You mean a sane, fair, and objective system of evaluation? Yes.
There are plenty of brilliant kids who made the mistake of being born in the wrong zip code. Something sane and fair would take that into account. Thing is, that’s good for the rest of us, too. I want the best and brightest to be found and educated so they can invent cool things and make my life better. If you reject people just because of their birthplace, you’re drastically limiting the talent pool.
You rejected one because they had a lower SAT/ACT. It sounds like you want birthplace to be a major factor in admissions though.
…due to where they were raised, and not because they were unable to do learn.
> It sounds like you want birthplace to be a major factor in admissions though.
I’m not sure how to address the problem without taking that into consideration.
It's one thing to account for socioeconomic differences, as they're not based on immutable, inherent traits. Using race, though, is simply and purely racist.
You won't solve perceived "systemic racism" by instituting actual systemic racism.
Data scientists deal with this stuff all day long. I’m not one. But maybe it’s time we bring them into the conversation?
As a thought experiment, what if their raw SAT score were replaced with, say, their standard deviations relative to their school or area’s scores? Then you could see that they had high scores compared to their peers, and presumably had the raw talent to succeed?
Probably the one who went to the better school - but by how much? 10 points? 20?
> There are plenty of brilliant kids who made the mistake of being born in the wrong zip code
Yes, and when they're white it's even worse because they're facing an uphill battle against affirmative action.
It’s worth privately considering: would your opinion on this change if it weren’t white kids who’d benefit? Don’t answer here, but think about it.
I mean, maybe it’s possible that I’m subconsciously rooting for Harvard to keep its rules in place because they benefit my own kids, who are white. I don’t think so because I didn’t know the details of the lawsuit until very recently, but I admit it’s at least possible. Would you still feel that these rules should be overturned if they hurt your own kids’ chances to go to Harvard?