Stanford’s Class of 2026 Doesn’t ‘Look Like America’

That's not what's happening. 22% of Stanford's incoming class is white. That isn't representative of the US or Bay Area. It's not even close. Nobody would claim that in good faith..

Now, as long as they're missing out based on merit that's fine. But discriminating against them due to the color of their skin is just good old fashioned racism. So now Stanford is a racist institution. How do we fix that?

This is an older article (2012) showing how one excellent UK university does admissions. I think it covers some of the challenges your statement implies and showing some of the hard work such universities do. There's an interesting anecdote about a student who tutors believe simply won't keep up with the course due to starting from too far back (they are described as being from a hopeless school), another where a student has been guided by their school to study the wrong classes. In the UK, education is split into 'state schools' (free) and 'private schools' (paid for), and within both bands there is much variety, but in general private schools have better outcomes (as do state schools in wealthier areas). In the UK, this 'private vs state' debate is one of the most polarizing - should you be able to pay to win? At least at Cambridge, careful effort has dramatically changed representation over the last 20 years - from approximately 50% in 2000, to 62% in 2012, to 73% now (with private schools representing approximately 15% of students at age 18 this is a pretty good effort), and I think this article represents some of the hard work that has to go in to ensuring equality of opportunity (they describe: careful thought of each application, metadata held about schools, analysis of school provided documentation, etc, review, second chances, etc. they also do a _tonne_ of access things specifically designed to widen the funnel at all parts of the pipe).

I don't know or think it's the same for Stanford - after all, 16% of Stanford admissions are legacies - but it can be done with hard work! I'd certainly be interested in a similar article for Stanford, though.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/10/how-cambri...

Yes, this is where the article is wrong. Race is not one monolithic bloc. If admissions were purely meritocratic, then the incoming class would be approximately 70% asian, 20% white, and 10% other. Clearly, some minority demographics don't need affirmative action in order to be competitive in applications. But the article errs in assuming that all minority demographics are equally dependent on affirmative action.

Two inaccuracies here:

1. Californians only make up 34% of Stanford's undergraduate class.

2. Proposition 209 does not limit private institutions like Stanford to practice affirmative action.

What if the reputation is self-sustaining and the "best" universities aren't the best educators but just those who have all the right connections. Maybe they were privileged by history, etc.