Observable Results of Racial Preference

Commencement season has just ended. I attended two, for a child and for a nephew. To deny an evident fact of those commencement ceremonies would be to feign blindness.

The freshmen gathered to begin their undergraduate journeys four years ago. The incoming class was plainly racially diverse, proving the success of the university's efforts to attract and recruit students of various backgrounds.

Four years later, how diverse was the graduating class? If you count the Asian, Indian, and to a lesser extent Hispanic graduates, you might say pretty diverse. But what about Black?

The entering freshmen had a significant population of black students, perhaps close to a third of the matriculating class. But the graduating seniors were missing most of them. Sure, there were Black graduates, but as a percentage of the whole could not have been more than a low single-digit. And surnames of those graduates strongly suggested a significant part of that small successful group were from countries other than the United States.

Which naturally leads to the question: How does the practice of giving preferences and lowering admission standards for the purpose of building diverse university classes help those in the preferred group succeed, if obvious success rates for those students are so dismally small?

Would it not be better to make university admissions color-blind? Would it not be better to focus our efforts on improving education at the lower levels? If a racially identified sub-culture in America has rejected the education system as run by racist white guys, and shuns anyone in their group daring to excel in school, calling him "Uncle Tom"?

We should strive to support success not for a single racial group, but for all who grow up in poverty and without strong adult role models. We should focus on positive messages that tell young people they can succeed beyond their wildest dreams, if they only show up and study hard in school. We should encourage young women to pursue an education and career as the far superior option to dropping out and having babies out of wedlock.

This is why I could never be a politician in today's world. When you dare speak the truth, especially about issues such as this one, those who prefer the status quo will attack you personally and viciously.

But truth is.