Is Race-Based Affirmative Action Solving the Problems it Intended to Solve?

Miles Fowler

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy introduced the concept of affirma-tive action across the United States with his Executive Order #10925. The order instructed federal contractors to take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are treated equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” in response to the growing Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.1 Affirmative action, for the next 17 years, was largely based in the workplace and not in universities. However, af-ter the 1978 Supreme Court ruling in California v. Bakke, universities could legally use race as an admission standard.2 Since most minorities were poor, race-based affirmative action was adopted to help diminish the economic divide in America.3

Some 53 years later, on April 22, 2014, in a six-to-two ruling, the Su-preme Court upheld Michigan’s ban on race-based affirmative action in public universities.4 Even more recently, an additional eight states have already banned race-based affirmative action, and four more, including Ohio and Missouri, may consider bans soon.5 This national change of heart made me wonder about the future of affirmative action in educa-tion. There are those who suggest that a system based on socioeconom-ic status would better serve the needs of the people, and others contend that affirmative action should be outlawed completely. I would like to argue that those in favor of abolishing affirmative action are right to op-pose a system based on race, but are wrong in their desire to get rid of the system outright. First, I will summarize the case of those who sup-port race-based affirmative action and show the shortcomings of their argument. Second, I will show that colleges need to give more consid-eration to applicants’ economic background, regardless of race. Third, I will explore a real-world example where class-based affirmative action

This paper was written for Peter Brown’s Ideology class in the fall of 2014.

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has worked, reducing class-based differences in India and causing its economy to thrive. And lastly, I will offer an alternative socio-economic affirmative action system that, I believe, will help solve the problems the system was originally intended to solve. While race-based affirmative action can arguably improve academia through the presence of minor-ity culture and perspective, affirmative action based on socioeconomic status would better provide underprivileged students academic oppor-tunities while still maintaining diversity in the academy.

Some argue that a system based on race is necessary and beneficial in the classroom. American schools today strive to obtain a microcos-mic world on campus, full of a variety of opinions and perspectives. Many theorists, including Duncan Kennedy, Professor of General Juris-prudence at Harvard Law School, contend that the color of one’s skin brings forth these certain unique perspectives regardless of one’s aca-demic background. In other words, even if a Black student came from a particularly affluent school, he or she still offers something unique that is highly valued on a college campus. Kennedy cites his experiences in law school when the legal academic writing that he reviewed had “dif-ferent excellent qualities...resulting from the rise of minority legal cul-ture.”6 Regardless of their education in the past, minorities bring forth uncommon perspectives that can be beneficial in a classroom setting. And even after they graduate, Kennedy argues, the knowledge given to these minorities will manifest itself into economic prosperity.7 In turn, these successful adults will be able to economically provide for their children as well as intellectually provide for society as a whole.

It is true that race-based affirmative action has given some of the most ingenious minds an environment in which they can develop their thinking and understanding. Take, for instance, Geoffrey Canada, an African-American educator and children’s activist. After graduating from Harvard, he returned to Harlem in 1983 to help children in his old neighborhood. Canada soon became a pioneer in education reform, creating the Harlem Children’s Zone, which gives children in poverty “individualized support they need to get to and through college and become productive, self-sustaining adults.”8 His students have pro-

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duced proficiency rates far better than those in the surrounding area, prompting President Obama to announce plans to expand the center to 20 cities.9 Another example is Ken Carter who was born into a pov-erty-stricken family and then attended San Francisco State University, among other colleges, where he learned the importance of education. Later, he became a basketball coach at Richmond High School, where he emphasized the importance of education and worked to transform his players into true student-athletes. The most prominent example is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who “admits that he was a beneficiary of affirmative action,” despite his pronounced opposition to the system. Justice Sonia Sotomayor likewise pronounced that “affirma-tive action opened doors in [her] life.”10 There are numerous examples of these pioneers on the local, national, and global scale who, if not given the educational opportunity provided through race-based affirmative action, would not have been able to overcome their economic barrier.

It is also true that minorities tend to be less prepared for college. In a 2010 study of Michigan’s graduating high school students, only 25% of Blacks and 38% of Hispanics tested as academically prepared for col-lege English courses, compared to 64% of Whites “based on their scores on the ACT college admission test.”11 In Algebra, 40% of Whites were academically prepared for college, in comparison to only 20% of His-panics and 7% of Blacks. In Biology, only 14% of Hispanics and just 4% of Blacks, compared to 30% of Whites, were academically prepared for college. Yes, as Kennedy contends, racial minorities on the whole tend to be less educated than the majority due to their economic back-ground, but they still offer value in the classroom. However, there are no statistics that show that all Blacks or all Hispanics are not prepared for college. Likewise, there are still poor White children who are not prepared for college, and they are not given preference in the admission process. It might be true that 64% of Whites in Michigan are academi-cally prepared for college English classes. But then what happens to the 36% who are not prepared and do not get the benefits of a race-based affirmative action system? It is likely that they simply continue in the cycle of poverty. Affirmative action was created in order to allow those who received it to overcome an economic barrier and obtain self-ad-

vancement. No longer do all Blacks and all Hispanics make up the poor of the nation, and therefore affirmative action should now be based on class, not race.

Poor White children deserve the opportunity for education and ad-vancement. As a society that is so heavily focused on minorities in pov-erty, we tend to ignore the fact that the majority of the lower class is White. During the 21st century, we have come to associate the words disadvantaged, underprivileged, inner-city, urban and poor with “black and brown people.” Yet a 2011 study showed that 41.5% of the Ameri-can poor are White, a far greater percentage than are Black (25.4%) or Hispanic (28.6%).12 There are more Whites in the United States than Blacks and Hispanics. However, the poverty narrative has become so racially driven, that poor Whites are often ignored. Yes, race-based af-firmative action, also known as reverse discrimination, is utilized to compensate for the extreme prejudice many minorities faced, but why should white people have to suffer for a crime they did not commit?13 There is no reason. What exactly are the effects of affirmative action in the United States? According to education theorists Richard Kahlenberg and Halley Pot-ter, identifying as member of a racial minority yields the “equivalent of a 310-point bump in SAT scores.”14 The heightened status this con-veys can translate into improved likelihood of admission to college, and the higher income that correlates with a college degree. Between 2000 and 2013, the employment rate for individuals who did not obtain a bachelor’s degree was lower than those who did.15 Even if a high school graduate obtained a job, the median weekly earnings in 2012 with “just a high school diploma was $652.00,” while for “those with a bachelor’s degree [it] was $1,066.00.”16 This evidence suggests that those who can-not obtain a college education are unlikely to experience the economic success or advancement of those who can.

Even if there are many “Geoffrey Canada” or “Ken Carter” stories, one must ask whether is the system is truly working to improve social mobil-

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ity for the poor. In 1976, “the top 1% only took home 9% of the national income but yet today, the richest 1% earns almost a quarter of the na-tional income.”17 Despite producing some of the world’s greatest think-ers, the US ranks 27th in math and 20th in science among standardized test scores of 34 countries. In 2012, the average Black American house-hold earned almost 40% ($33,321) less than the average White Ameri-can household ($60,000). The average Hispanic household earned al-most 30% ($39,005) less than the average White American household.18

Only 8% of kids growing up in low-income communities graduate col-lege by the age of 24. But 80% of kids who grow up in high-income communities graduate college by the age of 24. In a nation that was founded on the principle of equal opportunity, it seems that children’s academic and future economic prosperity depends almost entirely on the social class from which they come. While the program of affirma-tive action is not solely to blame for economic inequality and poor math and science results, the system is simply not solving the problems it was intended to solve.

On November 28, 2012, the Supreme Court decided that an amend-ment to Michigan’s constitution that prohibits state universities from considering race as part of its admissions process does not violate the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.19 While the court case could serve as a precedent for the eventual Federal ban of race-based affirma-tive action, some argue that a new era of class-based admissions can ensure racial and socioeconomic diversity on campus. Many public universities have installed percent plans, guaranteeing admission to state universities for top graduates from each high school in the state, which will help students from underprivileged schools get into college. Universities are now asking for supplemental information regarding a “student’s socioeconomic background and the educational obstacles they have had to overcome.”20 With this information, universities can offer admission to those students who they feel can thrive, regardless of race, even if they did not come from the best high schools. India’s posi-tive discrimination offers the United States a case study in the benefits of class-based affirmative action.

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India’s caste-based system of affirmative action can serve as a model that ensures admission preference to those who truly need it. The United States is not the only nation to utilize affirmative action. In India, uni-versities use an applicant’s caste to determine preference in the admis-sion process. While both systems favor a certain group over another, caste status in India is more of a direct correlation to economic status than race is in the U.S. Because of the obvious disadvantage caste can confer, educators in India put mechanisms in place to ensure that those who can’t afford to attend the country’s best secondary schools can still attend college. Overall, the system appears to be working to lessen the divide between the rich and poor. According to McKinsey Global Insti-tute, “in two decades the country will surpass Germany as the world’s fifth largest consumer market,” a prediction that illustrates the strength of the country’s middle class.21 In public jobs, Dalits (considered to be the lowliest group in India) had just “1.6% of the most senior (‘Group A’) civil servant positions in 1965.” This percentage rose to 11.5% by 2011 and “the share is higher for more junior posts.”22 In fact, many be-lieve the education system “plays a vital role in diminishing the impor-tance of the caste system in Indian society.”23 Due to affirmative action, the sharp economic divide between castes is lessening.

While we do not have a caste system in the United States there is still a way to properly determine if one is in need of preference during the application process. I propose a system based on economic status in which there are a proportionate number of those admitted based on the number in that economic class. This system would allow those that cannot compete with upper-class students to have an opportunity to attend college regardless of the color of their skin. Let’s take a group of 100 students. Since the lower-class (average household income less than $25,500) comprises 40% of the population, then 40 spots should be reserved for these students coming from a lower-class background. The middle-class (average household income $25,500-$76,000), which comprises 44% of the population, would have 44 spots reserved. The upper-class (average household income of $76,500+), or 16% of the population, would have 16 reserved spots. While the rich would have fewer spots, they are less dependent on a college education for econom-

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ic prosperity. A recent study by Scorpio Partnership and BNP Wealth Management, which surveyed “2,523 people around the world with an average net worth of $7.6 million,” showed that “almost two-thirds (60%) of the rich came from families that had started their own busi-nesses, and investing in their own business was the biggest account for most groups.”24 This evidence supports the fact that the majority of to-day’s wealthy are rich because of inherited wealth, not personal merit.

I understand that my prescription is a radical one for mitigating class differences. However, people go to college so that they can secure a suc-cessful career. If the rich can obtain economic prosperity without a col-lege education, we should give preference to those who truly need it in order to thrive. Some might ask about the children of rich people who will never have the tools to succeed to become doctors, lawyers, etc. My answer is that, as radical as it may sound, the rich will simply not fill these roles in society. How can we continue to live in a society that allows the minority (either racial or economic) to thrive while the ma-jority continues to struggle? In a utopian society, everyone would have a spot at a prestigious university; however, that scenario is not available to us. The education system will inevitably favor one student over another for some uncontrollable variable, and will therefore never be fair. But if the rich would like to see the unjustness of affirmative action come to an end, then more schools need to be built to even out the academic playing field. We need to prioritize and invest in education.

There are so many problems the United States faces—rising unemploy-ment and crime rates, burgeoning national debt, global warming, and unequal access to health care, among other issues. However, education can be the key to solving all these problems. While it is impossible to guarantee everyone a spot in a top-notch university, we need to give the majority of the nation (middle- and lower-class) an opportunity at a quality education, regardless of race. With such an education, children who were never previously given the tools to succeed in society could become the doctors, lawyers, politicians and creative thinkers to solve the problems we are facing as a nation today.

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Notes

1. “A Brief History of Affirmative Action,” UC Irvine: Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, last modified 2014, accessed December 1, 2014, http://www.oeod.uci.edu/aa.html.

2. “Regents of University of California v. Bakke (1978),” PBS, last modified 2007, accessed December 1, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_regents.html.

3. Robert Jackson, “Affirmative Action History,” The Social Foundations of Public Issues, accessed December 1, 2014, http://www.nyu.edu/classes/jackson/social.issues/papers/AfActGrG.html.

4. Adam Liptak, “Court Backs Michigan on Affirmative Action,” The New York Times, last modified April 22, 2014, accessed October 19, 2014,http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/supreme-court-michigan-affirmative-action-ban.html.

5. Ibid.

6. Duncan Kennedy, “A Cultural Pluralist Case for Affirmative Action in Legal Academia,” Duke Law Journal 1, no. 5 (September 1990): 718, accessed October 2, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1372722.

7. Ibid.

8. “About Us,” Harlem Children’s Zone, last modified 2014, accessed November 29, 2014, http://hcz.org/about-us/.

9. “Geoffrey Canada Biography,” Bio., last modified 2014, accessed November 30, 2014, http://www.biography.com/people/geoffrey-canada-537578.

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10. Ariane de Vogue, “Justice Sonia Sotomayor: Affirmative Action ‘Opened Doors in My Life’,” ABC, last modified April 22, 2014, accessed December 1, 2014, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/ 2014/04/justice-sonia-sotomayor-affirmative-action-opened-doors-in-my-life/: David Clark Scott, “Clarence Thomas Compares Affirmative Action to Jim Crow Laws,” The Christian Science Monitor, last modified June 25, 2013, accessed December 1, 2014, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2013/0625/Clarence-Thomas-compares-affirmative-action-to-Jim-Crow-laws.

11. William van Nostrand, “The Statistics of Affirmative Action,” Riding the Tiger, last modified July 5, 2011, accessed December 7, 2014, http://www.ridingthetiger.org/2011/07/05/the-statistics-of-affirmative-action/.

12. “Poverty More than a Matter of Black and White,” Inequality.org, last modified October 8, 2012, accessed November 29, 2014, http://inequality.org/poverty-matter-black-white/.

13. Zaheer Ali, “What about Poor White Kids?,” The Root, last modified December 20, 2011, accessed December 1, 2014, http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2011/12/poor_white_kids_are_they_invisible.html.

14. Richard D. Kahlenberg and Halley Potter, “Class-based Affirmative Action Works,” The New York Times, last modified April 27, 2014, accessed October 2, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate /2014/04/27/should-affirmative-action-be-based-on-income/class-based-affirmative-action-works.

15. Institute of Education Sciences and National Center for Education Statistics, “Fast Facts: Employment Rates of College Graduates,” Institute of Education Sciences, last modified 2013, accessed December 7, 2014, http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=561.

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16. “How Does a College Degree Help Your Career?,” Centura College, last modified September 26, 2013, accessed November 20, 2014, http://centuracollege.edu/blog/how-does-a-college-degree-help-your-career/.

17. “Wealth Inequality in America,” video file, 6:11, YouTube, posted by The Daily Conversation, March 6, 2013, accessed December 1, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTj9AcwkaKM#t=306.

18. “Statistics about Education in America,” Students First, last modified 2014, accessed November 30, 2014, https://www.students-first.org/pages/the-stats.

19. Steven Perlberg, “American Median Incomes by Race since 1967 (CHART),” Business Insider, last modified September 17, 2013, accessed December 1, 2014, http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-median-income-in-the-us-by-race-2013-9.

20. Richard D. Kahlenberg and Halley Potter, “Class-based Affirmative Action Works,” The New York Times, last modified April 27, 2014, accessed October 2, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/ 2014/04/27/should-affirmative-action-be-based-on-income/class-based-affirmative-action-works.

21. Diana Farrell and Eric Beinhocker, “Next Big Spenders: India’s Middle Class,” McKinsey Global Institute, last modified May 19, 2007, accessed November 29, 2014, http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI/In_the_news/Next_big_spenders_Indian_middle_class.

22. “Indian Reservations,” The Economist, last modified June 29, 2013, accessed December 7, 2014, http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/06/affirmative-action.

23. “Factors Affecting Caste System in Modern India,” PreserveArticles.com, last modified 2012, accessed December 7, 2014, http://www.preservearticles.com/201105076351/factors-affecting-caste-system-in-modern-india.html.

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24. Robert Milburn, “Globe’s Wealthiest Invest in Themselves,” Barron’s, last modified November 17, 2014, accessed December 1, 2014, http://blogs.barrons.com/penta/2014/11/17/globes-wealthiest-invest-in-themselves/.; Ibid.

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Institute of Education Sciences, and National Center for Education Statistics. “Fast Facts: Employment Rates of College Graduates.” Institute of Education Sciences. Last modified 2013. Accessed December 7, 2014. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=561. Jackson, Robert. “Affirmative Action History.” The Social Foundations of Public Issues. Accessed December 1, 2014. http://www.nyu.edu/classes/jackson/social.issues/papers/AfActGrG.html. Kahlenberg, Richard D., and Halley Potter. “Class-based Affirmative Action Works.” The New York Times. Last modified April 27, 2014. Accessed October 2, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/roomforde-bate/2014/04/27/should-affirmative-action-be-based-on-income/class-based-affirmative-action-works. Kennedy, Duncan. “A Cultural Pluralist Case for Affirmative Action in Legal Academia.” Duke Law Journal 1, no. 5 (September 1990): 705-57. Accessed October 2, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1372722. Leonhardt, David. “If Affirmative Action Is Doomed, What’s Next?” The New York Times. Last modified June 17, 2014. Accessed November 30, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/upshot/if-affirmative-action-is-doomed-whats-next.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0. Liptak, Adam. “Court Backs Michigan on Affirmative Action.” The New York Times. Last modified April 22, 2014. Accessed October 19, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/supreme-court-michigan-affirmative-action-ban.html. McBride, Alex. “Regents of University of California v. Bakke (1978).” PBS. Last modified 2007. Accessed December 1, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_regents.html. Merriam-Webster. “Affirmative Action.” Merriam Webster. Last modified 2014. Accessed November 30, 2014. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affirmative%20action.

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Milburn, Robert. “Globe’s Wealthiest Invest in Themselves.” Barron’s. Last modified November 17, 2014. Accessed December 1, 2014. http://blogs.barrons.com/penta/2014/11/17/globes-wealthiest-invest-in-themselves/. Nostrand, William van. “The Statistics of Affirmative Action.” Riding the Tiger. Last modified July 5, 2011. Accessed December 7, 2014. http://www.ridingthetiger.org/2011/07/05/the-statistics-of-affirmative-action/. Perlberg, Steven. “American Median Incomes by Race since 1967 (CHART).” Business Insider. Last modified September 17, 2013. Accessed December 1, 2014. http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-median-income-in-the-us-by-race-2013-9. PreserveArticles.com. “Factors Affecting Caste System in Modern India.” PreserveArticles.com. Last modified 2012. Accessed December 7, 2014. http://www.preservearticles.com/201105076351/factors-affecting-caste-system-in-modern-india.html. Program on Inequality and the Common Good. “Poverty More than a Matter of Black and White.” Inequality.org. Last modified October 8, 2012. Accessed November 29, 2014. http://inequality.org/poverty-matter-black-white/. Schapiro, Morton, Sandy Baum, and Michael McPherson. “Fact and Fiction about Getting a College Education.” Northwestern University. Last modified March 4, 2013. Accessed November 22, 2014. http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2013/03/opinion-tribune-schapiro-college-education-value.html#sthash.DjKgWis1.dpuf. Scott, David Clark. “Clarence Thomas Compares Affirmative Action to Jim Crow Laws.” The Christian Science Monitor. Last modified June 25, 2013. Accessed December 1, 2014. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2013/0625/Clarence-Thomas-compares-affirmative-action-to-Jim-Crow-laws.

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