Wait, you mean eradicating affirmative action can cause more positive outcomes for African Americans? I don't believe it. How?
Exerpt from one of my fav books, Please Stop Helping Us by Jason Riley. Link to book below.
In 2013 the New York Times ran a front-page story on the University of California system’s efforts to maintain a racially and ethnically diverse student body without using group quotas, which had been banned in the state seventeen years earlier.
“California was one of the first states to abolish affirmative action, after voters approved Proposition 209 in 1996,” wrote the Times. “Across the University of California system, Latinos fell to 12 percent of newly enrolled state residents in the mid-1990s from more than 15 percent, and blacks declined to 3 percent from 4 percent. At the most competitive campuses, at Berkeley and Los Angeles, the decline was much steeper.” The article went on to acknowledge that “eventually, the numbers rebounded” and that “a similar pattern of decline and recovery followed at other state universities that eliminated race as a factor in admissions.”
And given all of the dire predictions made at the time, it’s nice to see that the worse-case scenarios didn’t come to pass. But the too-seldom-told story of affirmative action in the University of California system is the black gains that have occurred since it was abolished.
In their book, Mismatch, authors Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor Jr. tell this good-news story by comparing the pre-and post-Proposition 209 eras. Here is a sample of their findings:
The number of blacks entering UC as freshmen in 2000 through 2003 is, on average, only 2 percent below pre-209 levels, and black enrollment jumps when we take into account transfers and lower attrition.
The number of Hispanic freshmen is up by 22 percent over the same period, and again more when we include transfers.
The number of blacks receiving bachelor degrees from UC schools rose from an average of 812 in 1998–2001 (the final cohorts entirely comprised of pre-209 entrants) to an average of 904 in 2004–2007 (the first cohorts entirely comprised of post-209 entrants). For UC Hispanics, the numbers rose from 3,317 to 4,428.
The number of UC black and Hispanic freshmen who went on to graduate in four years rose 55 percent from 1995–1997 to 2001–2003.
The number of UC black and Hispanic freshmen who went on to graduate in four years with STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] degrees rose 51 percent from 1995– 1997 to 2001–2003.
The number of UC black and Hispanic freshmen who went on to graduate in four years with GPAs of 3.5 or higher rose by 63 percent from 1995–1997 to 2001–2003.
Doctorates and STEM graduate degrees earned by blacks and Hispanics combined rose by one-quarter from cohorts starting in 1995–1997 to cohorts starting in 1998–2000.
Prior to the passage of Proposition 209, blacks and Hispanics in California were steered into schools where they were underprepared relative to the other students. They were being “mismatched” steeper.” The article went on to acknowledge that “eventually, the numbers rebounded” and that “a similar pattern of decline and recovery followed at other state universities that eliminated race as a factor in admissions.” And given all of the dire predictions made at the time, it’s nice to see that the worse-case scenarios didn’t come to pass.
But the too-seldom-told story of affirmative action in the University of California system is the black gains that have occurred since it was abolished. I
Riley, Jason. Please Stop Helping Us (pp. 160-162). Encounter Books. Kindle Edition.
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