White Folks HEART Affirmitive Action.

The interesting thing about working in academia is you
learn a lot about human beings when you look that the distinction between
the choices that their students and the choices that they make for
their children.

In fact, on my rules when dealing with institutions is,
analyzing whether the person in a position of authority (PIA)
is recommending something for young brown/black person,
that they would recommend it for their own YOUR DAUGHTER.

Imagine my surprise when I came across this article on
Affirmative Action and White Folks by Peter Schmidt.

Now, lets look at the "own daughter" rule and Affirmative Action.

How different is a legacy or sports admit from an "affirmative action" admit?

I guess your answer depends on who you ask.

The author makes some salient points. He writes:

Surf the websites of such institutions and you will find press releases boasting that they have increased their black and Hispanic enrollments, admitted bumper crops of National Merit scholars or became the destination of choice for hordes of high school valedictorians. Many are bragging about the large share of applicants they rejected, as a way of conveying to the world just how popular and selective they are.

What they almost never say is that many of the applicants who were rejected were far more qualified than those accepted. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, it was not the black and Hispanic beneficiaries of affirmative action, but the rich white kids with cash and connections who elbowed most of the worthier applicants aside.

Alumni are so incredibly powerful.

And here come the numbers to support the assertions.

Researchers with access to closely guarded college admissions data have found that, on the whole, about 15 percent of freshmen enrolled at America's highly selective colleges are white teens who failed to meet their institutions' minimum admissions standards. Five years ago, two researchers working for the Educational Testing Service, Anthony Carnevale and Stephen Rose, took the academic profiles of students admitted into 146 colleges in the top two tiers of Barron's college guide and matched them up against the institutions' advertised requirements in terms of high school grade point average, SAT or ACT scores, letters of recommendation, and records of involvement in extracurricular activities. White students who failed to make the grade on all counts were nearly twice as prevalent on such campuses as black and Hispanic students who received an admissions break based on their ethnicity or race.

A larger share, however, are students who gained admission through their ties to people the institution wanted to keep happy, with alumni, donors, faculty members, administrators, and politicians topping the list.

Applicants who stood no chance of gaining admission without connections are only the most blatant beneficiaries of such admissions preferences. Except perhaps at the very summit of the applicant pile - that lofty place occupied by young people too brilliant for anyone in their right mind to turn down - colleges routinely favor those who have connections over those who don't. While some applicants gain admission by legitimately beating out their peers, many others get into exclusive colleges the same way people get into trendy night clubs, by knowing the management or flashing cash at the person manning the velvet rope.

Interesting. Elite Colleges favor The Connected.

I wonder what Ward Connerly has to say about that?

========
========

Did you go to an HBCU? Are you happy?
Did you regret it? Having been at OU/TEXAS weekend,
I witnessed first hand
the power of a robust Black Alumni network.

There is nothing like it. Now that I am older I
understand that we attend a school both to
LEARN in the classroom and to have access to an alumni network.
These networks can open up doors that last names can't. Who knew?

=======
=======