The stress in my statement should be on "every, single test situation" and not on "silly", so I'd like you to respond accordingly. I don't think sterotype threat justifies AA in the way you'd like it to. I think it replicates it in some sense.
Some URMS underperform due to stereotype threat. Others are unaffected by it.
Some ORMS underperform due to sterotype threat. Others are unaffected by it.
You think stereotype threat may explain the disparity in performance. It may, and let's say for the sake of argument that it does. Those affected by sterotype threat should be given a leg up in admissions. Alright. My problem is in the application of this theory.
Taken into account steroetype threat, underperforming black are given a leg up, but so are other blacks because they are a part of the larger group that is affected by stereotype threat. Underperforming whites are not given a leg up ecause they are part of a larger group that is not thought to be much affected by sterotype threat. For me, ideally,the aim of AA should be identify and assist those who need help, not just assist everyone in a group simply because they look like those who need help. If stereotype threat is a problem, then those blacks, latinos, native americans, older applicants, and poor whites that need it should be assisted. Your using the concept of sterotype threat to justify a system which only helps some of those people. The article I posted, which is a follow-up of the one you posted, shows some support for my claim
I'm assuming, arguendo, that stereotype threat exists and is a substantial reason for the underperformance of URMs, and particularly black applicants, on the LSAT (I'm still not sure).
You're missing (at least) three things:
1.
Law schools have access to all sorts of information about applicants, and they can develop a good sense of what underperformance on standardized tests looks like. It's not a matter of "you either get the stereotype-threat bump or you don't"; rather, everyone gets the chance to establish that their test scores are not indicative of their potential to succeed in law school, via their grades, writing samples, recommendations, and even addenda addressing scores (e.g., documenting previous poor test results followed by academic success). Some people will get extra consideration (or a devaluation of the LSAT) based on what we know about race and underperformance; some people will get the same type of consideration based on other evidence of underperformance.
2.
For some identifiable groups of applicants, underperformance is a result of stereotype threat; for other applicants, there are different, individual reasons. Stereotype threat, the authors agree, is a function of stereotype and domain (perceived competition), not of mere test anxiety or other non-aptitude causes of poor test performance. The people who most suffer in the real world from conditions like the ones in their experiments are black testtakers. It's not that underperforming whites are members of "a larger group that is not
thought to be much affected by stereotype threat," but that
stereotype threat does not function on white people, via stereotypes about whiteness, except under conditions like the ones in the experiment (where the white subjects were told they would be compared with Asians on a math test). I'm sure it's possible that stereotype threat does work on white women, via stereotypes about women's inferiority in math/science/logic, or on poor whites, via stereotypes about poor people, but, again, admissions committees are in the best position to make a supple determination of qualifications, based on their access to an applicant's complete file (including the information I listed in a post above about economic disadvantage) and what they know about current students' performance in relation to their qualifications.
3.
I think we all tend to overestimate the extent to which people who "don't need the help" receive extra consideration due to affirmative action, and the strength of affirmative action programs in general. That's really it on this one.
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