In today’s New York Times (6-30-2013) was a full-page ad
(costs a pretty penny) titled: DIVERSITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION REMAINS AN
ESSENTIAL NATIONAL PRIORITY. The ad was sponsored by a bunch of higher
education schools, associations, professors, etc.; a lot of them.
I guess the purpose of the ad in light of the recent Supreme
Court ruling in “Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, et. al. was to try to
influence the 5th Circuit Court which will review the university’s
policy of using race in its admissions policy, to see if it complies with the
recent Supreme Court ruling.
The big point in this ad is to argue the premise that
student population diversity is an absolute educational benefit.
I will not argue that a diverse student population creates a
realistic environment that helps students prepare for the real world outside
academia…but I will argue against the way schools achieve that diversity.
As I have stated on many occasions, minorities are not prohibited
from attending colleges and universities and many schools like my own Wayne
State University has a highly diverse student population.
The issue at hand is admission to “elite” universities which
have many applicants but only a few openings like our own University of
Michigan. Does attendance at an elite university give you a better shot at a
career? Maybe in certain professions but my feeling is that if you are smart
and ambitious and are willing to work hard, you will have a great career no
matter what school you went to.
Admitting students because of their race without examining
other factors like educational background and performance, dooms those studenst
to guaranteed failure and it is for this reason that many are arguing for an “economic”
factor playing a role in admissions instead of race.
Allowing a “poor” but talented individual to attend an elite
school adds to the diversity of the student population and will increase the
amount of black students into the population without being unfair to other “poor”
students who are not black. I won a 4-year scholarship to Wayne State
University because my parents were poor and I performed well on tests a bunch
of “poor” young people like me had to take to compete for the limited
scholarships available.
The ad in the New York Times argues that diversity in higher
education is a “national priority”. Well I would not take it quite that far. As
far as education is concerned the national priority should be getting kids in kindergarten
and elementary schools ready for high school and not worrying about diverse
populations in elite universities; undereducated students have no place in
elite universities.
So I am a little puzzled about all this hubbub about “forcing”
diversity by elite universities; yes, diversity is good but don’t define
diversity as based on only race; the outside world is not just white and black
but also poor and rich, privileged and underprivileged.
I think many academics have been in school too long and need
to go outside and see what the real world looks like…
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