Cristina Rodriguez, a law prof at NYU, has an interesting analysis of affirmative action after O’Connor on Posted in Politics
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Cristina Rodriguez, a law prof at NYU, has an interesting analysis of affirmative action after O’Connor on Posted in Politics
John writes:
>>>”She is apparently unaware of the Center for Equal Opportunity studies that found massive gaps between the average SAT scores of preferentially and non-preferentially admitted college students (230 points at Michigan, for example, as well as half of a grade point on a four point scale), or perhaps she doesn’t thinks gaps of this magnitude are significant.”
We’re going around this mullberry bush about the weight of standardized test scores and qualifications again, aren’t we?
We all know it’s not the ONLY determinant in admissions, but it seems to be the focus of nearly every anti-affirmative action argument.
Why is this?
–Cobra
Why? Because the colleges themselves think they measure something useful, and in addition it is a way of judging students from different schools, etc., on at least one uniform standard. Note, though, that the grades of preferentially admitted students also lag far behind those not given preferences.
And, in fact, standardized test scores and grades are essentially the only determinant of admissions in law school. Oh — and race.
Undergraduate admissions may take into account extracurriculars, work history, essays, etc., but law school is all about numbers. Oh — and race.
I’d like to ask Cobra: what would you find more compelling?
To some extent, as John says, these factors are easy to measure relatively objectively — any measurement of extra-curricular activities, for example, is going to be a lot more dependant on the judgment of whomever is designing the study. A score is a score, but how do you compare proficiency with the violin to the development of a neighborhood recycling program?
Theoretically, then, there could be a gap in the other direction for some of the harder-to-measure factors, such as extracurricular activities — applicants of preferred races may be doing more impressive things outside of the classroom/test center. Using the easy-to-measure factors could be a matter of looking for ones keys where there is light. But I think it’s reasonable to suppose that our keys are under this particular lamp-post. As David says, it’s not exactly as if grades and test scores are irrelevant to the admissions process, and I can’t think of any reason to believe that other factors should necessarily cut the other way.
Actually, are there studies on how well grades and scores predict admission within a group? I assume that if there are, someone here knows of them.
But back to my question to Cobra: opponents of affirmative action have the studies mentioned and the common sense that if race becomes a bigger determinant, something else has to become a lesser determinant. What do supporters have, and what do you think opponents are missing that you would find more compelling?
Steve Jens writes:
>>>opponents of affirmative action have the studies mentioned and the common sense that if race becomes a bigger determinant, something else has to become a lesser determinant. What do supporters have, and what do you think opponents are missing that you would find more compelling?”
Without digging up old graves already buried in discussion on this blog, there are a variety of determinants that go into admissions beyond grades and test scores. Location, nationality, and economic status are all factors like race that a student usually has no control over. My argument is that race fits neatly into to that family of criteria and is beneficial to the nation’s demographic well-being. My opponents respectfully disagree that race should be included in that factor group.
What I’ve noticed during the course of discussion here is that the emphasis on Affirmative Action in admissions is focused primarily on the “elite” or prestige institutions–Ivy, Berkeley, and of course the good ol’ U of Michigan. Would there be as vigorous an opposition to preferences if it was not about these august schools? I don’t know.
–Cobra