Can the Affirmative Action system be fixed? This is the question I seek to answer in this blog.
For many years affirmative action has attempted to increase the diversity in universities. But it has failed in impacting the bottom line: minority graduation rates. Much of this is because affirmative action policies often lead to mismatch. Mismatch is where minority students receiving the 'benefits' of the policy are often underprepared for the rigors of the school they are attending. This often leads to unproportionally high drop-out rates among African Americans and Hispanics.
Another problem with the current system is that it seems to give wealthier minorities a leg up over poorer minorities. A constitutional policy needs to be implemented to reduce minority drop-out rates while not giving an unfair advantage to wealthier minority students. Affirmative action polices are only constitutional if the application for each student is looked at separately and equally. And only then can the applications of minority students be given additional consideration. This prevents seats being saved for minorities - which is unconstitutional.
On first glance, it seems obvious to make affirmative action a strictly economic affair. Students whose families make less than X would get an additional consideration on their university application. However, this would still lead to a mismatch- the poorer students would still be less prepared than the wealthier students.
I propose the current affirmative action policies for universities should be abolished. If we are to design an effective affirmative action policy - it can't lead to mismatch. So maybe schools should identify the most intelligent and highest-achieving, low-income students, below some threshold, from the start of their education. Perhaps this is done by intelligence testing or some other measure. The schools would then meet with the students and their families maybe once a month or some other specified time. This would serve to start a relationship and for the schools to be sure the low-income students are staying on track. If there is some discrepancy that needs to be worked out - the teachers would work one-on-one with the students until a benchmark is met. This setup would continue until the students apply to college. When the next step - below - can be applied.
To minimize the mismatch that occurs now, we need a nation-wide, government-sponsored database. The proposed database would keep track of all public school students grades and standardized test scores. The database could be used to recommend students to universities by their their grades and test scores along with education interests and preferences about school size and other things. This would be done by compiling data on what universities students with similar grades and test scores have done well at. To measure where college students have done well - public universities could compile the grades of students. Of the students whose grades and test scores don't merit the attendance of a university they would be recommended to go to a trade school by this free program.
If these two steps were implemented - the current system would be greatly improved. First, more lower income students would be attending universities that match their current education levels - this would aid in preventing mismatch. Second, the low-income students who were mentored would be able to compete with higher income students who weren't mentored for spots at top universities - increasing economic diversity and racial diversity as a byproduct.
The benefits that come from this implementation are that the new program would be a government poverty program rather than a race-based program. Making college admissions more about competition and less about race. This would lead to better academic preparation and as discussed in a previous blog, when academic preparation levels are matched - it is easier for biracial friendships to occur. These biracial friendship result in less self-segregation of minority groups.
The only downside to this proposal it that it does not treat everyone as equals - the same problem with the current institution. Other downsides include the question of why the government is allowed to choose the students that are the highest achieving or that have the most ability.
What are your thoughts - is this a viable solution?
Sources:
Brain
http://npc.umich.edu/poverty/
https://www.texastribune.org/2015/10/26/ut-supreme-court-we-need-affirmative-action/
I found it interesting that you said Affirmative Action laws could be considered constitutional if the applications were viewed separately and equally. That word choice immediately brought to mind Brown v. Board of Education. I enjoy the productive criticism you offer to replace Affirmative action. In reality, anyone can criticize a policy that the government has created. It gives you legitimacy when your complaints has an alternative plan.
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