Affirmative action for the needy
Armstrong Williams has an interesting affirmative action article over at TownHall:
Affirmative action is designed to help even the playing field for black Americans. But the majority of people taking advantage of the program are the well-to-do suburban bourgeois who already have the wherewithal to get into a good college. Meanwhile, the most needy fall by the wayside....
There must come a point when black Americans expect to rise or fall on our own merits. We must acknowledge that we are not forever victims, just because we're black. This is not to belittle the crime of slavery. It is true that a shared history of slavery has created social hierarchies that reinforced negative stereotypes about black Americans and cut off certain economic opportunities. It is equally true that racial diversity is an important goal for our college campuses.
I would merely suggest that affirmative action be used to benefit the needy. Students from disadvantaged schools can excel if we provide the appropriate opportunities. Instead of blaming the families for failure, as is common in education, we need to focus on ensuring that the education system offers solutions.
Of course, what he seems to be describing here is not affirmative action as it has come to be defined, but a true leveling of the playing field by fixing the problems very early on in the K-12 system for those who need it. Such a leveling would reduce the need for affirmative action by producing a true equality. Is it a question of money? Not entirely. Money is necessary in order to improve schools, but curriculum changes and testing are also necessary for the change. Joanne Jacobs describes one plan for increasing the basic reading proficiency of disadvantaged students that has as much to do with a shift in the perception of education as it does with funding. Without such a shift, money poured into the public school system is likely to do no good.