<p>Key word is qualified and how you decide who is qualified? In some cases if you look at a top student in an inner city school with low SAT scores, without AA they would never have a shot. My mom went to a poor inner city HS in the 70s. She ranked 10 out of 1000 kids and was an A student. She scored 650 in math and 600 in cr reading. She graduated from an IVY league school with a 3.7 GPA. My point is that without AA she would never have had a shot of getting into any IVY league school. This is true of a lot of kids that attend schools that are not up to snuff. Should those students not be viewed differently given the resources that are available to them? In my mom’s school there was one college counselor for the entire senior class. When she performed poorly the first time she took the SAT, she was told that there was no point in her taking it again because she would not be able to raise her scores. Thank God she ignored this advice and actual improved her scores up 150 on math and up 100 in cr reading. Just because a score might be lower does not mean that someone is unqualified. Believe me there was no AA help to assist my mother with getting through the 4 years. She had to work very hard the first semester just to stay on top of everything. </p>
<p>As far as my comment on AA benefitting foreign blacks I have read this in more than one place but this is discussed by Dr. Michel A. Hernandez in her book A Is for Admission: The Insider’s Guide to Getting into the Ivy League and Other Top Colleges. There is a whole section dedicated to minority admissions. Very interesting. I attend a highly selective private school, and it is a running joke, that in my class, I am the only black american that I know. </p>
<p>Regarding the complete fallacy, I am not talking about Whites who fought against racism. I will say it again, because you missed the point, most people who complain about AA are not as passionate about fighting racism that they benefit from at the expense of someone else. You can’t change what you are not even willing to admit. I notice that you did not rant about the athlete who gets in with lower scores? Is that fair? Did you rant about the poor with kid from Maine who got in with lower scores? Is that fair? Did you rant about the rich wite legacy kid who got in with lower scores? Is that fair? Is it fair that in the richest country in the world that there exists gross educational disparities accross the US. I live in one of the poorest cities in the nation, the public school system stinks. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend highly selective private schools my whole life. Big difference between 12 kids to a class, state of the art facilities, teachers that are available to you almost 24/7 and 30 kids to a class, run down facilities, and teachers who are almost never available to you. Knowing who I am, I would venture to say that I would still be a top student in a public school, but I bet my SAT and ACT scores would not nearly be as high, and yet without AA, I would not be given a shot if I had not had the good fortune to attend a private school. Would I be less qualified? From an SAT score perspective maybe, but whether I attended a public or private school was totally out of my control. Why should a student, no matter what their ethnicity, gender, or class status be judged by the same standards as another student who has had every advantage. Makes no sense to me. Two white males, One is upper middle class, educated parents, attends a public school in upper middle class neigborhood, A student, top 10%, High SAT scores. Should this kid be compared the same as a White male from rural area in appalachia, A student, top 10% of his class, Slightly lower SAT scores, first generation college. Should these applicants be looked at apples to apples. I don’t think so?</p>
<p>I find it amusing that I have never heard anyone say, that they are so ****ed that Athletes get in with lower scores, and that is because in this country athleticism is still more valued than diversity. It is a fallacy that AA means that you accept unqualified candidates. It has never meant that. I want any school that I attend to be diverse. I want to get to know peope for different social economic, geographic, ethnic, gender, and racial backgrounds. I want to know the athlete, the geek, and the artist. Without AA most of our colleges and unviversity would be what they where in the 40s and 50s, mostly rich white males, but no worries, athletes would still get in.</p>