Affirmative action programs fail because they do nothing to bring unprepared
minorities up to the level of the students and workers who gain their positions
on merit alone. As a result of racial quotas:
- On average, black and Hispanic students entering the University of
California at Berkeley have much lower high school grade-point averages
and scores on the Scholastic Assessment Test than whites and Asians.
- Students admitted through special set-asides do much worse at the
college level, lowering the six-year graduation rate for blacks to 59 percent
and for Hispanics to 64 percent, compared with 84 percent for whites and
88 percent for Asians.
A different kind of affirmative action could address the the main cause
of unequal opportunities among adults - differences in childhood experienceces
- by human-capital investments that help children do well as adults.
Such affirmative action should include:
- Tuition vouchers for private elementary and secondary schools so poor
children can get a decent education, rather than attending inadequate local
public schools.
- Welfare reform to keep poor families intact.
- A continuing crackdown on crime until children are convinced it doesn't
pay.
- Programs to improve medical care and nutrition.
Source: Gary S. Becker, "End Affirmative Action As We Know It,"
Business Week, August 21, 1995.
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