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The Value of the Climb Despite the few modest constraints put on race-based affirmative action by the Supreme Court last week, most observers have interpreted the two University of Michigan rulings as a major victory for (certain) minority students. But was it really? American diversity deserves to be celebrated, but it's hard to believe that the academic performance of many African-Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians won't continue to be depressed as long as they continue to be held to lower academic standards than other young people. Given such tepid incentives, there is slim reason to believe that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's concluding prediction in the law school case -- that "25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary" -- will prove true. As favors go, a dissenting Clarence Thomas essentially retorted, "spare me" this one, quoting the abolitionist Frederick Douglass for good and proper measure. Affirmative action policies, for the last 35 years, have aimed to get protected class members into selective colleges even when their high school grades and test scores have been below -- often substantially below -- the credentials required of other students. But why is this preoccupation with top-ranked colleges so strong to begin with? Several answers are obvious, of course, starting with the fact that graduating from a first-tier school is almost always more prestigious than graduating from a second-ranked one. (Keep this idea of actually "graduating" in mind for a moment.) But what's really so bad or unattractive about "lesser" institutions for students who may not be academically prepared to succeed in more demanding settings? If the question seems naive, insulting or worse, relax, as I'm writing about myself. I started my collegiate career 37 years ago at a place called the City University College Center at New York City Community College. I say place rather than institution because CUCC at NYCCC lasted hardly longer than a blink. How did I wind up at such an obscure school with such a tanker of a name? Because first I messed up and then I got lucky. I was a dreadful student in junior high school and then shrunk to new lows in senior high. Why did I do so poorly? I would like to think it was because I burned out after a feverish performance in sixth grade. Then, again, I'm not inclined to disagree it was boyish sloth. The good news was I somehow managed to graduate from a very good public high school in Queens. The bad news was I couldn't even get into any nearby community college. What to do? To the great and benign credit of the City University of New York system, it quickly pulled together temporary one-year programs designed for recent high school grads, like myself, who had been rejected a few months before. Having no other (cheap) place to go, I signed up. I don't remember exactly how I felt that September in 1966, but I imagine it was three things mainly. I was thankful for the late-breaking opportunity to go to college. I was a shade embarrassed about attending a cathedral of learning whose ivy had yet to graduate from Burpee bags. And I was scared that this was my last chance, literally, to secure a decent career and life for myself. Precisely how motivated was I? Driven hard enough to earn nearly straight A's and transfer a year later to one of the premier public liberal arts colleges in the United States, Harpur College, a part of the State University of New York at Binghamton. From there, I went on to complete a Ph.D. in education at the University of Minnesota in 1980. Is it possible that I was ready for Harpur immediately out of high school? Not a chance, as I needed the year at a more forgiving school in order to regain a measure of academic discipline and confidence. This compels me to believe that many current young people might profit if they pursued a course similar to mine -- even though racial preferences, as recertified on Monday, might make doing so unnecessary. Personally speaking, there's much to be said about starting off modestly but earnestly, and only then, after settling down, possibly moving on to a more rigorous school. Reinforcing this conviction are data like the following (as reported by two leading affirmative action proponents): In a study of 28 top universities, black students were about three times more likely to drop out than white students. Tell me again: Who, exactly, has benefited from race-based affirmative action? -- Mitchell B. Pearlstein is president of Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank in Minneapolis. |