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jrm4 19 hours ago

University admission is a zero-sum already deeply unfair game (with slots going to the rich and privileged)

AA just pushes against THAT, for better or worse.

skibidithink 18 hours ago | parent [-]

AA doesn't prevent the rich from buying admissions. It redistributes slots from middle and lower class folks with the wrong ethnicity.

jrm4 13 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I never said it did that; It pushes back against the phenomenon.

The most neutral way I can put it: Every school turns away a LOT of equally qualified applicants, at some point decisions must be made. Next issue, schools don't exist purely for the benefit of the students, but the world at large. This is why you want a -- dare I say it -- diverse population. To maximize the good your students can do.

Now, one may not love race as a proxy for this, but it's at least arguably a workable solution.

skibidithink 12 hours ago | parent [-]

You did say it.

> with slots going to the rich and privileged) [...] AA just pushes against THAT

It doesn't give away the slots reserved for the rich.

And it's not a tiebreaker between equally qualified candidates. At Harvard, Africans who performed in the 4th decile were admitted more often than Asians in the 10th decile. [1]

[1]. See page 11 (by document numbering). https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-1199/169941/202...

firejake308 18 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I went to a school in the suburbs with kids from middle class families and lower-middle class families. Many of us wanted to get into the Ivy League schools, but what I saw was that, presumable because of AA, the middle class kids from over-represented minorities (Asian, white) did not get into the Ivies, and the 1 or 2 who did get in were middle class kids from under-represented minorities (Black, Hispanic). But their families were still pretty well-off. Under no circumstances did a kid from a lower-middle class family make it into an Ivy, regardless of race. I really don't get why AA has to be about race, if we just did AA based on parental income alone, I would support it 100%. I think most concervatives would be happy because it wouls support poor whites, and most liberals would also be happy because it would in actuality URMs would still be the most benefited because they are the majority of low-income families. My only assumption is that it doesn't leave any openings for the rich and powerful to game the system, so people with the power to make changes will never make that change.