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Class Doesn’t Stay That Way
In an editorial for the Washington Post, Peter Beinart thinks that Barack Obama could put the issue of race away for good if he came out for replacing race-based affirmative action with class-based programs.
I have no problem with class-based affirmative action, though I think it should supplement, not replace, its racial peer, as both are independent sources of disadvantage and both are independent sources of diversity. But even the premise is wrong here….
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17 Responses to “Class Doesn’t Stay That Way”
If you want to have class based affirmative action in education, the expanded the number of seats so that deserving middle class kids are not left out.
Look at the value of an Ivy League Education. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121746658635199… Why should the middle class kids have to kill themselves to get into the Ivy leagues so that their earning will be higher but the children of wealthy blacks or poor whites be admitted on a different standard so that their earnings will be much higher?
DS: But even the premise is wrong here. The reason affirmative action inspires disdain isn't because it leaves “deserving” Whites out. The reason is simply that it is a program whose primary beneficiaries are seen to be Black people.
Perhaps so. But it would be hard to back up the perception with a close scrutiny of the data. In other words, there is a double dilemma here. On the one hand, African Americans truly are over-represented on the roles of the disadvantaged. On the other, (the last time I looked anyway) white folks are more inclined to take advantage of the handouts available, and are more likely to stay on them longer than any other group. So an accurate analysis requires nuance. And in that regard I think you're right — the low-informed voter isn't particularly interested in nuance. After all, they're perfectly willing to buy the argument about really rich people being taxed too much if all they are told about is marginal federal income rates, without considering other more regressive taxes across the board.
Compounding the problem is the question of whether minority individuals in the middle or upper class income brackets (however defined) should benefit from affirmative action policies. IMO, that's where many affirmative action policies get into trouble. And rightly they should. That's where they run the risk of perpetuating the status quo rather than changing it (which is supposed to be the whole point). But again, that is where attention to nuance and detail is required. And most low-informed voters aren't interested in that either. Nonetheless, IMO, that is the battleground which makes the most sense. Said in another way, if I felt we could rely on a sufficient amount of nuance, I would agree with David Schraub. But I don't feel that. So I am more inclined to agree with Beinart. It would be nice to be pleasantly surprised, though.
There is a deafening silence, as much as Obama touts evening the playing field for oppressed peoples, in the most oppressed class of all across the board of race, religious affiliation and nationality:
Women
Where are Obama's lectures and monologues on women's equality?
Sparse or not at all..
“Yes we can!” (Who is “we” anyway?)
I'm not convinced by the argument that eliminating the race requirement for affirmative action will not reduce the racial resentment involved. Not because I don't believe it to be true (it's far from a foregone conclusion, but it's certainly possible) but because that's not the point.
The point is fairness. Affirmative action is there to supposedly right a wrong. It was oriented towards minorities (and women) because these groups are historically disadvantaged. It was a nice thought, but it totally shortchanges people who aren't in one of those groups that happens to also be disadvantaged (Appalachia poor whites, for instance). A CLASS based affirmative action plan would help anyone who starts out unfortunately low on the totem poll, even if they happen to be white, and exclude people with more than enough means of their own, even if they happen to be black. It could well be that this does not cure the racial resentment Affirmative Action incurs for the reasons you stated, but the central point of a switch in the program would be restoring fairness, not eliminating resentment. If the resentment is too much to tolerate then affirmative action should be scratched altogether and a different program instituted (one that gives kids with good grades a small scholarship or very low interest loan as long as their grades are good and they are not rich, for instance).
Of course, the idea behind class based AA is twofold. First, it is away around the problem that race based AA is blatantly unconstitutional. Since 1979, the courts have been consistent is saying that separate and unequal admission or performance expectations are unconstitutional. The second part of class based AA is it eliminate the ability of rich, affluent recent immigrants like Barack Obama from using AA to get ahead.
Of course, for individuals like David Schruab who get giddy with the idea of social engineering every aspect of the U.S., they love AA because it can be used to reward certain political groups while punishing others.
Silhouette you truly have a one track mind. Just go ahead and vote for McCain if you are so angry (and you are). But don't come crying when Roe vs. Wade is overturned and your HMO won't prescribe the pill (but worry not, it WILL give your husband viagra). If you want to believe that a man who cheated on and then left his crippled wife for a much younger woman is more pro-woman than Obama, then no one can help you.
“The second part of class based AA is it eliminate the ability of rich, affluent recent immigrants like Barack Obama from using AA to get ahead.”
SD, that's pretty low, even for you. When Obama was of education age he was simply middle class and OH YEAH! Recent immigrant? So you're an immigrant when you move from one US state to another? That's news to me.
lynx
Ok, Eliminating race base AA would keep immigrants and the children of recent immigratns from claiming that they were harmed by the legacy of slavery and thus need a separate and lower standard to be admitted.
Also, Barack Obama attend the most elite private school in Hawaii. He definitely should not have been held to a lower standard for college admission versus blue collar whites who attended public schools.
Of course, the same can be said for Michelle Obama. AA paved her way to the selective public high school. After that, she should have been on her own merit instead of using AA to get into Princeton.
I'm not disputing that someone who has no need for preferential treatment get it. I AM however disputing your assertion that Obama was “rich, affluent” and ESPECIALLY your totally unsupported and demonstrably false claim that he is a “recent immigrant”:
“affluent recent immigrants like Barack Obama “
Barack Obama was the son of an affluent immgrant to the U.S. had a college educated mother and stepfather, and attended an elite prep school. Middle class does not begin to describe him.
Lynx,
There was an editorial in the Washington Post a few years ago titled “Not Affirmative, Sir” that describe who students who were attending expensive prep schools would claim to be Hispanic or Native American in order to get into the Naval Academy. Class based AA would eliminate such games that are played.
In addition, there was at least one study of the Ivy leagues that showed that 1/2 of the African-Americans students in the Ivy League were either immigratns or the children of immigrants. They definitely should not be getting in with lower grades and test scores. Those AA admits do not have a legacy of being adversely affected by slavery. Remember, that is why universities came up with the idea of diversity instead of retribution as a reason for AA. They were rewarding rich blacks instead of helping poor blacks. As far as diversity goes, rich blacks are good enough to meet the quota.
superdestroyer: Also, Barack Obama attend the most elite private school in Hawaii. He definitely should not have been held to a lower standard for college admission versus blue collar whites who attended public schools.
Interesting argument, considering his performance in said colleges. Likewise Michelle's. How do you balance their performance with, say, that of McCain in the college of his choice? I'm just asking.
McCain is an example of the other problem with universities: legacies. John McCain would not have ever of been admitted to the USNA or flown jets if not for his father and grandfather. Of course, Al Gore III had no more business at Harvard but happened in this century.
superdestroyer: McCain is an example of the other problem with universities: legacies.
Bingo. Damn, I'm good. Lol!
Mind you though, I'm not completely negating “legacy” or “privilege”. I'm only calling attention to it. The fact is, if “legacy” were taken completely out of the mix, those that benefit from it would find a way to put it back in. That's the reality. We like to think our government is at its base a meritocracy, but that's not entirely true. The truth is we, as a country, have always relied on privilege to a certain extent. We just can't let it get out of hand.
Legacies: Don't forget George Bush. [grin] Not just at the university, but in the GOP leadership and the White House. (Dems have a legacy problem, too, not limited to Kennedys and Cuomos but including, for example, Bayh.)
“The reason affirmative action inspires disdain isn't because it leaves 'deserving' Whites out. The reason is simply that it is a program whose primary beneficiaries are seen to be Black people.”
I.e., water flows uphill, not downhill.
Ricorum,
The problem is that the cure for legacies (that only occur at a limited number of universities is not to violate the civil rights of students by having separate admissions standards based upon race. The U.S. could ban all universities that accept federal funds from using legacies.