Harvard Needs Merit-Based Admissions A Supreme Court decision could force colleges to move away from affirmative action and create true diversity on campus. By Alan M. Dershowitz June 1, 2022 6:28 pm ET The Supreme Court, in its next term, will render a decision in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, which will determine the legality of Harvard’s race-based affirmative-action program. The plaintiff's claim that, by creating a floor for certain racial and ethnic groups in its admissions, Harvard created a ceiling for Asian-Americans. The result is that Asian-Americans who are academically qualified become victims of discrimination.
It's disturbing to see so little response to Dershowitz's argument, especially when there is so much to consider - and so much at risk. I've heard little about bitterness and cynicism race based admissions creates. High school classmates for example, certainly know how they each stack against the other academically and how serious and disciplined they each are, how much each accomplish, and about each other's virtues. It's calamitous for those of disfavored races to see themselves not recognized and rewarded for their discipline, will and accomplishment. It is likely that many will internalize the implication that being asian or "white privileged" they are less worthy. Indeed, this message is aggressively asserted.
The University of California has excised standardized testing scores from admissions consideration and many if not most colleges have followed, because students - categorized by race rather than by pan-racial causal factors - have proven recalcitrant to test improvement. It's then suggested that high scores infer racial and ethnic privilege, not work ethic or potential.
Rather than encouraging values that esteem academics and discipline, those with these virtues are effectively punished. For example, UC can't tolerate any higher percentage of high achieving Asians at their premier institutions Berkeley and UCLA. So once Asian racial quota is met, equally achieving Asians are railroaded to UC's second tier universities (Irvine, San Diego, Davis, etc.). With the elimination of standardized test scores, Asian attendance percentages at some UC second tiers have jumped from 25-30% in 2019 to over 40%, presumably at least in part due to increased routing of high achievers whose high test scores now have zero determinative value. UC's second tiers have become new Asian internment camps. Please, let's instead, or at least concomitantly, intensely aim to develop the virtues that produce academic excellence.
And, please, for the sake of our society, let's encourage our very highest values in those most endowed, and make the greatest opportunities available to them.
The treatment of Asians at Harvard, is no different than the quotas limiting Jews’ admittance to universities not that long ago. A facade for discrimination.
"Use of merit-based standards would also end the need for bloated bureaucracies that enforce diversity, inclusion and equity mandates throughout universities"
No doubt the legions of DEI bureaucrats, ashamed of their parasitical role, will welcome the initiative and further it by resigning from their sinecures. (Just kidding!)
It's disturbing to see so little response to Dershowitz's argument, especially when there is so much to consider - and so much at risk. I've heard little about bitterness and cynicism race based admissions creates. High school classmates for example, certainly know how they each stack against the other academically and how serious and disciplined they each are, how much each accomplish, and about each other's virtues. It's calamitous for those of disfavored races to see themselves not recognized and rewarded for their discipline, will and accomplishment. It is likely that many will internalize the implication that being asian or "white privileged" they are less worthy. Indeed, this message is aggressively asserted.
The University of California has excised standardized testing scores from admissions consideration and many if not most colleges have followed, because students - categorized by race rather than by pan-racial causal factors - have proven recalcitrant to test improvement. It's then suggested that high scores infer racial and ethnic privilege, not work ethic or potential.
Rather than encouraging values that esteem academics and discipline, those with these virtues are effectively punished. For example, UC can't tolerate any higher percentage of high achieving Asians at their premier institutions Berkeley and UCLA. So once Asian racial quota is met, equally achieving Asians are railroaded to UC's second tier universities (Irvine, San Diego, Davis, etc.). With the elimination of standardized test scores, Asian attendance percentages at some UC second tiers have jumped from 25-30% in 2019 to over 40%, presumably at least in part due to increased routing of high achievers whose high test scores now have zero determinative value. UC's second tiers have become new Asian internment camps. Please, let's instead, or at least concomitantly, intensely aim to develop the virtues that produce academic excellence.
And, please, for the sake of our society, let's encourage our very highest values in those most endowed, and make the greatest opportunities available to them.
The treatment of Asians at Harvard, is no different than the quotas limiting Jews’ admittance to universities not that long ago. A facade for discrimination.
Too many Jews.
Too many Asians.
"Use of merit-based standards would also end the need for bloated bureaucracies that enforce diversity, inclusion and equity mandates throughout universities"
No doubt the legions of DEI bureaucrats, ashamed of their parasitical role, will welcome the initiative and further it by resigning from their sinecures. (Just kidding!)
Amazing that Harvard has more money than the GDP of most countries of the world!