Dec 12^th

Justice Antonin Scalia has had some remarkably political incorrect things to say about education recently. Here is the back-story: A young lady, Abigail Fisher, sought admission to the University of Texas at Austin. This well-regarded school automatically admits any student graduating in the top ten percent of his/her high school class. Unfortunately Abigail didn’t make the cut; her grades were good but not in the top ten percent of her class and her SAT scores were equivalently modest. The university reserves a substantial percentage of its entrance slots for students who don’t make the ten percent cut; these are often minority students. Abigail claimed reverse discrimination because she claimed that minority students with credentials just like hers were admitted but she had not been admitted which was clearly discriminatory.

Now Justice Scalia offers his opinion in a rather ham-handed way: The Justice suggested that minority students might be better served at less selective colleges and universities where they might be more able to meet the lowered educational demands. It happens that for many elite colleges getting in is harder that getting through. Then there are a host of things students learn from fellow students at elite colleges that don’t appear on their transcripts. An engineering student I knew attended a school which also had a fine arts department. A fraternity brother, an art student, painted his ceiling with Mondrian’s “Composition ‘C’.”  My friend’s acquaintance with Mondrian won’t appear on his record.

Even in some “elite” universities certain course work appears especially targeted to marginal students. The University of Michigan has its notorious “General Studies” major beloved by the football players. For the University as a whole 3 percent major in General Studies but that major gets about half of the football team. Go figure.

Many colleges require tests of all incoming students, both transfers and new students, to determine who needs remedial course work. A college I’m familiar with required tests in both writing and in mathematics. A problem surfaced when some minority students transferring from a community college (Not NMC) who had received good grades in their community college writing course discovered that they had to take a non-credit course in remedial English. They quickly assumed that it wasn’t their poor writing skills but rather their minority status their caused their problem. Counselling helped to convince most of them that their writing did need help.

Most colleges, even those with reasonable admission standards, will admit some weaker students. When that happens their advisor gets test scores and grades telling him that the first semester shouldn’t be calculus, chemistry, and economics. In short, all colleges will have those who barely meet their entrance standards. Adequate counselling can help those students to succeed. There is no need to insult them by sending them off to “less demanding” schools.