NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/soc/singles/30897

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-17 | 2.5 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Michael Wang)
Newsgroups: soc.singles
Subject: Re: nkill
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 17 Nov 92 02:03:50 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Stef Jones) writes:
>>[e-mail] (W. David Rohwer) writes:
>>>
>>>     Affirmative Action is simply reverse discrimination.  Minorities
>>>here in California receive extra points on their exams for state jobs
>>>just because they are a minority.  Here is a hypothetical example:
>>>A person receives 5 extra points if that person is a minority.
>>>Person W, a non-minority, earns a 95 score on the exam.  Person M,
>>>a minority, earns a 91 score on the exam and gets 5 extra points which
>>>gives her a total of 96.  Person M will be hired, although she is less
>>>qualified than person W, because she is a minority.  That is clearly wrong.
>>
>I don't know how many more points someone gets for being a member of a
>minority group, but I question whether someone with a 95 score is "more
>qualified" than someone with a 90 score. That small a spread could be
>affected by anything.
>
>If my argument is correct, that means the two candidates are equally
>qualified. The real question to ask about affirmative action is whether you
>should give precedence to a member of a minority group who is equally as
>qualified as someone who is not a member of a minority group.

I'm afraid it is not so simple. If you look at college admissions,
particularly at the top schools, you will see that some individuals in
targeted minority groups are granted admission over other applicants
who are much more qualified. For example, Berkeley in the late 80's
consistently admitted blacks who scored 4,800 out of 8,000 on their
academic index (mixture of grades, test scores, etc.). Whites needed
at least 7,000 to get in, while Asians with a score of 7,000 only had
a 50% chance of being admitted. Unfortunately, this preferential
treatment of blacks does not seem to be helping most of them. More
than 60% of the blacks admitted to Berkeley drop out, which is twice
the drop out rate of whites and Asians.

--
Michael Wang
[e-mail]