4 ms·

Yeah, but the system is gamed and a huge proportion of affirmative action admits don't actually fall in the wealth category that the majority of the people in t

Yeah, but the system is gamed and a huge proportion of affirmative action admits don't actually fall in the wealth category that the majority of the people in that minority group would, i.e. most affirmative action admits come from very wealthy families. The data shows this if you search online. In my Ivy League college, several of the Latino students living in my Freshman house were actually bi-racial with white dads and came from upper middle class, well-educated households.

MiroF 6y ago
> most affirmative action admits come from very wealthy families You can link a source here, as I'm skeptical that this is actually true. That said, many minority students at elite institutions were already attending elite high schools on scholarship - so there is a kernel of truth there.
- frog_squid 6y ago
  Yes, in Thomas Sowell's Affirmative Action Around the World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_Action_Around_the_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_Action_Around_the_... "They tend to benefit primarily the most fortunate among the preferred group (e.g. black millionaires), often to the detriment of the least fortunate among the non-preferred groups (e.g. poor whites)"
  - MiroF 6y ago
    Thomas Sowell is far from an objective observer here. If this is a true claim, then I'd like to see a stat thrown out. If we're just comparing anecdotes, as someone who attended one of these "elite" universities, this didn't seem to be the case at all.
bsanr2 6y ago
White and black men do not retain upper income status across generations at equal rates. White men who are born to wealthy parents are highly likely to remain in the same wealth quintile (something like 60-80% do), while black men who are in the top quintile are about 20% likely to end up in a given quintile, including the one they were born into. Affirmative action is important even to wealthy black families, if the goal is to mirror the mechanical flow of wealth in America's white families.

MiroF 6y ago

> most affirmative action admits come from very wealthy families You can link a source here, as I'm skeptical that this is actually true. That said, many minority students at elite institutions were already attending elite high schools on scholarship - so there is a kernel of truth there.

frog_squid 6y ago
Yes, in Thomas Sowell's Affirmative Action Around the World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_Action_Around_the_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_Action_Around_the_... "They tend to benefit primarily the most fortunate among the preferred group (e.g. black millionaires), often to the detriment of the least fortunate among the non-preferred groups (e.g. poor whites)"
- MiroF 6y ago
  Thomas Sowell is far from an objective observer here. If this is a true claim, then I'd like to see a stat thrown out. If we're just comparing anecdotes, as someone who attended one of these "elite" universities, this didn't seem to be the case at all.

bsanr2 6y ago

White and black men do not retain upper income status across generations at equal rates. White men who are born to wealthy parents are highly likely to remain in the same wealth quintile (something like 60-80% do), while black men who are in the top quintile are about 20% likely to end up in a given quintile, including the one they were born into. Affirmative action is important even to wealthy black families, if the goal is to mirror the mechanical flow of wealth in America's white families.