & grad/professional schools will change to preference based on low socioeconomic status (or "disadvantaged status", as has been implemented in CA). Of course, these apps should be able to score within the avg range on standardized tests and be held to the same competence levels as their classmates. Such a system would still be vulnerable to certain flaws and abuses, but it would help to eliminate the AA backlash:
1) the "reverse discrimination" charges from white apps (low income white apps would receive special consideration not possible under AA)
2) the predicament of Asian apps, who are now lumped into the overrepresented minority category (under economic preference, recent poor immigrants would NOT be compared to their peers who have grown up in suburbia)
3) the prejudiced attitudes that black and Latino students now face as a result of the misconception that they are "underqualified"
Presently, the US educational system gives disproportionate advantage to students w/ high socioeconomic status (the New Yorker had a great article several weeks ago on the "back-scratching" admissions process @ the Ivies). Changing to socioeconomic preference would help to balance this inequality as well as to address the shortcomings of AA.