The affirmative action bubble behind the campus protests

[ShootSpeeders]

Just what i've been saying. Blacks want more affirmative action on college. Lower the standards so they can graduate even though they haven't (and can't) learn anything.

The Affirmative Action Education Bubble Behind the Campus Protests

nov 27 2015 Student loan debt is at $1.2 trillion. College enrollment increased under Obama, but graduation rates fell. Barelyhalf the students who enrolled in 2009 graduated. His plans for expanding enrollment rates worked, but the plans for expanding graduation rates didn’t.

And some of the biggest casualties were black students.

81% of black graduates had taken out loans and 39% of black borrowers drop out of college. This money helped keep colleges that were deeply in debt afloat. But it didn’t do much for graduation rates.

Only a third of black male college students graduate. Among black women, it’s 44%. And the college graduation gap between white and black students has continued to increase under Obama.

The affirmative action disaster benefits a handful of institutions while costing taxpayers trillions.

The problem of meeting national standards was solved through promotion. Students who couldn’t read or do simple sums still graduated with a diploma. 1 in 5 high school graduates can’t read. Only 16 % of black high school seniors were even assessed as proficient readers. That’s bound to be a problem when 71% of black high school graduates go on to college where proficient reading skills are a prerequisite.

Unprepared high school students were promoted on to college. Affirmative action made it easier for black students to get in, but once they were enrolled they still had to be able to handle the work.

80 percent of high school graduates arrived without basic reading, writing or math skills at the City University of New York. This year it’s down to 78 percent. Even more prestigious colleges have been dumbing down the reading materials assigned to freshmen. But eventually a limit is reached.

 

[ShootSpeeders]

Author is right. The reason blacks complain about standardized testis is because blacks do so poorly on them. And it's not because the tests are biased for whites. Asians do great on the tests.

 

[jwoodie]

In California, the publicly financed higher education used to work like this for graduating high school students: "A" students went to State Universities (UC); "B" students went to State Colleges (CSU); and "C" students started at Junior Colleges (JC), before transferring to A or B above. This allowed "C" students (like me) to progress and succeed in an appropriate academic environment before moving to the next step.

Now we have a dysfunctional system wherein "B" or "C" students are encouraged by incentives and preferences to compete with more advanced students at more "prestigious" institutions. The inevitable results are frustration, resentment and failure by many of these students who have been thrust into an environment for which they are not yet prepared.

Why are we doing this to promising students who would otherwise be successful by proceeding at their own pace? Are they nothing more than rats to be studied in our laboratory of continuing social experimentation?

 

[ShootSpeeders]

Now we have a dysfunctional system wherein "B" or "C" students are encouraged by incentives and preferences to compete with more advanced students at more "prestigious" institutions. The inevitable results are frustration, resentment and failure by many of these students who have been thrust into an environment for which they are not yet prepared.

And if they do graduate from college it is only due to affirmative action scoring as is common in k-12. And employers know that better than anyone.

 

[waltky]

Time for AA to be scaled back to re-level the playing field...

US High Court Hears Arguments on Affirmative Action Challenge
December 09, 2015 | WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court appeared divided Wednesday after oral arguments were presented in a case that could spell an end to affirmative action programs at schools and colleges nationwide.

The case was brought by a white applicant, Abigail Fisher, who was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. She and her lawyers argue that the university admissions policy violates the U.S. Constitution's 14th amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law. Wednesday's 90-minute hearing was the second time the nation's highest court heard the challenge to the 'holistic' admissions system used by the school for a portion of its applicants. In 2013, the court sent the case back to a federal appeals court, which ruled in favor of the university.

During the arguments Wednesday, conservative Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that African-American students - who along with other minorities benefit from affirmative action - might belong at less rigorous schools. "I'm just not impressed by the fact the University of Texas may have fewer [blacks]. Maybe it ought to have fewer. I don't think it stands to reason that it's a good thing for the University of Texas to admit as many blacks as possible," Scalia said.

‘Holistic’ admissions

Gregory Garre, who argued in support of the university, responded that minority applicants admitted through the holistic admission program fare better than other students over time. About 80 percent of first-year students at the University of Texas-Austin are automatically admitted under a program that reserves places for the top 10 percent of Texas high school students regardless of race. The remaining 20 percent are selected through what the school calls a 'holistic' review process that factors in test scores, extracurricular activities, accomplishments, work experience, socioeconomic status, community service, family responsibilities and race.

University of Texas-Austin President Gregory Fenves said after the hearing that "diversity fosters an understanding of one another, of students, and a respect for their differences." "Colleges and universities across the nation have long been addressing questions surrounding race and ethnicity," he said. "The heightened attention on these issues over the past few months highlights their ongoing importance."

‘Odious classification’