Harvard University is facing an affirmative action lawsuit based upon their admission processes, and things are not looking goof.
A study, published earlier this month in the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that 43 percent of white students admitted to Harvard were recruited athletes, legacy students, children of faculty and staff, or on the dean’s interest list — applicants whose parents or relatives have donated to Harvard.
Only 16 percent of black, Latino and Asian American students come from these categories.
Even more damning, the study also found that roughly 75 percent of the white students admitted from those four categories, labeled ‘ALDCs’ in the study, “would have been rejected if they had been treated as white non-ALDCs.”
Three quarters of the students at Harvard who were admitted because they play a sport well or because their parents attended Harvard, donated to Harvard, or work at Harvard don’t really belong at Harvard.
This is appalling.
The next time you meet a Harvard graduate – and especially a white Harvard graduate – you can probably discount their achievement by at least 33% (75% of 43%).
Let’s be clear: I happen to know several Harvard graduates who were more than deserving of attending that university, so I don’t mean to disparage the student body as a whole. But I have also spent more than two decades in education, watching affluent parents who understand how certain systems work and where the opportunities for influence lie bestow advantages upon their children that other equally capable, oftentimes harder working children do not possess.
And it enrages me.
We like to claim that America is a meritocracy, and on its best days, perhaps that’s true. After all, I managed to claw my way from homeless, poverty, and a possible prison sentence to where I am today without any assistance from my family or any financial backing. I worked incredibly hard for a long time, forgoing many other things, in order to achieve my goals.
But I am also a white, straight, healthy, relatively intelligent American man who does not battle substance abuse issues. Even when I was homeless and hungry, I was still one of the most advantaged people on the planet.
You should probably discount my achievements by at least 33%, too. Maybe a lot more.
But at least I wasn’t using Mommy and Daddy’s checkbook or their good name to gain me entrance into one of the most prestigious institutions in the land.
