Supreme Court rejects affirmative action at colleges, says schools can’t consider race in admission

It has never bothered this poster before.

 

It is very likely that Obama’s ancestors were slave owners as well. You just have to go back a few generations.

 

This 10% stat is flimsy. Politico quoted a student op-Ed in the Harvard Crimson in which the writer herself quoted something she heard spoken aloud by a TA in a freshman year class on African-American culture.

“As a first-year, I once heard from a teaching fellow of the Introduction to African American Studies course that GAA students make up 10 percent of Harvard’s Black population. For the Class of 2022, that would mean roughly 17 students.”

"Are We In The Minority?" | Magazine | The Harvard Crimson

Why they would quote that stat and not frame it properly is nauseating. And even with that, the stat they’re quoting has a hardcore qualifier of only Black students with four grandparents who are American born descendants of slaves.

Harvard doesn’t release this data so all of it is conjecture, but the most recent academic reporting on the matter found in 2007 that 59% of the Black first year students on Ivy campuses (so not just Harvard) were African-American.

“A 2007 study in the American Journal of Education reported that 41 percent of Black first-year students attending Ivy League schools were immigrants or the children of immigrants; these groups compose 13 percent of the U.S. black population.”

That 13 percent line is brutal, undoubtedly. But what these numbers REALLY show is that the boogieman Affirmative Action has been made out to be (scores of Asian students being rejected from Harvard because of handouts to low-income Black students) is all marketing and fear mongering. You could probably count on one hand (a single hand, not two) how many freshman each class would fit that bill.

And yet there are going to be SO many people downstream who suffer because of this incredibly selfish and short-sighted decision.

 

What are the goals of affirmative action?

 

You seriously need to change your profile pic to this:

 

"The road to Hell was paved with good intentions."

That should be the Democratic Party motto.

 

What would "close" to equal opportunity look like?

 

Utterly unhelpful.

 

The intentions were probably good, but we shouldn't care about the intentions if:
1. It is discriminatory on its face (which it is), and
2. If there is no longer a compelling reason to have affirmative action or if affirmative action is not a narrowly tailored policy to achieve that compelling purpose.

I would say all of the above criteria were met a while ago.

 

I am trying to establish akaijenkins1's knowledge and credibility on the topic of discussion. Your's is already well known.

 

Who made you the arbiter of Too Hot, boss? You can put me on ignore, I’m good

 

I am not being an arbiter. I am simply asking you the basis for your commentary so that I may inquire more. Is that unfair?

Do you have knowledge on this subject?

 

Probably off-topic for this thread it still amazes me how that single Instagram post managed to trigger the right.

 

It's amazing to me how ending government-sanctioned racial discrimination in universities has triggered the left George Wallace style.

 

It's not amazing how this is embraced by white supremacists.

See, I can use inflammatory language to overgeneralize and stereotype, too. The difference is I know this is pathetic and apologize to other posters in advance.

 

Don't go after the guy who punched second.

 

Bluke, you're right we don't see eye to eye that often (at least on Too Hot!) but I appreciate your take.

And the work you do/did. I think the problem is that the kind of dedicated guidance which fills a vacuum created over decades of neglect is more the exception than the norm. Even less than that, the basic resources for a self-starter to thrive are becoming fewer and more far as malicious district mapping and policy that ties tax revenue to school funding further entrenches the gap (if you thought having old textbooks was a handicap imagine the resources gap when you factor in modern technology). We often talk about SAT prep beginning in the 6th and 7th grade for kids angling to get into Ivy's and the super competitive high schools, but those things start in Pre-K, with schools having no arts or music programs, all the little things that stimulate young minds and sew the seeds of Academic growth.

Your post reminds me of one of my favorite quotes about Billy Napier and the reason I truly like and am pulling for the guy. The quote is from Lane Kiffin of all people. He referred to Billy in an old interview as someone who "poured into kids." It reminds me of that high school football documentary that won the Oscars a few years back, UNDEFEATED (if you haven't seen it, it's a MUST watch). The most talented kid on the team was an absolute head case, unsalvageable. And yet, the coach poured into him. Have rarely seen a kid's life so directly affected by mentor, really inspiring stuff.

How and why these situations come to be is the point of most of my points here. If we're honest about the root causes of the disparity a program like affirmative action (in an empathetic society) makes absolute sense. If we're not... we get this thread on Too Hot.

I myself would not have the life I have if Affirmative Action did not exist. And based on the performance of the applicants in the ten years before me the spot I "took" would not have been put to better use by someone more "qualified" (per the metrics that were previously used to vet applicants).

To your point, were I not in my current vocation, I may have been just as successful in another; as you say from your personal experience, the kids who show aptitude, once poured into, flourish. But that is not always the case. Many kids slip through the cracks. And some just never find themselves in a situation where an educator or person in power gives a damn.

Appreciated your post, boss

 

NSFW. A oldie funny Hasan Minhaj Patriot Act episode on the case.

 

Didnt know UF hadn’t considered race in quite some time.

Supreme Court rejects affirmative action for college admissions - The Independent Florida Alligator