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Elana's avatar

This analysis is rigorous and thoroughly argued. My only question is whether affirmative action for race alone w/o SES is valuable to serve as representation. Remember the article about the 3-yr old AA girl standing gazing at the portrait of Michelle Obama in awe? That little girl can gaze up at someone who looks like her and think unconsciously, "that could be me."

So case in point in my family. My husband's brother (white) is married to a first generation Mexican American. Their two daughters were raised with every privilege Freddie points to in this analysis. They were *groomed* for college from the start: fancy private schools, club sports, tutors, etc. And they both went to elite colleges and are lovely, independent young women. The older daughter actually had legacy from their dad's side AND the race factor from their mother's side. You can just picture the university drooling, right? These young women were going to be fine wherever they went. Why should they get the benefit of affirmative action?

But let's zoom out for a minute. My Mexican American SIL is one of the most amazing, resilient people I know. Her parents were working class. Her mother died when she was 9-years old and her dad married a woman with 5 kids of her own, so there was a blended family. My SIL didn't get along so well with her step-mother and was kicked out of the house at 19-years old and managed to put herself through nursing school. On her side, her daughters are the first ones to go to a 4-yr college in the family. So maybe these women serve as role models for the cousins growing up behind them? Maybe they serve as role models for other Latina teens who can picture themselves now going to college?

We had this debate in my family recently b/c there was a referendum recently here in California to try to re-institute race for affirmative action for the public colleges and universities. It was ultimately defeated (here in CA- a very blue state), which should tell you how the general public views all this critical race theory stuff. I ultimately voted no b/c these institutions are already allowed to factor in class (which in the end serves as a better marker for true affirmative action for race as Freddie points out) and I think the critical race theory stuff has gone too far. In addition, I think such a policy would be biased and discriminatory against Asians.

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EBS's avatar

All this energy we spend talking about the SAT while Jared Kushner's dad buys his mediocre son a spot at Harvard. Can you imagine if legacy/donor/lacrosse player admissions didn't exist and the Ivy League schools suddenly all proposed a change: they were gonna let rich people buy their way in?

It's genuinely astounding that leftist energy on this subject is focused anywhere else. We do not have to dive into a pile of numbers on a hunt for abstract forms of injustice. Harvard's administration is absolutely thrilled that we've decided to spend our time on this nonsense instead of building a campaign to end non-academic admissions.

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