‘Economic Affirmative Action’ Won’t Work

Putting ‘class’ ahead of merit may be legally defensible, but it’s sure to prove counterproductive.

By Jason L. Riley. Excerpts:

"In 1940 nearly 90% of black families lived in poverty. By 1960 the share had fallen to less than half. Census data show that during this period blacks increased their years of schooling at a faster pace than whites, that the share of blacks attending college doubled, and that the proportion of blacks entering skilled professions more than doubled."

"it isn’t certain that preferences based on social class will be able to replicate the level of nonwhite admissions at selective schools that we saw under racial preferences."

"Poor whites far outnumber poor blacks in the U.S., and poor white students graduating from high school outperform their black and Hispanic peers on standardized tests. So do poor Asian students. Giving a leg up to students based on family income rather than race could wind up mostly benefiting economically disadvantaged whites and Asians."

"Aside from their unfairness to disfavored groups, racial preferences mismatch students with schools. Underrepresented minority students who would have excelled at a less-selective institution instead struggled at a more-selective school where they are admitted to satisfy some arbitrary diversity objective."

"Academic success in college is highly correlated with how closely a student’s qualifications match those of other students at the same school."