Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Equal Outcomes

Hypothetically speaking, if racial minorities are more likely to commit “expellable” offenses in school, doesn’t it follow that racial minorities will be expelled disproportionately to their numbers? 

Let’s say whites and Asians with the aptitude to take Advanced Placement classes in fact take those classes, and blacks and Hispanics (assuming they have the aptitude – no “racist” plot needed) tend not to take those classes, doesn’t it follow the latter will be underrepresented in such classes?

Which would be more intellectually honest: to say disparities are caused by racial bias or by the choices and abilities of the individual?

Somewhere along the civil rights way, there emerged the perception that racial disparities were evidence of discrimination. Equality of outcome took precedence over equality of opportunity. It isn’t enough that every student has an equal opportunity to behave himself in school or equal access to Advanced Placement classes. Social engineers want the numbers to even out, regardless of individual choices. Racial disparities are embarrassing, and someone or something outside the free-thinking individual must serve as the scapegoat.

Equality of outcome became a civil right sometime after the civil rights movement. Things weren’t happening fast enough, so people had to pin the blame on something besides Jim Crow. But what’s more likely to narrow disparities: creating bigger and more expensive government programs, or encouraging the individual to work harder, better, and more efficiently?

Well, the individual has no place in the Big Government scheme, so don’t bother answering the question. The Department of Education is embarking on what it no doubt considers a bold new journey to narrow the achievement gap and other racial disparities. According the New York Times, the department will send certain school districts and state-supported colleges letters, putting them on notice about potential “civil rights” investigations to determine whether minorities have equal access to Advanced Placement classes, why minorities have higher suspension rates than whites, etc.

(By the way, unequal access to AP classes would entail a high school barring a black student from enrolling in such classes or the College Board refusing to allow him to sit for the exam because he’s black. If a student is prepared to take a particular AP class, or he’s willing to do the necessary prep work, he may sign up for the class, regardless of his race. When I was in high school, for instance, I had the option to take AP biology, but the class conflicted with band class, and I preferred band over biology.)

Secretary Arne Duncan (pictured) indirectly accused the Bush administration of not being “as vigilant as it should have been in combating gender and racial discrimination and protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities,” but the new administration has stepped up the crusade for equal outcomes.

If the department’s investigation at a particular school finds that minorities on average don’t wish to enroll in Advanced Placement classes, is the inquiry over? If minorities commit more expulsion-worthy acts, would the agency recommend expelling fewer minorities despite behavior, or expelling more whites and Asians despite behavior? Why expel or suspend students at all? Ban expulsion and suspension, and viola! The disparity will vanish.

Under a traditional view, rights were tied to personal liberty, in which the individual was free from government coercion. Government segregation is a violation of his rights, for example, but scoring too low on a pencil-and-paper civil service test is not. Individuals have a constitutional right to equality before the law and to be free from discrimination based on the color of his skin. No one has a right to preferential treatment, perks, or equal outcomes.

All that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” jazz is just too minimalist for some.

Addendum: John Rosenberg at Discriminations asks, “So, who is discriminating against those black and Latino students? What discriminatory policies are the culprits? What do schools need to do to get themselves in ‘compliance’ with Secretary Duncan’s version of civil rights?

“Here’s a thought: why shouldn’t the Dept. of Education issue individual mandates, on the model of those proposed in health care, requiring black and Latino students to spend a specified number of hours per night doing homework and limiting the number of hours of television watching allowed? It could also use ‘stimulus’ funds, or newly appropriated ‘jobs’ funds, to hire armies of truant officers (possibly using those hired for the Census) to monitor ‘compliance’ with the new edict?”