What is a Future Without Affirmative Action?

As many of you have probably heard, on Thursday, June 29th, 2023, our U.S. Supreme Court ruled to end affirmative action in education. What does this mean for our future and our children? Well, I took a deep dive down the rabbit hole to research the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of the impact of this historic ruling. Let me tell you, I was shocked to find out how little I knew and what this decision really means for the future. 

In the 1970s, Berkeley College only considered grades and test scores when making admissions decisions, with a low percentage of Black and Hispanic students admitted. In the 1980s, race was considered, and by the 1990s, a social diversity index was used.

A diversity index (DI) created by the US Census Bureau is a measure that shows the probability that two people chosen at random will be from different race and ethnic groups. The DI is bounded between 0 and 1, with a zero value indicating that everyone in the population has the same racial and ethnic characteristics. In contrast, a value close to 1 indicates that everyone in the population has different characteristics.

UC Davis Medical School introduced quotas to reserve spots for minority applicants, which led to the Supreme Court case Grutter Vs. Bolinger. This decision allowed universities to consider race as part of a holistic review. In the last two decades, universities have looked at applicants holistically, considering various aspects, including race.

A Non-Bias Breakdown 

What does make sense is the realization that our nation is unbearably divided, especially regarding equal opportunities and education for our children. I experienced this real-life awakening while growing up in the city neighboring the largest private school in Michigan, Cranbrook. Let me fill you in on this private school really quickly. 

• Grades: K-12 (boarding available for grades 9-12)
• Yearly Tuition (Boarding Students): $52,350
• Yearly Tuition (Day Students): $38,600 to $46,000+
• Acceptance rate: 38%
• Average class size: 14 students per 2 administrators
• Number of interscholastic sports offered: 22
• Total extracurricular organizations: 70
• Honorable alumni: Tim Westergren (owner of Pandora Radio), Lisa Frank, and Selma Blair. 

I constantly think about how my life path would have changed if I attended Cranbrook. The opportunities I would have been given, the social group I associated with, and the overall motivational drive to succeed. I was still fortunate enough to attend a “Blue Ribbon” public school, which I later figured meant “No child left behind”. That was me, I was that child. I am still mind-blown that I even graduated high school. Holding a student back a grade so they can better benefit as adults in the real world makes the school less credible, resulting in less funding. I just want to know, is my child’s education the main focus, or is it the protection of the school budget?

Would your children benefit from higher criteria to progress to the next grade? What is your opinion on the “No child left behind” statement? These ideas are foreign to private schools, which have higher expectations of their students. Those higher expectations come with an administration accredited with intensive degrees and access to more advanced tools and resources. This is where the college admission criteria get interesting. Grades and test scores are a huge part of a student’s consideration, but it’s not the only information considered. Those advanced tools and resources offered to private or competitive high school students come as a one-up on the transcript. 

How I See the Admissions Process

When determining between two applicants with nearly identical test scores, how do they choose who will fill the last spot? Applicant One just graduated public school and explains in their essay how they were involved in after-school activities, maintained a job throughout school, and were considered top of their graduating class. Applicant two just graduated from a private school and explains in their essay that the sport they played went on to be division one championships of the state, their family traveled to a third-world country to help the less needy and received many awards (ones that aren’t possible at a public school). On top of this essay, applicant two had multiple recommendations written by the wide faculty at the private school. Not looking into the race of each applicant, we can assume that applicant two has a special one-up on their transcript and will be accepted to fill that last spot, but is that true?

Test Scores, Race, Alumni, or The Money? 

This brings me to the argument, which I can agree with, that affirmative action’s primary focus is how much the applicant is worth. Graduating from a private school is excellent, but aside from test scores, easily denied without having these other factors. This is considered just a Harvard thing, but an applicant who is part of the “ALDC” club (‘athletes’, ‘legacies’, ‘dean’s interest list’ and ‘children’ of Harvard employees) can jump way ahead of the top test scorers in consideration. It has been made pretty apparent that Universities make considerations for a price. 

The Journal of Labor Economics observed that over 43% of white admits are ALDCs, whereas the percentage is less than 16% for African American, Asian American, and Hispanic admits. If white ALDCs were treated equally as white non-ALDCs, around three-quarters would have been rejected. If Harvard eliminates preferences for athletes and legacies, there would be a significant change in the racial makeup of admitted students, with a decline in white admits and an increase or no change in all other groups. 

Effects Before and After Implementing Affirmative Action

The following argument that caught my attention was an interesting take on race. Zach Bleemer conducted a study examining the impact of California’s Proposition 209 on students admitted to universities before and after its implementation. After Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action in California, was implemented, the two most selective public universities in the state, Berkeley and UCLA, experienced a decrease in Black and Hispanic enrollment by around 40%.  

However, there was no net change in enrollment for these groups at less selective universities. This is because while some students lost access to these schools due to the end of affirmative action, others were able to attend less selective universities. As a result, there were significant changes at the most selective universities but little to no changes in the middle and even slight increases in enrollment for Black and Hispanic students at the least selective public universities in California. 

This shift in enrollment had several consequences for Black and Hispanic students. Those who were given the following option to enroll in a selective college had lower rates of earning STEM degrees and a reduced likelihood of attending graduate school.

Those with lower GPAs and test scores also faced increased challenges in graduating.

Ultimately, this meant that Black and Hispanic students earned less in their careers than those admitted before affirmative action.

What Policies Will Replace Affirmative Action?

So what does this mean for the future? What criteria are going to be implemented next? According to higher education experts, elite schools impacted by the ruling can still achieve positive diversity by widening their recruitment options and programs to consider each applicant individually while taking the harsh focus off of test scores. 

The “Top 10 Percent Plan”

I heard of the “Top 10 Percent Plan” that has been around since ’97 at the University of Texas, which automatically accepts the top 10 percent of graduating students. Several other Universities adopted this policy, and of course, they can’t all agree on one thing. It became the top 10 percent of GPAs, another University wanted the top 10 percent of SAT scores in the state. It is a start. 

Class-Based Approach

One of the commonly debated methods for admissions that don’t consider race is a class-based approach. This involves giving more importance to applicants from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, acknowledging that they may not have had equal access to resources and education as their wealthier counterparts did. Due to systemic obstacles, Black and Latino households tend to have lower incomes, so prioritizing an applicant’s financial status could result in a more diverse student body.

Eliminating Legacy Admissions

Lastly, a policy with my full support eliminates the legacy factor. John Hopkins University applied this policy in 2014 and found a 10% increase in new first-generation admissions. It gives Animal House vibes. The fact that it was inspired by the experiences of one of the film’s screenwriters, Chris Miller, an Alpha Delta Phi brother at Dartmouth, makes it an excellent argument for this policy. 

Our Suggestion? Specialization in Academics

When it comes to the future, I am rooting for many specialized academies to start popping up. Several have already started making it into the spotlight with the amazing alternative education programs that are available. I can’t believe how night and day the curriculum is! There is such an advantage for students that are given an education structure tailored to their skills and what their future will need. 

This is where I think higher education and universities will start leaning towards applicants who are already very advanced in their targeted bachelor’s and master’s programs. These will be college students who have explored every inch of their own skills at their own pace in order to fully learn and master each skill needed to thrive in their chosen fields. To me, that is better than anything a private school can offer for my child’s future. 

I do have high hopes that affirmative action will one day be seen as something that is not really needed and we can focus more on a student’s drive, motivation, skills, and accomplishments. Not because of a quota, and definitely not because of money.

How did affirmative action affect your college experience? Do you worry about this decision and our children’s future, or are you hopeful?  Let us know in the comments!

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