The tyranny of good intentions at U.S. colleges
“Mismatch” is a story of good intentions gone terribly awry. Sander and Taylor document beyond disagreement how university admissions offices’ racial quotas and preferences systematically put black and Hispanic students in schools where they are far less well-prepared than others.
As a result, they tend to get low grades, withdraw from science and math courses and drop out without graduating. The effect is particularly notable in law schools, where large numbers of blacks and Hispanics either drop out or fail to pass the bar exam.
This happens, Sander and Taylor argue, not because these students lack ability but because they’ve been thrown in with students of exceptional ability — the mismatch of the authors’ title. At schools where everyone has similar levels of test scores and preparation, these students do much better. And they don’t suffer the heartache of failure.
Blowback
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Good intentions have nothing to do with the goals of colleges.
If it were, there would be a more even ideological make up of the teaching staff and chosen curriculum.
Mimzey on November 28, 2012 at 8:28 PM
I don’t think these people are doing this out of ‘good intentions.’ I’m sure that they are doing it strictly to further their political agendas.
RoadRunner on November 28, 2012 at 8:28 PM
Which side here is treating minorities like a number, and which side like human beings with aspirations, insecurities, and big, fat loans to pay off, who would really appreciate having an actual degree with which to get that job?
Sekhmet on November 28, 2012 at 8:37 PM
In the real world failure is a lesson learned the hard way. If you can’t overcome failure, you are one.
antipc on November 28, 2012 at 9:23 PM
The real problem isn’t racial quotas per se, it’s the fact that we’re not failing more students, white, black, latino, whatever.
ernesto on November 28, 2012 at 9:31 PM
Too many resources are wasted in propping up low-value departments like X-studies or the arts.
Count to 10 on November 28, 2012 at 9:48 PM
I.Q. is real. Biology is real. Read the Bell Curve. Trying to lower standards to meet the needs of the poorly endowed only harms those who take out loans to try to accomplish what they never can.
Bulletchaser on November 28, 2012 at 10:27 PM
Oh, my land.
Perhaps Mr. Barone means they are learning that they cannot succeed in a field for which they have paid tens of thousands of dollars for an “education” to a school that is lying to them. In that case, yes, that is indeed cause for heartache (although it would have helped if they had not been fed the lie, “You can do anything!” their entire lives).
But if this is not what he means, if he means instead that failure is a catastrophe, then Mr. Barone is part of the problem that creates the precious snowflakes who are paralyzed by adverse circumstances.
DrMagnolias on November 29, 2012 at 11:02 AM