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The Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 that racial preferences in college admissions violate the US Constitution.
At last!
No student with high grades and test scores should be rejected in favor of a lesser applicant who happens to have the right skin color.
The evidence provided to the court showed that Harvard and the University of North Carolina discriminated against Asian-American and white applicants.
A black, Hispanic or Native American student with a combined SAT score above 1,100 might be invited to apply to Harvard, but an Asian girl would need at least 1,350 and an Asian boy at least 1,380.
The real opportunity gap in this nation is not between black and white.
It’s between rich and poor.
Contrary to what most Americans assume, affirmative action has never helped poor kids.
In fact, Harvard favors wealthy kids.
Only 3% of the student body come from low-income families.
A staggering 67% come from families in the top fifth of the nation’s earners, per data provided by Harvard researcher Raj Chatty.
Three-quarters of Harvard’s black and Hispanic students come from high-earning families.
Justice Clarence Thomas stresses that Harvard offers the same admissions “bump” to “a wealthy black applicant given every advantage in life as to a black applicant from a poor family with seemingly insurmountable barriers to overcome.”
All the while Harvard rejects Asian-American applicants with higher grades and test scores, even those from poor families.
College administrators are already trying to weasel around the court’s ruling by waiving standardized tests that make discrimination hard to conceal.
That’s dishonorable.
Instead, they should be scrapping racial preferences and reaching out to economically disadvantaged students with high potential, regardless of race.
The goal should be to promote economic mobility and help keep the American dream alive.
