AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: ASSESSING THE DEBATE I. Many of the arguments we have considered depend on empirical questions of fact. For example: A. Are African-American students who are admitted to more selective institutions by virtue of racial AA worse off for this? (Relevant to the consquentialist argument against AA)? B. What is the underlying explanation for relative academic under-performance by African-Americans ? (Relevant to the equal opportunity argument for AA)? C. What are the effects of increasing the representation of African-Americans through affirmative action on: 1. ability to work with people of different races (Consequentialist argument for AA) 2. the general academic experience for all students (Consequentialist argument for AA) 3. the representation of African-Americans in positions of professional and civic responsibility (Consequentialist and equal opportunity arguments for AA) II. General point. The solution to any moral problem depends both on moral principles and on empirical facts. III. Recent evidence relevant to evaluating some of these arguments: A. William Bowen and Derek Bok, The Shape of the River. B. Claude Steele on “disidentifation” and “stereotype threat” IV. Bowen and Bok’s findings regarding black performance in the most selective schools. A. Although over half of blacks admitted to the most selective schools would have been rejected with race-neutral admissions B. Black students had only moderately lower graduation rates than whites at more selective schools. (Table 3.2) C. By and large, black students had higher graduation rates at the most selective schools than they did at those that were less selective. (Table 3.3) D. Blacks at more selective schools had substantially higher graduation rates than either whites or blacks in the total set of NCAA schools (75% to 59 and 40, respectively) E. In more selective schools, blacks tend to have lower class rank than do whites of the same SAT level. (Table 3.10) F. Black graduates of more selective schools have similar, high evaluations of their undergraduate experience as do white graduates. G. 56 % of blacks admitted to these most selective schools in 1976 went on to earn advanced degrees, and 40% earned either Ph.D. or M.D., M.B.A., or a law degree. (From 1960 to 1995, the % of black students in law schools went from 1 to 7.5; from 1965 to 1995, the % of black students in medical schools went from 2.2 to 8.1) H. A greater percentage of blacks than whites at more selective schools went on to advanced degrees. (Table 4.6, 4.3) I. Black graduates of more selective schools are far likelier to have positions of responsibility in community or social service activities than white graduates. V Both black and white graduates of more selective schools report that their college experiences contributed positively to their ability “to work effectively and get along well with people of different races/cultures. (Table 8.2; note the differences between 1976 and 1989) VI. Claude Steele’s research on the effects of stigma on African-American academic performance. A. To explain: Why, despite the fact that blacks and whites begin elementary school with comparable test scores does the gap in academic performance between them increase? The standard explanations: poor schools, economic disadvantage, etc. don't fully explain the gap. 1. Achievement deficits are also experienced where there is no noticeable financial disadvantage. 2. Nor does difference in preparation or skill explain the gap. In Steele's research: a. SAT scores didn't predict who would flunk out, b. blacks showed significantly higher failure rates even at the highest SAT levels. B. Steele's explanation: the interaction between stigma and disidentification. The stigma of black inferiority leads to the expectation of failure and to student's self-protectively "disidentifying", thereby increasing the chances of failure or of underachieving. This phenomenon has come to be known as “stereotype threat.” C. From Claude M. Steele and Joshua Aronson, “Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Perfomrance of African-Americans,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69 (1995): 797-811. 1. Study 1: When a test was presented as “diagnostic of intellectual ability”, black students performed less well than if it was presented as a “problem-solving task”. No change was noted for white students. 2. Study 3: Students are given a word fragment completion test. To one group it is presented as an aptitude test to another it isn’t. Not only do black students who have been told it is an aptitude test score less well, they: a. tend to complete the word to make one that is race-related, black-stereotype-related, or self-doubt related: E.G. _ _ C E L A _ _ D U _ _ b. afterwards manifest greater “stereotype avoidance” (e.g., 75% refuse to check their race, whereas 100% of non-diagnostic blacks and 100% of whites, diagnostic or non-diagnostic, check their race) c. are likelier to excuse their performance: sleep, stress, unfair test 3. Study 4: Black students who are given a test (not explicitly presented as diagnostic) but asked to check their race do signficantly worse than those who are asked to check their race. 4. Conclusion: “The mere cognitive availability of the racial stereotype is enough to depress black participants’ intellectual performance. VII. Morals for the affirmative action debate? A. Evidence that test scores and even prior academic achievement are worse indications of underlying ability for black students than for non-blacks. B. Evidence that “remedial” programs are less likely to be successful than programs that challenge and show confidence that students can meet the challenges. C. Steele’s observations about “wise schools” where substantial diversity is coupled with shared learning. D. The problem that racial preference keeps race as a vivid social category, leading to stereotype threat. V Alternatives to race-based AA? A. AA for economic disadvantage? B. The Texas/Florida plan?