The Affirmative Action Myth

dc.contributor.authorGryphon, Marieen
dc.date.accessed2017-11-29en
dc.date.accessioned2018-05-04T15:40:56Zen
dc.date.available2018-05-04T15:40:56Zen
dc.date.issued2005-04-06en
dc.description.abstractIn the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold university admissions preferences, affirmative action remains a deeply divisive issue. The author argues that affirmative action produces no concrete benefits to minority groups, but it does produce several significant harms. First, a phenomenon called the”ratchet effect” means that preferences at a handful of top schools, including state flagship institutions can worsen racial disparities in academic preparation at all other American colleges and universities, including those that do not use admissions preferences. This effect results in painfully large gaps in academic preparation between minority students and others on campuses around the country. Research shows that skills, not credentials, can narrow socioeconomic gaps between white and minority families. Policymakers should end the harmful practice of racial preferences in college admissions. Instead, they should work to close the critical skills gap by implementing school choice reforms and setting higher academic expectations for students of all backgrounds.en
dc.description.sponsorshipCato Instituteen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttps://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/affirmative-action-mythen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/83038en
dc.identifier.volume540en
dc.languageEnglishen
dc.publisherCato Instituteen
dc.relation.ispartofPolicy Analysisen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectaffirmative action programsen
dc.subjectminority studentsen
dc.subjectsocial inequalityen
dc.subjectuniversities and colleges--United States--admissionen
dc.titleThe Affirmative Action Mythen
dc.typeReporten
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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