June has become a tough month in the life of our nation since it is the month when our Supreme Court releases their decisions on the constitutional questions before the court. Their decisions rarely satisfy everyone, and their decisions don’t always stand the test of time either. Last year, the Supreme Court ended the right of women to reproductive health care or abortion. This week, the Supreme Court furthered showed that it cares little about the real-life challenges facing poor people of color and members of the LGBTQ community in favor of a Republican ideology that privileges religious freedom, the wealthy, and a mythical bootstrap individualism.
Although it’s disheartening to have judges make decisions that ignore the harm their decisions inflict upon people who already suffer tremendous harm by ongoing racism, discrimination, and homophobia, I am a person who always looks to make lemonade when provided with lemons. There is lemonade to be made from these nasty decisions regarding Affirmative Action, the student loan forgiveness program, the denial of service to LGBTQ customers by expressive businesses and abortion. In my next four posts, I will address each of these decisions and possible steps to mitigate the damage. I’ll start with Affirmative Action.
It is undeniable that Affirmative Action opened doors that were previously closed to women and people of color despite their qualifications. I personally benefited from Affirmative Action. There were others like me who were lucky enough to be “qualified” to walk through those previously closed doors and we have become successful enough to ensure that our children are themselves “qualified” to enter college or the workforce without the need for special preferences. Except for a few white supremacists, society itself has become more accepting of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This was the reality for my three college educated children and it was also the reality of the Obama daughters and numerous others. However, the vast majority of black and brown Americans are still not qualified to enter those doors in the same way that a few blacks and most white women and Asians were when Affirmative Action was first introduced.
The good news is that even with the removal of Affirmative Action, colleges and businesses are still holding those doors are open because they recognize the benefit of diversity. I find it encouraging that they are actively seeking alternative ways to continue to recruit women and people of color without specifically addressing race. Many will use an impoverished background as a good proxy for race and as sad as it sounds, that will work because this nation has successfully used legalized discrimination, unethical government policies, and violence to keep black and brown people in poverty.
In addition, this ruling has highlighted the unfairness of longstanding Affirmative Action on behalf of the children of the wealthy, famous, and alums, especially at elite colleges. That should become a target of litigation under the same equal protection clause. I wish those Asian students had attacked that unfair practice instead of targeting the black and brown students. But they didn’t because the ugly truth is that they want to attend Ivy League schools because the proximity to wealth and power those wealthy and well-connected students represent, increases their likelihood of socioeconomic success. The wealthy donate buildings and scholarship money, lend name recognition to the school, and boost the prestige of the school. That’s the reality that perpetuates this unfairness and makes black and brown students’ defenseless scapegoats.
I find it deplorable that many poor and middle-class students are often told that it doesn’t matter which college they attend when the reality is that the most elite colleges in the country feed the highest ranks of our government, law firms, and corporations. I believe the objective of this Supreme Court decision was to make it more difficult for black and brown citizens to gain future access to wealth and power at the highest levels. I predict that white supremacists will increase their attacks on Jewish and Asian students as they overwhelm Harvard, Yale, and Princeton like they have the UC system in California.
The fight will be over the spot at those most elite schools because there are more than enough colleges and universities to accommodate everyone. In fact, most colleges are competing to attract students. In their quest to attract a diverse class of students, they already began seeking alternative routes to maintain access to their campuses. In recent years many colleges have eliminated those worthless college entrance exam requirements that favored students from highly resourced and academically rigorous high schools. Poor students (mostly black and brown), locked into underfunded and academically inferior schools were at a disadvantage. The SAT and ACT are more highly predictive of a student’s socioeconomic status than of actual ability and so they are rightly being disregarded. Grades and actual high school course offerings are also being more closely scrutinized since some students have access to multiple advanced placement courses while others do not. Colleges are looking for high grades and for students who took advantage of the rigor they were offered as an indication of academic curiosity that indicates greater potential for success. Activities and experiences beyond the classroom as well as high school teacher recommendations are becoming more important than ever. Also important is the student essay and interview. The best and brightest are not necessarily those with the highest SAT score and GPA. It will be interesting to see how the Ivy League moves forward in the next few years as students compete for access. My hope is that black and brown students continue to seek access as well.
My advice to parents and grandparents and extended family raising children today is to invest in their children’s education from day one. This not only means saving money for higher education (college or trade school), but it means ensuring each child is attending a fully resourced K-12 school. The current reality is that our states are failing our inner-city schools. So, for many this will mean moving into a neighborhood that has good public schools. For others, it means investing in a good private school. A fortunate few may win the lottery to send their kids to a high performing charter school. Each family must do what is necessary to accomplish it because a solid K-12 education will determine each child’s socioeconomic trajectory. But the responsibility doesn’t end with saving money and enrollment in the right school.
Parents or a designated family member must monitor homework and academic progress and be ready to advocate for each child’s placement in the most rigorous academic level he or she can handle. Of course, access to tutors, books, and technology is a must. Let’s acknowledge that not every child is going to be college material. But every child must learn the basics of reading, math, science, history, and civics to succeed in life. Technical or trade school is a must if college isn’t in your child’s future. Beyond the classroom, each child should be involved in extracurricular activities whether that is sports, art, music, scouting, science, technology, gardening, activism, drama, or dance. The preschool and elementary years should be spent exploring options and middle school through high school should be spent on a passion that fuels active participation and proficiency. Colleges and employers will be looking for well-rounded, highly proficient, and emotionally grounded candidates.
When I grew up, education was a family affair with my grandparents along with aunts and uncles pitching in to help my parents educate us. Everyone asked about my grades. My family helped me fund educational opportunities for my children. And now I’ve made it a point to help my children raise highly qualified children. It’s within our ability as a united family to prepare all the children in our family well enough that there will be no need for Affirmative Action and the racial preferences it once provided.