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One could argue that universities should not be concerned with any prior discrimination. We should have loose coupling and encapsulation. Universities should ha

One could argue that universities should not be concerned with any prior discrimination. We should have loose coupling and encapsulation. Universities should have their own independent admission criteria that are as objective, reasonable and meritocratic as possible. If you have a problem with discrimination elsewhere (e.g. primary/secondary schools), that is where the problem needs to be fixed. If the school system is incapable of preparing students to the standard required by the universities, it is a problem of the school system and needs to be fixed there. For e.g. a science degree, ideally money, social skills, extra-curriculum activities, athletics, socio-economic background should most likely not even enter the equation. Once you have designed the system, you can then try to get the actual implementation as close as possible to the idealized design.

mschuster91 6y ago
Even fixing the discrimination in primary/secondary schools would not fix the apparent discrimination at universities though - poor people and especially poor black people will still be under-represented on campus, as they do not have financial help by family to attempt education (not just tuition which is coverable by student loans, but also things like moving to the university and other travel costs), or they are needed to work to help their parents make rent. Affirmative action and targeted help/assistance for these groups automatically goes out of the window as soon as the focus is entirely on prior achievements/grades.
- agent008t 6y ago
  It is a difficult problem. On the one hand, money problems should not prevent a bright student from studying at a university. On the other hand, some degrees at some universities for some people are a waste of time and money, and the time would've been better spent learning a trade. To make the problem a bit simpler by considering the extremes - if a student is so bright and capable that they get into MIT or Harvard on merit alone, financial difficulty should not be preventing them from studying. However it is done, the kid and, if applicable, their family, need to be made financially secure for the duration of the studies.

mschuster91 6y ago

Even fixing the discrimination in primary/secondary schools would not fix the apparent discrimination at universities though - poor people and especially poor black people will still be under-represented on campus, as they do not have financial help by family to attempt education (not just tuition which is coverable by student loans, but also things like moving to the university and other travel costs), or they are needed to work to help their parents make rent. Affirmative action and targeted help/assistance for these groups automatically goes out of the window as soon as the focus is entirely on prior achievements/grades.

agent008t 6y ago
It is a difficult problem. On the one hand, money problems should not prevent a bright student from studying at a university. On the other hand, some degrees at some universities for some people are a waste of time and money, and the time would've been better spent learning a trade. To make the problem a bit simpler by considering the extremes - if a student is so bright and capable that they get into MIT or Harvard on merit alone, financial difficulty should not be preventing them from studying. However it is done, the kid and, if applicable, their family, need to be made financially secure for the duration of the studies.