What hath affirmative action wrought?
This.
But my question is: why would anyone be surprised? Hasn’t it always been obvious that reverse discrimination is an inevitable effect of the whole affirmative action enterprise?
And I’m not at all sure it matters anymore whether affirmative action is de jure or just de facto. It is firmly entrenched in academia at this point.
[ADDENDUM: Criticism of the statistics used in the study. I don’t have enough statistical expertise to evaluate this myself.]
It was done in the name of social justice and it has, predictably and inevitably, lead not only to mediocrity, but reverse injustice to whites and asians.
One of the things that stuck with me from the Jeffrey Toobin/Walter Russel Mead tag team of essays on the rise of Clarence Thomas’ influence on the Supreme Court, was that one of those two authors relayed a story that Clarence Thomas placed a 15 cent sticker on his Yale Law School degree to constantly remind him of its worth as the result of affirmative action.
And the beat goes on yeah the beat goes on . . .
The great Heather Mac Donald does her usual terrific job handling this and other sad topics in her book, ‘The Burden of Bad Ideas’.
[Click on Neo’s Amazon gadget to get yours.]
Scott, there’s no such thing as reverse injustice;it’s just plain old injustice.
The idea of affirmative action is certainly laudable; however, as in most social engineering, the impact is less so. From my personal experience, one of 2 things happens: 1 – unqualified people are elevated up to a position that doesn’t work for anyone and 2 – (a much greater issue) qualified people are viewed as “not good enough to make it on their own. I know first hand of 4.0 black students who, upon meeting a professor and asking questions were told (with almost disbelief) “oh….you actually get it……..). Tough to think of something more demeaning. Although I’m sure there are cases of certain people benefitting, I’m sure the overall impact is negative. The time has passed. Time to end it – despite Sandra Day O’Conner’s belief that we only need to wait another 19 (?) years for circumstances to change.
Barack Hussein Obama.
Next question?
I agree with Chief Justice John Roberts. The way to end discrimination is to end discrimination.
There was supposed to be a sunset for affirmative action. One would think the achievement of the Presidency by a half-black and white individual would signal the end. But the apparatus needs to keep moving. PS: the email Althouse cites is hilarious. “Community response.” Is that how those clowns think?
There was supposed to be a sunset for affirmative action. One would think the achievement of the Presidency by a half-black and white individual would signal the end. But the apparatus needs to keep moving. PS: the email Althouse cites is hilarious. “Community response.” I mean…wow. Is that how those clowns think?
Reminds me of the adds for “Hispanic Buisness Loans ” I have seen in our local paper……
Just going by the summary, I think the odds ratios they quote are the most likely target for criticism. It’s not clear what they are supposed to mean in real world terms, how they calculate them, or why there would be a three-fold disparity between the SAT and ACT, as they are both standardized scores (convertible to standard deviations).
As for the SAT point disparities, however, I’ve seen generally similar results reported from other studies. It’s usually the more elite private universities chasing after the top students where the disparities get so large, though.
These kind of numbers raise the possibility that the effects of affirmative action exceed its actual mandate. That may be easier to argue as a matter of law than a question of culture, but I don’t see the law changing until the culture does.
However great the disparity in the SAT scores what they don’t reveal is how many of those kids are able to graduate and of those that do how many are put into an environment in which to manage to get through to graduate they are forced to major in some bs subject area, an academic ghetto e.g. some sort of ethnic major, instead of something that they might have chosen if they had instead gone to a school on merit alone.
It’s the difference between being in the top half vs the bottom rung of an institution, and it has a lifelong effect on how the person sees themselves and other people especially whites and asians not to mention other minorities benefiting so aggressively from aa.
I don’t believe aa is working as intended and is doing a lot of damage that can’t ever be undone.
How many generations will it take, after racial preferances are stopped, for someone to look at a person of color in a high position and not think it was because of affirimative action? If racial discrimination is wrong, and I believe it is, why is not all discrimination wrong? Ends do not justify the means.
So…….. Are these the same AA policies which guided zerO’s progress through the ranks of his academic life?
No wonder that his grades and test scores are classified at a TOP SECRET eyes-only level.
social engineering is antithetical and mutually exclusive to self determination
been commenting for a long time on this trend
been called names, and more
my whole life has been derailed and disenfranchised
as my family were immigrant refugees from stalin and hitler who literally lost everything fleeing a home that they occupied for centuries.
they felt they were very lucky here… and i worked very hard to overcome deafness, and other handicaps, and enter bronx science.
after that, i was kept out of school as my family was from an inner city slum, we had no money, and no contacts, and i was a white male.
so a 175IQ, with a topped out 99.999th percentile test score, was not able to attend college other than to get a 2000 dollar certificate from continuing education (19 in continuing ed), and sleeping in my aunts living room and on park benches when she needed privacy.
my whole career has been one of being passed by, dumped, knocked out and such.
for instance… this year marks 27 years experience in my field as an applications engineer who started in fortune 10 companies. i have experience with my own type C corporation, management, project leading, team coordinating, presentations, meetings, world culture classes, and more.
but my salary has been stagnant and unchanging for 15 or more years…
i have been working for the place i am at now for over 8 years, and am vested for retirment. they have a handbook as to the proceedures for promotions and such.
they promoted a woman who is young, has only been out of school for a few years, and was hired a few years after me. so i have career and employment seniority, experience, and more (like a ‘degree’ related to the job)
they have segregated me for my handicap, put me in a tiny study room as an office (47″ x 57″ half the size of a handicapped bathroom stall), and have completely isolated me from co-workers and a future. no raises, no promotions, no ability to show what i can do since they play a game of bottleneck.
if i leave i lose my retirement
cant go to law, as i am a unprotected class and an oppressor… so no one will seem to take up the case when there is easier and more politically correct fruit to grab.
in family court i was guilty till i could prove my innocence and was told off the record i have no rights.
and a whole lot more..
now i am killing time till time kills me as i cant participate, offer, publish, get capital, or really do anything (and more so since everyone believes you can), but accept my wife and i to be barren and to die faster for the good of society.
i worked on my own for over 25 years to solve some really hard intractable problems… not to mention been robbed of my work several times and had my lifes savings cleaned out too..
oh.. not to mention nearly going to jail for killing someone who still today isnt dead…. i was guilty until proven innocent, and they spent their time building a false case (had to be if the victim 25 years later is still alive, no?)… was told i had no recourse to sue despite their destroying that potentially bright career with fortune 10 (and the future forever more)
Reminds me of the adds for “Hispanic Buisness Loans ” I have seen in our local paper……
thats the SBA 8a program..
thats why there are no more jewish delis, and mom pop groceries owned by german couples, and so on.
you cant compete with 8a program benifits
been saying that for a long time.
anyone here care to want to go back and see some of the return commentary? no one ever bothered to see if there was a program giving so overwhelmingly an advantage… that no bank or others really want to work with you at all… (though they are smart enough to write the literature neutral – so you only find ou tthe truth by believing someone who actually tried – like me)
that year my company boomed and i made almsot a half million… then couldnt get a loan to expand and hire so that i could just keep the consultancy going by creating a pipline of constant work…
but 10,000 a week wasnt good enough for a one man thing to get a loan and so on…
i was advised by the woman running the program not to waste my time as “people like you” really cant participate
check out the 5×5 databases… which one database is all companies… the other is all sba 8a companies. ie. to bid you have to select 5 from the general database, and 5 from the 8a one… the 8a people can be in BOTH databases…
there are also tons of offices for women and minorities… whose sole purpose is unequal treatment for equal outcomes (communism. and i can quote feminists too saying thats what they are now working for with the equal pay for equal work game)
since i am not very social, i have no contacts, mentors, protectors, nor any capital
i am just waiting to die, and hope it don’t take 15 years of sitting in this 82 degree closet of isolation and sub human regard.
[waiting to die is not suicide… duh]
The negative effects of racial preferences are well documented. One such effect is the mismatching of students and schools. Minority students who would be best served by starting at a junior college are recruited to a state college. Those best suited to a state college are recruited to a state university. Those who would do well at the state university are recruited to a flagship state university. Students best suited for a flagship state university are recruited to elite private universities. The effect of all this is that many black and hispanic students who would do well at the appropriate level are mismatched with the institution they attend. This leads to lower grades, a higher drop out rate, and fewer opportunities for further academic pursuits. It also leads a loss of confidence on the part of many students.
The institutions are using these students to look good on the numbers.
Roman is right about the stigma of affirmative action. When I see a black in a high position, I wonder, is it skill and talent or affirmative action.
The bread of affliction is the bread of slavery and slavery breeds hatred. The Democrats have enslaved blacks with affirmative action deceiving them as to the cause of their slavery. Let the education commence regarding eugenics and Democrats and how that morphed into the present evil where blacks are invited to animality versus spirituality. It leads to hatred, virulent, awesome, soul consuming, blind, irrational hatred.
Obama has it. Michelle has it. Everyone should see the following video, which, purportedly, shows Michelle whispering “all that for a flag” at the recent 9/11 commemoration ceremony:
http://tinyurl.com/3pv4gsw
There are many complexities associated with affirmative action programs and policies. However, one issue which we continually ignore, as is the case with most government related programs and initiatives, is whether it is effective in addressing past wrongs. Think about this: How many beneficiaries of affirmative action programs have actually shared their good fortune with other members of their particular ethnic group, as opposed to using their increased opportunities and wealth to distance themselves from the masses of minority citizens?