Common sense says a student probably won’t perform well if he’s placed in an academic environment for which he’s unprepared.
I guess it takes a panel of researchers to make it official. Inside Higher Ed reports that researchers addressed the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights last week, and the topic of discussion was the so-called mismatch theory.
According to this theory, a minority majoring in science does not perform well (relative to white students) when placed in a college that far exceeds the student’s preparation. (I’m guessing this holds true for lesser qualified students no matter what their major.) UCLA law professor Richard Sander found that black and Hispanic students “have far greater success rates in science when they enroll in the California’s less selective campuses.”
In 2004, Sander contended that law school race-based preferences result in fewer black lawyers. Why? Because blacks admitted to law schools under racial preferences are placed in schools that exceed their preparation. These students would perform better academically if preferences didn’t play a role in law school admissions. Download A Systemic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools in PDF.
Read more about the mismatch theory at Inside Higher Ed.
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