Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!ora!ambar
From: mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Affirmative Action is Temporary
Message-ID: <8910170205.AA13650@mimsy.UMD.EDU>
Date: 17 Oct 89 02:05:34 GMT
Lines: 34
Approved: ambar@ora.com
In-Reply-To: <1058@uvaarpa.virginia.edu>

I'm not convinced that it IS temporary.

For one thing, what if it doesn't work?  I've already suggested that trying
to bias against the bias usually doesn't work.  If the discrepancies
continue, people will say "not long enough yet!" and the programs will never
go away.  Noreover, eventually there develops a constituency which wants to
keep the programs in place precisely BECAUSE they feel they can gain an
advantage from them.  These programs have a history of becoming exceedingly
well-entrenched.

Steve Losen hints at the right solution, but gives up before he follows it
through.  The system, as it exists now, places very heavy weight on
"qualifications".   People who "fall behind" early on tend to fall further
behind as things progress-- "them that have, gets".  AA programs, in this
context, tend to aid the not-as-disadvantaged minority over the more
disadvantaged majority member.  This is a problem for two reasons.  One, its
fairness is questionable, and indeed, it looks unfair when divested of the
mumbo-jumbo of sociology.  Second, and more important, is that it creates a
new class of the disadvantaged, who are not only so, but are held to be
deserving of this.  Such a class tends toward anti-social behavior for the
most logical of reasons.  It is hardly any surprise that the young male
high-school graduate is inclined towards a hatred of "liberal/progressive"
values, since the powerful in society tread upon them the most.

It's pretty obvious that AA programs have the effect of increasing social
tensions.  And while I don't think that this is necessarily a view which we
must honor completely, "tough" is not a reply which is good for society.  AA
programs have the effect of forcing division.  AA programs elicit the
question, "is she any good, or is she here just because of AA?"

C. Wingate          + "Our God, to whom we turn when weary with illusion,
                    + whose stars serenely burn above this earth's confusion,
mangoe@cs.umd.edu   + thine is the mightly plan, the steadfast order sure
mimsy!mangoe        + in which the world began, endures, and shall endure."