There is a persistent myth in the United States, that every smart white person who is not admitted into a
university is not, because a less qualified minority applicant (at most times it is assumed that the student is an African-American) took his or her place. In fact in most cases, what we have are equally qualified students
at the other end of the controversy, who differ in some minor detail with regard to the variables being considered: minor detail, which indeed tell us nothing about the academic abilities and potentials of the
two sets of students in question. In the end, what we have is a useful tool in the still enduring racial and
class battles in the United States, to be used in the courts to beat down on minority students.
The United States is once more within the grips of the nonsensical cases that get to the Supreme Court,
having to do with Affirmative Action in admission to universities. I say they are nonsensical, because at the
core of these cases is the notion that any single applicant to a University can point to a single factor that
explains why he or she is not granted an admission. The notion is baseless, because unless everyone of these plaintiffs can assure the world that they are Einsteins, competing with mere mortals in the admission process
there is no single reason to believe that they are the most qualified applicants.
The Universities keep this alive, by putting together all sorts of complicated formulas for admitting students,
which give the impression that at the end of the day, a formula will incontrovertibly identify the best
candidates. The fact is that no such formula is likely to exist, when we are dealing with human beings. Meanwhile, all they do is to give an instrument with which any student can challenge the entire process in the
courts as unfair, racially biased, and logically inconsistent.
If the legislatures will allow it, all of these complex formulas should be thrown out, and admission decisions
made in the spirit of academic freedom, by admission offices and their staff, with input from the heads of the
various departments. Intelligence, initiative, creativity, intellectual curiosity, community leadership: none of these crucial values at the roots of lifting up a student to becoming a valuable knowledge producer, worker
and citizen is captured by these formulas.
