AFFIRMATIVE action programs long have victimized underprivileged white students by offering them no distinction from affluent white students in the college admissions process. Conversely, middle and upper class minority students have benefited from these programs by being offered advantages not available to their white peers.
A program being developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) may put an end to this without completely eradicating the ideals that originally founded affirmative action -- to create diversity and aid the less privileged. Clearly, such a program, and the idea it's based upon, is long overdue.
ETS, the private company that administers the SAT, is aiming for a system that would weigh such factors as low family income and poor secondary educational facilities on an objective scale. Though the system still is incomplete, recent reports state that the inclusion of race as a factor will be optional -- as it is on most college applications.
By choosing to include race, even if only as an option, ETS and the schools that subscribe to its service likely will run into the same legal obstacles that currently plague affirmative action programs. Anti-affirmative action activists such as Terrence Pell, senior counsel at the Center for Individual Rights, have already come out against ETS's proposed system, calling it "race norming in another guise ("Research Aims to Weigh Social Factors in College Admissions," The Washington Post, Sept. 2)."
If ETS removes race from the system, it will enable colleges to gain many of the advantages of the current affirmative action programs without incurring the same legal wrath.
The addition of other social factors to the admissions process will prove invaluable, however, regardless of whether race is included. Minorities obviously are not the only underprivileged or impoverished Americans.
The barriers that stand in the way of a poor black teenager bear a striking resemblance to those faced by a poor white teenager. It's only logical that both be offered the same tools to break down those barriers. The ETS system would do just that.
Few people on either side of the affirmative action debate would argue that the color of one's skin has any bearing on that student's performance in high school or on standardized college admissions tests. One's socioeconomic status and family background, however, are likely to have an effect. Thus, the ETS system would offer colleges a more worthwhile and justifiable method for identifying those who have performed beyond their means -- those worthy of admission despite their somewhat inferior test scores.
Proponents of current affirmative action programs may argue that the benefits of a truly diverse student body may be lost if race is not considered as a factor in admission. Indeed, it may be the case that certain minorities end up less represented on college campuses if race is not considered.
The University of Washington, operating in a state that banned affirmative action, has been using some of the same social factors that the ETS system proposes to determine admission and has seen a 20 to 35 percent drop in black and Latino/Hispanic enrollment. The question that remains is whether this actually has an effect on diversity.
First of all, a 20 to 35 percent drop in black and Latino/Hispanic enrollment is not akin to throwing a white blanket over a school's campus. Measuring conservatively, a 20 percent drop in the University's black and Latino enrollment would remove about 310 students from the undergraduate student body. While the change would be noticeable, it would not be enough to remove the influence those populations have on life at the University.
Further, diversity need not and should not be defined only by race. There are far more differences between a white student from an inner city public high school and a white student from a suburban preparatory school than there are between black and white students from the same background.
The diversity that we should strive for is one predicated on different perspectives and values -- not solely on skin color. This is not to say that there is no value in a racially diverse student body -- simply that this value is not so great as to deem other social factors inconsequential.
As the affirmative action debate rages on, public schools such as the University will remain at the center of it. If a system similar to the one ETS is developing -- without the inclusion of race as a factor -- were to be put in place, public schools may save themselves from controversy and legal scuffling. In addition, diversity would be maintained and those who truly do find themselves at the bottom of the social ladder will continue to receive a boost.
(Chris DelGrosso is a Cavalier Daily columnist.)
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