tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post1348194072698858625..comments2024-03-29T03:19:09.227-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-65368916357155505802018-07-08T14:14:04.761-04:002018-07-08T14:14:04.761-04:00This post is aging, I know, but I've just this...This post is aging, I know, but I've just this moment read an early passage in Ray Monk's recent (2012) biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer that made me think of this paragraph from your post: "The second change was the transformation of regional colleges and universities into national [and even international] institutions. Before the war, schools like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, Michigan, et al. served mostly local clientele. It was unusual, for example, for someone from the Midwest or far west or deep south to go to college in New England. Starting after the war, schools actively sought nationally representative student bodies." Monk's passage refers to the development in NYC of the private school of the Ethical Culture Society, which Oppenheimer attended as a child, beginning in fall 1911. Monk writes, "Having by this time [Monk's referent is ambiguous--he means either 1911 or 1902, when the school first occupied a building at Central Park West] added a high school to the original elementary school, the Ethical Culture School was seen--by an increasing number of middle-class gentiles as well as by the German Jewish community--as an ideal preparation for admission to the top universities in the country."<br /><br />Monk cites no source for this statement, which isn't impossible to square with your own. There could have been a few clusters, certainly in NYC, of high demand for a "top university" education regardless of location even while those universities "served mostly local clientele." But I can also read a sense, perhaps Monk taking it for granted, that even in the earliest decade of the 20th century higher education attracted a national clientele. Anyway, if nothing else, it's a fun coincidence to have read these two passages within days of each other.<br />Deannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-84998866698394689872018-07-06T13:03:39.869-04:002018-07-06T13:03:39.869-04:00P.s. my comment is directed to anonymous, above.P.s. my comment is directed to anonymous, above.LFCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-59198130919820462062018-07-06T12:51:13.387-04:002018-07-06T12:51:13.387-04:00It's one thing to argue that one function of e...It's one thing to argue that one function of elite universities is to transmit or reproduce the assumptions and attitudes of the dominant classes or strata and to sponsor research that, at least in part, rationalizes the current system and its distributive outcomes.<br /><br />It's quite another thing to draw a caricature of such places as merely assembly lines pumping out cookie-cutter graduates for positions on Wall St. Yes, some go on to those kinds of jobs but others do other things. That's one thing 'diversity' results in: students w different interests and goals.<br /><br />I don't think outward appearance in terms of attractiveness is an admissions criterion at these schools. And in the old (cough) days, at least, few people cared what you wore; as long as you weren't running through the campus naked (cf. 'streaking'), no one really gave a sh*t.LFCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-8129939789933027482018-07-06T08:43:41.775-04:002018-07-06T08:43:41.775-04:00WHAT???!!! You thought I was "speaking well&...WHAT???!!! You thought I was "speaking well" of Harvard? Can't you read? Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-65393975308187120142018-07-06T07:39:51.455-04:002018-07-06T07:39:51.455-04:00I'm surprised that an anarchist would speak we...I'm surprised that an anarchist would speak well of the 'central casting' dimension of Harvard's 'diverse' admissions policy. I can't think of anything more grotesque than the nice looking, well groomed, well spoken'representatives' of each race and ethnicity being groomed to lord it over the masses (at Goldman, J P Morgan, or wherever); trained up to be the spokespeople and role models for 'their' identity group. The Roman Empire was less smugly managed than this. <br /><br />As an alternative I would go for something like 75% academic achievement only entry to elite colleges, with applicants being given randomized entry to colleges in particular tiers of eliteness. Then supplement that with the Texas system (top x % of public school students in lower income areas get entry) to enable actually lower class persons to access elite colleges. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-30657215943266112822018-07-05T03:44:08.586-04:002018-07-05T03:44:08.586-04:00Professor Wolff --
Let's try and make an effo...Professor Wolff --<br /><br />Let's try and make an effort to get back on the Tigger bandwagon. Does not the primary election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez give you hope? It sure as hell gives it to me.<br /><br />-- JimJimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00826600172627425879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-3846397285938212032018-07-04T18:43:55.869-04:002018-07-04T18:43:55.869-04:00David Palmeter and LFC,
Thank you both very much....David Palmeter and LFC,<br /><br />Thank you both very much...s. wallersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17448905469871566228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-24547422525853543962018-07-04T18:37:10.198-04:002018-07-04T18:37:10.198-04:00@ s. wallerstein
The current baseline doctrine, al...@ s. wallerstein<br />The current baseline doctrine, although as D. Palmeter says it's not altogether consistent, is roughly (and as it relates to this post) this: public universities may (but are not required to) take race into account as one factor in a multiple-factor or multiple-criteria admissions process w/ a view to achieving the permissible aim of diversity (this goes back to the 1977 Bakke case). Similarly, private universities may (but are not required to) take race into account as one factor, though the cases afaik mainly deal w/ public universities b/c their policies are more easily subject to constitutional challenge.<br /><br />I don't know v much about the Harvard case and haven't read the ct filings, so I don't feel that comfortable opining on it. But in general, universities are allowed to take race into account as one factor of many factors. The disputes arise over specific situations and allegations that the permissible use of race as one factor has tipped over the line into impermissible quotas or otherwise impermissible discrimination. LFCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-59646225187536107602018-07-04T18:03:15.710-04:002018-07-04T18:03:15.710-04:00It's a series of decisions that do not progres...It's a series of decisions that do not progress in a consistent pattern. Roughly, what you get is that in case A the Court holds, for example, that the discrimination is unconstitutional. In case Z, it reaches the opposite conclusion. The arguments that are made for B through Y are whether the case is more like A and should follow that precedent or like Z and should follow that. Over time, the more and more fact situations emerge and are decided by a court whose membership changes. It usually is difficult, in these situations, to predict how the next case will be decided. Much can be read by the membership that is deciding the current case. Kennedy was the least predicable member of the Court. It is assumed that his replacement will be anything but unpredictable.David Palmeterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01895092366685079046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-91716446103842730242018-07-04T15:34:54.778-04:002018-07-04T15:34:54.778-04:00What is the current legal status of affirmative ac...What is the current legal status of affirmative action in the U.S.?<br /><br />Is it legally binding on all universities or just on public universities?<br /><br />Is its current legality the result of a previous Supreme Court decision or series of Supreme Court decisions?<br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br /><br /><br />s. wallersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17448905469871566228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-35453031487886001762018-07-04T12:02:13.779-04:002018-07-04T12:02:13.779-04:00I haven't read the court filings, but presumab...I haven't read the court filings, but presumably the plaintiffs in the Harvard case are not arguing that the only admissions criterion shd be academic ability. The framing of the lawsuit presumably accepts that diversity is one legitimate goal of admissions policies but argues that Asian-Americans are being disproportionately and impermissibly affected by Harvard's admissions policies. Harvard of course denies that. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.LFCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-9273174113450884962018-07-04T11:36:32.325-04:002018-07-04T11:36:32.325-04:00Thank you again for a refreshing and candid analys...Thank you again for a refreshing and candid analysis. More need to read this. I had to chuckle at "...Asian students, who are the new Jews..."<br /><br />On a related note, I had read how middle America is having a tough time accepting that spelling bee winners at the local, state, and especially at the National level are all mostly Asians now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com