The Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas, as I have mentioned in previous post, has sparked a lot of interest in the issue of affirmative action especially in the university setting. In fact many opinion pieces are even hitting the New York Times. The article “Does Affirmative Action Do What it Should?” by: Dan Slater (Found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/does-affirmative-action-do-what-it-should.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) is the article I would like to respond to today.
This article talks about the harm of affirmative action to the minority students. Its main point is the harm that can be done through what many refer to as the mismatch theory. It suggests that students who are admitted to high ranking universities on partially non-academic grounds (their race) are often less prepared for that level of work. These students did not have the same academic opportunities and there for on average make up the bottom of their classes. This theory suggests that in the end it ends up hurting the student because they often don’t complete school, or even fail bar exams as mentioned by the author, Dan Slater, in the following quote:
“Mr. Sander’s analysis of the B.P.S. data found that 21 percent of the black students who went to their second-choice schools failed the bar on their first attempt, compared with 34 percent of those who went to their first choice.”
The other side of the issue suggests that although students may struggle more, in the end attending prestigious schools is ultimately the most beneficial for the student. This is because of the boost a better school gives on a resume, in addition to the networking that happens when in the university setting.
In addition the author also brings up the importance of what the schools affirmative action policy has as a goal. For most the purpose is to create and support a diverse classroom experience. Unfortunately, little attention is paid to the forms of adversity that all students could be subject to, and that is my biggest issue with most policies. I have even personally witnessed people of minority status who had way more opportunity then me, get the benefit of getting accepted into a prestigious university just because of that minority status. More attention needs to be given to the adversity of all students. I do not disagree with giving some students a little bit of a better chance because of their own life circumstance. I just ask that people are aware that being a minority doesn’t always necessarily mean underprivileged, as white doesn’t always mean you were given the best hand in life.
On a side note I feel the need to mention that I disagree with the mismatch theory. Although I do not doubt that statistically it may exist among a population of minority students, in general it should not be an issue. If the student is choosing to go to a hard school, then they should also be willing to put in the work necessary in order to perform as well as there more privileged peers. I know my public inner city high school had a really bad science program, and really did not prepare me for the level of science I would be taking in college. However, with extra work I was still able to pull off above average grades in the class.
In the coming weeks it will be interesting to see the decisions in Fisher v. University of Texas, and how that affects the future of affirmative action.
We always hear about affirmative action with college admissions and the easier it is for minorities to get into tougher schools. With this being said, I never heard this argument put with the mismatch theory. I really never thought about the fact that if they are getting into tougher schools because of their race rather than their academics they might not be prepared for the hard coursework. As you said, I also do not agree with this. Although being a minority makes it easier for someone to get into more prestigious universities, they still need good grades as well. They might get the acceptance over a Caucasian person with the same grades if being compared but they do still need good grades to be considered. This being said, I do not think that there will be such a jump in the coursework that they will not be able to handle it. I think that I would still be able to handle the work load at some universities I did not get offered admission to. As you said, if you just put the effort and time into the course work, you will be able to succeed.
I never knew about mismatch theory. That’s a really interesting point to bring up. Though I do agree that it’s definitely possible to succeed despite the circumstances (such as how you excelled in your science classes), there’s an interesting psychological concept that may explain why some kids fail do do this. Learned helplessness is a term used to describe how failure to do one task could affect more than just the one problem they couldn’t solve. Students may fail at their first class, become convinced they can’t succeed, and then get so frustrated they give up. There was a study done that handed out two tests with anagrams on them to two different groups. The first group had easy words to unscramble, like “America” and so forth. The second group were given the same test, but the first two anagrams were absolutely unsolvable. Everyone was placed in a room together and timed. When the time was up, the proctor asked the subjects to raise their hands if they solved the puzzle, and then they moved on to the next one. The students in group two became so frustrated, that by the time they had reached the “America” anagram, they couldn’t solve it. They gave up.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a similar phenomenon might be occurring in prestigious schools.
Additionally, if kids are being told/led to believe that they were only accepted because of their race, they might not believe themselves capable of doing the work, regardless of their actual ability. This could lead them to fail too.