Affirmative Action: Has Something Gone Wrong?

By David Asgard

From Goffstown, New Hampshire to Coronado, California, high school juniors and seniors—whether black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American—share a common dream: to live a successful, fulfilling life. That dream is rooted in the founding of the American nation.

Thomas Jefferson defined a new path in human progress more than two hundred years ago in the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with cer tain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Education is profoundly linked not only to the pursuit of happiness but also, in most cases, to a better quality of life—one that includes good jobs, social mobility, and respect. As a result, selecting a college is one of the most important decisions a student can make.

The Competitive Edge

While there are hundreds of fine colleges and universities in the United States, at certain highly selective schools thousands of students apply for a limited number of slots. At Harvard, for example, only 2,056 students—out of more than 20,000 applicants—were admitted for the class of 2007. Princeton and Yale had similar admissions rates.

Clearly, the competition to get into such colleges is intense. Grades, extracurricular activities, goals, and special talents (sometimes accompanied by a prayer or two) are all part of the package individual students present to admissions committees.

The pressure of getting in is further complicated by the question of affirmative action, which grants certain students an advantage in the admissions process. Essentially, affirmative action seeks to redress the disadvantages that minorities face in everyday life (historically, the second-class citizenship suffered by blacks). The debate, which has been going on for nearly 40 years, has heated up recently, as Hispanics have become the largest minority group in America.

While affirmative action is an important issue in the workplace, proponents see it as crucial in education. Few would oppose the idea of equal access to a quality education. The question is whether the playing field must be leveled in order to ensure equal opportunity.

According to the Pew Research Center, the American public has mixed—and often contradictory—views on affirmative action programs. Ironically, those who favor the rationale for affirmative action also question the fairness of the programs. According to the poll, 63% of Americans favor programs designed to help minorities, but at the same time, 42% say they feel the programs are unfair.

How can that be? Reaction seems to depend on the way statements are phrased. When the terms quotas, preferences, and set-asides are used, support for the programs diminishes. Implicit in such terms is the notion that those who have historically had best access to top schools would have less access if members of minority groups were given reserved slots or preferential consideration.

Overall, the majority of people polled believe affirmative action has a positive impact on society. However, for many who feel that affirmative action has reduced their chances of getting into a top school, it becomes extremely personal!

At the heart of the affirmative action debate is this question: should schools simply accept, color blind, the best-qualified applicants, or should they strive for ethnic diversity? The major area of disagreement is over whether the children of yesterday’s victims of discrimination are owed an advantage for the inequalities of the past.

Opponents of affirmative action feel that entrance to flagship state universities as well as to selective private schools should be based solely on merit. They support this view with the following points:

• Quotas give an unfair advantage to minorities simply because of the color of their skin or their cultural heritage, not necessarily because of economic need.

• Preferential programs put a stigma on minorities and make them question whether their success is based on merit or selective advantage.

• Affirmative action debases the quality of post-secondary education by lowering standards for one group of applicants, hence lowering standards for the entire student community.

• Because there are a limited number of slots in prestigious schools, better-qualified non-minorities are sometimes denied access to a quality education despite their abilities.

In addition, The Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom describes a “rachet effect,” in which preferences given at top schools entice students who might otherwise apply to less well-known schools, thereby increasing the gap in academic preparation between minorities and other students. Similarly, UCLA’s Professor Richard Sanders refers to a “cascade effect,” which results in a mismatch between minority students and schools.

Clearly, the American dream is still a work in progress. And regardless of one’s skin color, ethnicity, or economic background, access to a good quality education is a key step in achieving that dream. Ultimately, we are all travelers on the long road toward a just society– learning how to balance personal and social interests, to promote the common good while shaping our own personal destinies.