July 1st, 2003
Last week‘s Supreme Court allowing the University of Michigan to continue using race as one among many criteria in admitting undergraduate students reaffirms the Court‘s 1978 Bakke decision and Justice Powell‘s diversity justification for race-based admissions policies. But, does the recent Court decision make any difference?
Probably not because the Court avoided the fundamental question. Why after more than three decades of using affirmative action in making admission decisions are race/ethnic minorities still “under represented” in American higher education? Why haven‘t the many special programs for minority students and large expenditures on diversity produced a surge in minority enrollment and graduation rates?
The answer should be clear. It is the continued weak academic achievement of minority students in grades K-12. Because their academic achievement lags so seriously, the number of minority high school graduates who are academically competitive with non-minority high school graduates remains far short of that required to eliminate minority student underrepresentation in higher education.
How serious is the lag in academic achievement of K-12 minority students? To perform successfully in college students must demonstrate their competence in several areas of academic knowledge and skills. One indicator is showing “proficient” or “advanced” competence based on Wisconsin‘s new standards-based state testing program.
Consider 10 graders. In reading, only 36 percent of blacks contrasted to 78 percent of non minorities (whites) test at the “proficient” and “advanced” levels. A quarter of the blacks, as compared to only 7 percent of non minorities, test at the lowest or “minimal” level of competence, indicating they demonstrate “very limited academic knowledge and skills” in reading.
In mathematics, only 23 percent of blacks compared to 76 percent of non minorities test at the “proficient” or “advanced” levels. Even worse, 40 percent of blacks test at the “minimal” level as contrasted to 10 percent of non minorities. Similar patterns occur in language arts, science, and social studies.
Wide differences are also evident in both 8th grade and 4th grade test results. The roots of these differences extend back to the earlier grades and most important to the home environment before children begin school. As long as these differences persist, even the most aggressive forms of affirmative action are limited in what they can accomplish.
The difficulty of boosting minority enrollment is obvious. Blacks while representing more than eight percent of 10th graders constitute roughly four percent of 10th graders who demonstrate the necessary competence in reading to succeed in college. In math, the figure is less than three percent.
The solution is not to bend college admission standards by using race as a marker to enroll more minority students. The consequences of that approach are apparent in the extremely low graduation rates for minority students who are admitted because of their minority status. Here we see the shameless charade of pretending to help minority students through affirmative action. Lack of serious attention by college and university officials to these differences in academic achievement is the central problem. True, they make pious statements about the need to improve K-12 academic achievement. True, they mount an ever-wider array of minority student initiatives to improve campus climate and increase persistence. True, they establish token pre-college programs for small numbers of middle or high school students.
But, what most concerns these officials is how to use affirmative action to boost their own and their institution‘s reputations by nudging their minority enrollment up by a few percentage points. What they fail to do is make certain these additional minority students can perform well academically and eventually graduate.
If diversity is really the goal, tinkering with admission procedures to ensure “fairness” is not enough. Instead, a higher education-led national crusade is needed to raise minority academic achievement throughout the K-12 grades. Only then will there be a large enough pool of academically competitive minority students to make diversity work.
College and university leaders, now no longer needing to defend using race-based admission standards, must roll up their sleeves to address this really serious challenge. It calls for figuring out how to raise minority students‘ academic achievement well before they reach college age. If nothing is done, the need for affirmative action will persist well beyond the 25 year limit suggested by Justice O‘Connor. Allowing that to happen would be not only irresponsible but also conflict with higher education‘s claim to work for the betterment of all segments of American society.
Revised Op-Ed Submission to Wisconsin State Journal
July 1st, 2003
Last week‘s Supreme Court allowing the University of Michigan to continue using race as one among many criteria in admitting undergraduate students reaffirms the Court‘s 1978 Bakke decision and Justice Powell‘s diversity justification for race-based admissions policies. But, does the recent Court decision make any difference?
Probably not because the Court avoided the fundamental question. Why after more than three decades of using affirmative action in making admission decisions are race/ethnic minorities still “under represented” in American higher education? Why haven‘t the many special programs for minority students and large expenditures on diversity produced a surge in minority enrollment and graduation rates?
The answer should be clear. It is the continued weak academic achievement of minority students in grades K-12. Because their academic achievement lags so seriously, the number of minority high school graduates who are academically competitive with non-minority high school graduates remains far short of that required to eliminate minority student underrepresentation in higher education.
How serious is the lag in academic achievement of K-12 minority students? To perform successfully in college students must demonstrate their competence in several areas of academic knowledge and skills. One indicator is showing “proficient” or “advanced” competence based on Wisconsin‘s new standards-based state testing program.
Consider 10 graders. In reading, only 36 percent of blacks contrasted to 78 percent of non minorities (whites) test at the “proficient” and “advanced” levels. A quarter of the blacks, as compared to only 7 percent of non minorities, test at the lowest or “minimal” level of competence, indicating they demonstrate “very limited academic knowledge and skills” in reading.
In mathematics, only 23 percent of blacks compared to 76 percent of non minorities test at the “proficient” or “advanced” levels. Even worse, 40 percent of blacks test at the “minimal” level as contrasted to 10 percent of non minorities. Similar patterns occur in language arts, science, and social studies.
Wide differences are also evident in both 8th grade and 4th grade test results. The roots of these differences extend back to the earlier grades and most important to the home environment before children begin school. As long as these differences persist, even the most aggressive forms of affirmative action are limited in what they can accomplish.
The difficulty of boosting minority enrollment is obvious. Blacks while representing more than eight percent of 10th graders constitute roughly four percent of 10th graders who demonstrate the necessary competence in reading to succeed in college. In math, the figure is less than three percent.
The solution is not to bend college admission standards by using race as a marker to enroll more minority students. The consequences of that approach are apparent in the extremely low graduation rates for minority students who are admitted because of their minority status. Here we see the shameless charade of pretending to help minority students through affirmative action. Lack of serious attention by college and university officials to these differences in academic achievement is the central problem. True, they make pious statements about the need to improve K-12 academic achievement. True, they mount an ever-wider array of minority student initiatives to improve campus climate and increase persistence. True, they establish token pre-college programs for small numbers of middle or high school students.
But, what most concerns these officials is how to use affirmative action to boost their own and their institution‘s reputations by nudging their minority enrollment up by a few percentage points. What they fail to do is make certain these additional minority students can perform well academically and eventually graduate.
If diversity is really the goal, tinkering with admission procedures to ensure “fairness” is not enough. Instead, a higher education-led national crusade is needed to raise minority academic achievement throughout the K-12 grades. Only then will there be a large enough pool of academically competitive minority students to make diversity work.
College and university leaders, now no longer needing to defend using race-based admission standards, must roll up their sleeves to address this really serious challenge. It calls for figuring out how to raise minority students‘ academic achievement well before they reach college age. If nothing is done, the need for affirmative action will persist well beyond the 25 year limit suggested by Justice O‘Connor. Allowing that to happen would be not only irresponsible but also conflict with higher education‘s claim to work for the betterment of all segments of American society.