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06-25-2004, 11:29 AM

Alright Mods...not sure if this is too hot a topic to discuss here or not, if it is please feel free to delete or lock the thread.

My personal views on Affirmative action in the US are that they are just a different kind of discrimination at best and harmful. So I found a blog entry by Jonah Goldberg kind of interesting. Im looking for some other peoples views to see what they think about what Jonah points out.

Friday, June 25, 2004

BLACKS IN THE GLOBAL MARKET [Jonah Goldberg ]

I didn't get a chance to comment on this yesterday, but I think this story is fascinating. Harvard -- like a lot of schools, I'm certain -- is going oversees to get many of its black students. Lani Guinier and Henry Gates find the trend troubling and for not entirely illegitimate reasons. If affirmative action was intended to even the playing field for the descendants of slaves, then importing blacks from Bali or Niger doesn't really do that.

But that's what is so delicious about this story! Folks like Guinier have set up a system of bean counting and quotas so as to get more "blacks" into colleges and elsewhere. Now it turns out that maybe they are the wrong kind of blacks. I should note that it's not just immigrant blacks that are "troubling" but the kids from mixed race marriages are disproportionately getting in as blacks.

Anyway, the problem is that in order to sustain, defend and expand the racial spoils system liberals have had to argue that affirmative action is no longer a "remedy" so much as an educational benefit in itself, i.e. "diversity." So now Lee Bollinger the former President of the University of Michigan whose case was decided in the Supreme Court last year, must now defend diversity as educational tool and not as a remedy. "I don't think it should matter for purposes of admissions in higher education," said Lee C. Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, who as president of the University of Michigan fiercely defended its use of affirmative action. "The issue is not origin, but social practices," he told the Times. "It matters in American society whether you grow up black or white. It's that differential effect that really is the basis for affirmative action."

But one of the numerous ironies here is that the diversity fixation has created a market for qualified blacks that -- despite the protestations of Guinier & Co -- cannot be satisfied with the domestic supply. So, in the era of globalization there is a flight to quality. I think it's all just really, really interesting.

Edit: I believe that all applications for schools, jobs and or Government service should not have any entries for Race, Sex or Religious information on them.

[ 06-25-2004, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

06-25-2004, 11:29 AM	#1
MagiK Guest Posts: n/a	Alright Mods...not sure if this is too hot a topic to discuss here or not, if it is please feel free to delete or lock the thread. My personal views on Affirmative action in the US are that they are just a different kind of discrimination at best and harmful. So I found a blog entry by Jonah Goldberg kind of interesting. Im looking for some other peoples views to see what they think about what Jonah points out. Friday, June 25, 2004 BLACKS IN THE GLOBAL MARKET [Jonah Goldberg ] I didn't get a chance to comment on this yesterday, but I think this story is fascinating. Harvard -- like a lot of schools, I'm certain -- is going oversees to get many of its black students. Lani Guinier and Henry Gates find the trend troubling and for not entirely illegitimate reasons. If affirmative action was intended to even the playing field for the descendants of slaves, then importing blacks from Bali or Niger doesn't really do that. But that's what is so delicious about this story! Folks like Guinier have set up a system of bean counting and quotas so as to get more "blacks" into colleges and elsewhere. Now it turns out that maybe they are the wrong kind of blacks. I should note that it's not just immigrant blacks that are "troubling" but the kids from mixed race marriages are disproportionately getting in as blacks. Anyway, the problem is that in order to sustain, defend and expand the racial spoils system liberals have had to argue that affirmative action is no longer a "remedy" so much as an educational benefit in itself, i.e. "diversity." So now Lee Bollinger the former President of the University of Michigan whose case was decided in the Supreme Court last year, must now defend diversity as educational tool and not as a remedy. "I don't think it should matter for purposes of admissions in higher education," said Lee C. Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, who as president of the University of Michigan fiercely defended its use of affirmative action. "The issue is not origin, but social practices," he told the Times. "It matters in American society whether you grow up black or white. It's that differential effect that really is the basis for affirmative action." But one of the numerous ironies here is that the diversity fixation has created a market for qualified blacks that -- despite the protestations of Guinier & Co -- cannot be satisfied with the domestic supply. So, in the era of globalization there is a flight to quality. I think it's all just really, really interesting. Edit: I believe that all applications for schools, jobs and or Government service should not have any entries for Race, Sex or Religious information on them. [ 06-25-2004, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]