For those who deny the link between “affirmative action” and lowered standards, look no further than this lead sentence in a USA Today article:
“Colleges and universities should adopt affirmative-action policies based on socioeconomic status, argues a new report that finds the most disadvantaged students on average score 784 points lower on the SAT than those from the wealthiest, most educated families.”
Richard Kahlenberg, author of the report, says schools should lower standards for “disadvantaged students,” whose average SAT score is a whopping 784 points lower than the so-called wealthy. If affirmative action didn’t involve lowered standards, individuals admitted under the policy would have scores similar to those in the general pool, but that’s not the case. Widening the pool of qualified applicants was affirmative action’s original intent, but the policy quickly morphed into rigging the game for members of certain racial groups, to redress past discrimination and racial imbalances.
Preferring lower-income students over higher-income students isn’t illegal (yet) or as unpalatable (to some) as preferring people over others based on race.
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