Last year the Supreme Court banned race-based affirmative action. I had no problem with this ruling. Many schools and colleges that desired a diverse student body then switched to income-based affirmative action. Old Marxist that I am, I always thought we should have class-based affirmative action. It just seemed the right thing to do.
An example of what could happen was provided by the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia. The district has a population that is 20% Asian 10% Black, 27% Hispanic and 37% white. After the Supreme Court’s decision, the breakdown for the class of 2024 was 73% Asian, 1% Black, 3% Hispanic, and 18% White.
Then Thomas Jefferson H.S. switched to a class-based affirmative action admissions policy. The breakdown fro the class of 2025 is 54% Asian, (ok, still high, but reasonable), 7% Black (a lot better than 1%), 11% Hispanic (again, better than 3%) and 22% White.
But wait. Was this also discriminating on the basis of race? A group of conservatives sued. If the Supreme Court over-ruled Thomas Jefferson’s class-based affirmative action, we were back to a very skewed class breakdown. The Supreme Court did not even agree to hear the case. Class-based affirmative action, benefiting the kids from low income families, has been approved.
However, two justices wanted to hear the case. They obviously wanted to rule against giving low income students a leg up. Guess which two Supreme Court Justices wanted to stop it. I’ll give you a hint. They were not Trump appointees.
No. They were Alito and Thomas. But you knew that didn’t you?
The statistics on Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology are from David Leonhardt, “What the Future of Admissions At Elite Schools Might Look Like,” New York Times, (March 3, 2024), p. 19.
On what is class based? Income or race. I think the latter is a significant portion of the definition of class.There weren't any "rich folk" only water fountains in the South. If the discrimination is based on race, why shouldn't affirmative action be. That's like saying there's no racism in America
ReplyDeleteI agree that race has been a major factor in class in America, but it not the largest factor at this time in history. If we really wanted to get into this, we'd have to discuss the difference between caste and class. In caste-based discrimination, the lower class cannot rise. In economic class discrimination, the lower class can move up. If we can forge unity across races and ethnicities by class, we have a much better chance at reform. Right now we are pitting identity groups against one another, and it makes for really ugly politics. (And school admissions.)
ReplyDeleteI'm saying that race is a component of class. If your race is the wrong one, even if you're rich, you may not be upper class. Also, economic class is not well defined. I thought my family was lower middle class, but when I got older I realized we were lower class.
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