I wish I could sing! Alas! One of the few ways in which I currently serve mankind is by keeping my mouth

!
As much as I respect Pavarotti and Kathleen Battle, it must have been hell for the stage managers. When you put the world's biggest Divo and a contender for the world's biggest Diva together - well, that's how you end up with a contract mandating that the production staff provide a bowl of non-brown M&Ms for each performance.
And as an undergraduate, I have availed myself of every suitable academic-support program, as well as other programs/resources that exist because of AA (e.g., the African American Student Union, internships for students of color, minority mentorship opportunities, etc.). As you might have guessed, I am a fan of these programs and opportunities. If you consider these to be products of (or an integral part of) AA, then I suppose I can't reject AA altogether. I would still argue that it's irresponsible for a school to admit underqualified URMs and then either (i) fail to provide adequate support designed to "pull them up" to the institution's standard (the kind you received, apparently) or (ii) fail to get those students to take advantage of the available support. And I contend that a lot of law schools are failing this two-pronged test. Otherwise, findings such as those mentioned in Richard H. Sander's study don't make sense. Here are some direct quotes from The Chronicle of Higher Education:
"After the first year of law school, 51 percent of black students have grade-point averages that place them in the bottom tenth of their classes, compared with 5 percent of white students."
"Among students who entered law school in 1991, about 80 percent of white students graduated and passed the bar on their first attempt, compared with just 45 percent of black students."
<http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i12/12a03501.htm>
These are hard facts, even though the rest of the study is a statistical extrapolation which seems credible but not fully proven... because the State Bar of California, under heavy pressure from AA proponents, refuse to grant Prof. Sander - and hundreds of other interested scholars - access to recent and detailed raw data.
How does sanctioning policies that seek to level “the playing field for those who have been and remain shortchanged by the current system” imply advocating reparations?If not for historical reparation (i.e. our moral obligation as a society to give preferential treatment to the victims of slavery and their descendants), why do you insist on race as a critical factor, as opposed to socio-economic standing alone? I'd hate to delve into this cliched realm of the AA debate, but a strict reading of your interpretation (without inferring historical reparation) should allow the poor white folks living in the heart of Appalachian Mountains, who "have been and remain shortchanged by the current system," to enjoy the benefits of AA.
Besides, your previous statements such as "The answer to your 2 questions is a resounding YES" and "Simply put, history matters and you SHOULD care about EVERY aspect of the 'puzzle'" led me to believe that you consider reparations as at least one of the justifications for AA.
To this day, the Reagan administration is condemned for its key role in pumping crack into inner-city neighborhoods. In addition, the mandatory crack/cocaine sentencing laws remain disparate. Michael Eric Dyson is one scholar who readily comes to mind.Well, without studying the facts of these allegations, I can still say without hesitation that if true, that's not the kind of innocuous mistake I was referring to. I was speaking of incidents such as the one at my old high school when a Jewish girl accused her friends of anti-semitism after they made fun of her big nose

Her friends were practically expelled (asked to go to the other school in the district, even though that school was 35 minutes away).
Yes, I can. If I assume that every white person I meet is not prejudiced (until I am proven otherwise), why should a white person assume my qualifications are subpar because of my skin color? Those who do so can blame it on AA, but I know better.I should have said, "one can't discredit those people entirely."
You can dismiss their suspicions about
yourself because your school records and the quality of your work will speak for themselves, according to your other post. But can you defend every other beneficiary of race-based AA? According to the statistics cited in Sander's study, many - at least 51%, apparently - of the African American law school graduates can't necessarily do the same. If someone told me that they consider every white person to be prejudiced unless proven otherwise, I wouldn't agree with their position. Nonetheless, knowing well that there are plenty of prejudiced white people out there, I'd have to conclude that there is at least a modicum of legitimacy in their suspicion. When backed by hard facts such as those I cited earlier, I can't blame someone for feeling similarly about AA.
My sister did not graduate at top of her med school class, but she’s an accomplished OB/GYN today. Numbers only mean so much, Nemorino.
But there are certain numbers that really, really matter: % of bar passage rate, for example. When 43% of African American law school graduates never become lawyers because they fail the bar multiple times, there
is a problem with the current system.
<http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010522>
Besides, I have observed that many anti-AA proponents harbor unbenign motives.Ain't that the truth! But as I said in my initial post, I think you should understand - if not in your heart, at least through the power of reason - that people of all races are STILL shortchanged by the current AA system. I am not just referring to the poor white, Asian or Middle Eastern people. What about the 43% of the African American law school graduates who are $100,000 in debt($200,000 if they also went to a fancy college) with no law license?
I feel like I've said enough on the subject matter. I do appreciate the opportunity to re-examine, re-affirm and articulate my opinion on this divisive issue. There's no better catalyst for this process than an intelligent opponent, so thank you.
No I'm not a law student yet. I studied economics at a very good college (and yes I wrote my thesis on law and economics) and now I'm working in nyc. The elusive 180 is indeed elusive, but I am going for 178+. Eh, these numbers are pretty artificial anyway.
Best of luck to you!