Diversity Plan Shaped in Texas Is Under Attack

[CShine]

Texas lawmakers thought they had found the ideal alternative to race-based affirmative action. Seven years ago, after a federal court outlawed the use of race in the admissions policies of the state's public universities, the Legislature came up with an answer: It passed a law guaranteeing admission to the top 10 percent of the graduating class from any public or private high school. After a few years of hard work, diversity was restored and other states, including California and Florida, adopted similar approaches. The law looked like a success.

But the 10 percent rule, which seemed to skirt the tricky issue of race so deftly, is coming under increasing attack these days as many wealthy parents complain that their children are not getting a fair shake. A consensus seems to be building that some change is necessary.

Parents whose children have been denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin, the crown jewel of Texas higher education, argue that some high schools are better than others, and that managing to stay in the top 25 percent at a demanding school should mean more than landing in the top 10 percent at a less rigorous one. The dispute shows how hard it is to come up with a system for doling out precious but scarce spots in elite universities without angering someone.

The president of the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Larry R. Faulkner, says the law — which has pulled students from rural areas and from battered urban schools onto his campus — may need adjustment. The rule, he says, takes away discretion from the university's admissions office, making it harder to shape a class and ensure that certain kinds of students, like musicians, are included. He has endorsed the idea of capping the number of students who may be admitted under the rule at, perhaps, half of all first-year students.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/education/13AFFI.html?hp

[bluestateguy]

1. I can comment on this

The law needs revising. No repeal, but revision. Indeed, if you attend a top notch public high school where there is a culture of academic competitiveness and most students go on to college, the top 10% rule will lock out a lot of students who would otherwise be excellent candidates for admission to UT. A student in the top 25% at a top public high school will do just fine at UT. On the other hand, to maintain both racial and regional diversity within the student body, this law should remain on the books. What I would do is restore some of the discretion to the Admissions office, and designate certain high schools as "high performing" institutions, such that the 10% rule could be overlooked in those cases.

[Eloriel]

2. Here's what frosts me

But the 10 percent rule, which seemed to skirt the tricky issue of race so deftly, is coming under increasing attack these days as many wealthy parents complain that their children are not getting a fair shake.

Minority and poor students have been getting the shaft forever, but boy, don't let those wealthy families get a little taste of the same medicine. Nosirree, can't give up THEIR white upper class privilege or even share it. Minorities and the poor can be just a little bit more equal, but NOT if it inconveniences the privileged in the least. Grrrrr.

I have a perfect solution: let's ensure that ALL schools across the entire nation get equal funding. It's a disgrace and a scandal, IMO, that there are any schools that aren't as good as other schools, and that one's advantages at birth is the determinant of the quality of education one gets. Of course, that would threaten the power structure, actually empowering the underclass. Can't have that, can we?