Hart Nat Hentoff David Horowitz Arianna Huffington Marianne Jennings Michael Kelly Mort Kondracke Ch. The latest is Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who issued his own proposal a few weeks ago. He asked state colleges to quit using race as a factor in deciding whom to admit, but then, urged them to change their policies to admit any Florida student who graduated in the top 20 percent of his high-school class, regardless of test scores. Texas and California universities have adopted similar plans, with the former opting to admit the top 10 percent of graduating seniors, and the latter, the top 4 percent. It's too early to know for sure how these experiments will turn out, but a few words of caution are in order.
Racial preferences strike most people as wrong on their face.
Giving extra points in the college-admission process to a black or Hispanic student because of his race or ethnicity seems no more fair than taking away points on those bases. When it comes to race, intent counts. And there are other problems as well. Everyone knows that not all high schools deliver the same education. What's more, the worst schools tend to be concentrated in the poorest neighborhoods, and black and Hispanic students are far more likely to attend such schools.