TIME TO END AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
And Move to Better Approaches
Has affirmative action really ever helped anyone? The move towards this began in my childhood and resulted in kids being held to lower standards in school, then often, struggling to compete at top schools and challenging jobs. The principle seemed racist to me then and my opinion hasn’t changed. Needing affirmative action implies that the party to benefit from this “needs” it, i.e., is inferior and couldn’t succeed without it. Two sterling examples stand out and are representative of what happens when you ignore the child and focus on the race, or your hidden assumptions.
1. A poor and illiterate mother sent her kid to the Oakland school for 12 years, hoping (and assuming) that he would graduate with a good education. She dreamed of him doing far better than she had been able to do. After graduation, she encouraged him to join the military, but he flunked the exam. After 12 years of affirmative action, he couldn’t read. What would have happened had he been challenged to learn and given the proper help?
2. Studies were performed where teachers were told that certain students had high IQs and others were not that bright. The result was as the teachers expected. The “smart” kids did really well and those deemed not as bright struggled. Now called the “Pygmalion Effect” or simply, a self-fulfilling prophecy, the impact on kids under affirmative action is an expectation that they simply can’t measure up unless grades are fixed or ignored.
Lowered Expectations
Low expectations always yield poorer results. At work, I saw this play out. People identified as not as talented (whether by being mis-assigned to a job or because of minority status) didn’t challenge the assumption. When I led people, I found that expecting the best produced great results. Most of us rise to meet expectations. In junior high (many years ago), we had ability grouping. Kids started out in a track based on their scores on tests, BUT, those in lower tracks had much smaller classes and lots of individual help. At any time, a child could challenge the track and try out the next track up, and they were encouraged to do so. While a child struggling with math might be in track 3, he might be in track 1 for English. The teachers were told that every child could rise up if they simply had enough help. Instead, we now put everyone together, and the extra help a child might need in a single subject just isn’t there. The results were pretty amazing. But, since many of the children in lower tracks were minorities, this plan had to end, leaving them without the support they needed.
Invalid Assumptions
Another problem with lowered expectations is that people start making assumptions. I remember reading about a smart young lady who refused to put her race or sex on her college applications. Schools insisted she take advantage of the program because she would be a shoe-in once she applied. Her response? “I’m as good as any applicant you have. I don’t need special favors.” What bravery! What grit! And yet, she was right. She was good enough without special favors. One big problem with affirmative action is that those benefitting from it, whether or not they were actually qualified, have the taint of this privilege forever. Would you pick a doctor or an attorney who might have been given unearned passing grades in school? And yet, people have to make choices without adequate information, so the stain of affirmative action can hurt the very people proponents want to help.
Equal Under the Law
I remember The University of California v. Bakke case, where Allan Bakke was denied admission to medical school as others of different races, but much lower academic credentials were admitted. A few years later, I applied to medical school and refused to put down race or sex. It cost me as I did not gain admission, but I felt then and still do that equal protection under the law negates affirmative action.
It’s hard to understand why this ever seemed right to anyone, when the answer was staring us all in the face.
Equality of Opportunity, Not Outcome
The world is inherently unfair and we don’t get all we desire, even as we might work hard to achieve it. However, we can open up opportunities. This past year has revealed the challenges of opportunity, as our public school teachers refuse to reopen schools while those who suffer most are minority and poor children, who have no other ways to get an education. (This while there is a rush to personally instruct illegal aliens at our border without being assured of their health status). Many children don’t have access to the technology to Zoom classes and most don’t have parents who can afford to stay home to help them. With parent-controlled vouchers, these kids could take their taxpayer money to the school of their choice, or use it to pay to join school pods or explore other opportunities. It’s too late to fix a tough childhood when they’re adults. Given children and their parents educational choice without regard to racial balances ensures that every child has the opportunity to learn and grow.
Might this mean the end of the public school system? It might, but I’ve had too many great teachers to believe that they wouldn’t embrace and step up to a system that lets them share in the joy of having more of their pupils succeed. Isn’t that what teaching is all about?