Fisher Affirmative Action Case and Scalia's comment

[Pwns]

Anyone else following the poop storm over what Scalia said about black college students?

Sorry, but I just don't see the problem with what Scalia has said.

1. If you don't have the best preparation for college (and many black students don't), why on Earth would you want to send that person to a place like UCLA or Ann Arbor where freshmen classes are very large and taught by TAs instead of sending them to a more teaching-focused institutions that has more courses that can help them make up for lost ground?

2. Duke has a study of their black students published a few years ago that corroborates what Scalia had. The black students have lower credentials and often moved out of science programs into programs that generally have higher GPAs and less attrition.

3. It's not all about the name of the college. There is a good bit of research out there showing that attendance at an elite school alone does not increase earnings. These days when there is a college for everyone even if you can't read on a 7th grade reading level and do basic fractions.

The idea that you can achieve racial parity in opportunities and earnings by discriminating at top institutions just doesn't seem to hold water.

[andy7171]

Stating facts like this is racist. We're all equal.

[HI54UNI]

It's 2015. Have to be offended about something....

[dbackjon]

It's 2015. Have to be offended about something....

I find your lack of offense offensive.

You just triggered a micro-aggressive situation.




#BLM will be picketing shortly

[mrklean]

It's 2015 and we are still talking about this shit. Who fucking cares. This chick did not get into University of Texas because she did not have the grades....period. Let this bitch go away and die. Take her azz to North Texas get her undergrad degree and go to UT for grad school. I have graduated from two so called white universities, GSU 92 and Ga ST. 94. In 2016, I will have another Masters from Jacksonville State University. The only reason why I went back to school was that I had approximately 16k left on my GI Bill. People get bent out of shape because they did not get into their school of choice. Who's to say that she would have stayed at UT? This is why I hate freshmen. They think they know it all. FVCK em! Dumb azz freshmen.

[JoltinJoe]

I saw these memes on Facebook that accused Scalia of being racist, but which did not even quote a full sentence -- just a phrase with quotes around it.

So I checked the transcript of the oral argument.

One of the underlying assumptions of the US Solicitor General's case, and the university's case, was that Affirmative Action was an effective remedy for past transgressions, and that the issue was whether the U of Texas' Affirmative Action program was constitutional.

Scalia was asking whether the underlying assumption of that argument was potentially flawed. He cited statistics tending to show African-American students, admitted to competitive colleges, do not fare as well down the road as African-American students who attend less challenging colleges. He was suggesting that this was because African-American students frequently come from more troubled high schools and, therefore, are not ready benefit from the accelerated academic programs from challenging institutions like the U of Texas. Scalia also said that the needs and preparation of each student should be weighed, individually, and that we were doing an injustice to individual African-American students by viewing them as part of a class that needed protection -- and that many such students, in order to maximize their potential, should attend schools in which classes would be presented in a slower-track manner, in order to build the study habits that they many not have obtained in high school.

The memes I saw quoted the words "slower track" and suggested the word "slower," as used, was employed to describe the students, rather than the academic programs that Scalia was speaking about.

I'm not sure he's right; however, I don't think what he's said is racist.

I don't have a problem with a competitive college considering racial status of a student in admissions -- so long as the student is otherwise qualified. For example, as we know, there are some colleges in the US that routinely reject students that are, in all respects, nearly identical to the students they accept. In that case, using a student's background to promote a diverse student body is acceptable. But I agree with Scalia that Affirmative Action should not be used to offer admission to a student who is otherwise not equal to other applicants.