Proposal 2 and UofMich

[redemption]

States can barely cobble together a meaningful measure of graduation rates.  (And most can't at all.)

I don't think LSAC has developed a magical way of controlling for hundreds of socioeconomic factors by "accounting" for three questionable factors to determine the actual gap by race.

I thought you were in favor of a socio-econ based AA system? How would that work if they couldn't account for it?

[parsley]

I prefer a theoretical socioeconomic based affirmative action to a theoretical race-based affirmative action as more of a compromise position.

In truth, I don't support affirmative action at all.  If you got a sob story, tell it in the PS or show it in the resume and let that be the only really subjective measures. 

I'm much more in favor of efforts to fix a sinking system rather than pretending the leaks don't exist and trying to bail water out when people are 22.

I think the studies you cite are interesting and I'd seen at least one of them before, but they're also superficial and not at all conclusive. You know that.

[parsley]

You also never answered my question -- what do you do all day?

[parsley]

I conclude with one final observation. The real discrimination I see going on in this forum is an anti-southern discrimination. The hatred is extraordinary. Like the worst insult you can heave at someone is that they're from Alabama, The people who are far too sophisticated to go to a school any further south than Chicago, those that know vandy/ut/uva are great schools, but all those icky southern racists, driving their trucks, waving their confederate flags, watching nascar, trying to learn to read. It's disgusting, and it's wrong. People like that will argue all day for "tolerance" and "diversity" but then run from anyone with a different idea or background than theirs. It's mind boggling.

This is 100% true.

[bandaidstick]

Ananse: just so you know we're not ignoring your story - the problem with addressing it in this conversation is that it is an isolated example and we are talking about the interplay of broad generalizations. If you can link up (with very precise fats) your story to the broader alleged problem, please do.

[parsley]

and realized that I was consistently "assumed stupid until proven otherwise."

I know how you feel. I have a Southern accent.

[bandaidstick]

Red what do you think accounts for the gap in LSAT scores between Afr. Americans and whites assuming that the aforementioned relevant factors have been accounted for? Do you think it's IQ?

To answer your question about specific intellectual skill - it is a certain quick and sophisticated command of the English language along with a fast and deductively inclined mind (off the top of my head).

[bandaidstick]

Yeah, I'm a victim, too. I was verbally/physically abused as a kid.

[mae8]

even if one agrees with racial preferences in general, the problem specifically at law schools is adcomms are dishonest (at best) by accepting people with little or no chance of becoming practicing attorneys. first time bar passage rates for law students as a whole are 88%. for blacks that number is 61%. 22% of black law students will not have passed the bar after FIVE attempts, so how exactly did aa benefit them? it gave them the opportunity to waste three years of tuition and greater opportunity costs spanning 8 years? well meaning support of aa is carried to this ridiculous conclusion, hurting everyone including the small black minority that would not be accepted into law school in a race-blind system.

[Ever]

Only someone unfamiliar with the bar would equate a person's score with their functionality as a lawyer...