The Future of Affirmative Action by kpo

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The Future of Affirmative Action

POSTED BY: KPO
UPDATED: Friday, June 28, 2013 14:30
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Friday, June 28, 2013 6:41 AM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.

This is a future I would welcome:

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/06/future-class-based-affir
mative-action

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Friday, June 28, 2013 7:24 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Indeed. Upward mobility in the USA, so-called "land of opportunity", is at an all-time low since WWII. The problem is not always just race, ethnicity or gender, but also class.

Although, to be honest, all of these remedies (ie how to scramble fairly for an ever-shrinking piece of the pie) misses the point.

Under capitalism, MANY perfectly qualified applicants (for jobs, schools, research grants, housing, internships etc) will be turned away. It's not that they CAN'T do the job, learn the curriculum, investigate, take proper care of their home, learn the ropes... they will be turned away. CSU and UC combined turned away something like 40,000 fully qualified applicants last year due to lack of space. And the real unemployment rate ... (according to Bernie Sanders) when you include part-timers who want to work full-time and discouraged workers... is more like 14-15%.

So, you can get into a ridiculous competition, looking for "the most" qualified.. splitting hairs about whether your GPA of 4.3 and your involvement in a community health organization trumps someone else's GPA of 4.2 and winning the LA Science Fair competition...

Or you can look at the base problem, which is:

Despite the need for better more energy-efficient housing, more education, more accessible and effective health care, infrastructural upgrade, environmental remediation, more healthfully-grown foods, revitalized manufacturing ... there are not enough jobs, or enough educational slots, or enough research grants, or houses, to supply everyone who can fill that slot with a job, a school, a grant, or a house

Now, I know the reason for this conundrum, and it will not disappear as long as we run our economy on gladiatorial themes, for the betterment of the 0.01%. There is a problem with a so-called meritocracy. I used to be all for it (hubby and I being winners in the system) until I realized that it was simply an outgrowth of the whole paradigm of efficiency, which is really misdirected. What meritocracy implies is that there are only limited slots available for significant, remunerated contribution to society. It assumes that most of society is dreck... a vast, undeveloped, and best-ignored pool from which to skim the cream.

In reality, if our society and economy were rational actors, we would be turning so much more of our attention to the long-term survival of the human race (and the environment on which we depend) and the overall betterment of everyone, there would be a significant place for everyone to contribute. There is plenty of work to do, so why aren't we doing it?

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Friday, June 28, 2013 2:30 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Interesting.

I'm not sure how affirmative action works in the US. Is it around quotas in employment and college places? This is something that has never sat very well with me, but I'd like to hear more from people on what they think about it all.

It seems to me that class mobility comes from having really good education systems, including cheap or free tertiary education, a good public health system and a decent welfare system, reasonable minimum wages and an economy that's healthy enough to offer enough jobs and opportunity.

I think the key questions to be asked are - if your parents are really disadvantaged, for whatever reason, how likely is it that you will also suffer disadvantage? How accessible is a reasonable education or a reasonable paying job?

baby boomers in this country probably enjoy a far greater standard of living that generations that come after them. They had a period of free tertiary education, cheap housing prices and a generous welfare system to take advantage of on their road to success, something that few acknowledge.

These days, if you are a youngster starting out, you either have mummy or daddy pay for your tertiary fees, or you start off your adult life in debt (or you just don't bother). Likewise, few can afford to buy their first home unless they choose to live a zillion miles from the place where they are most likely to find jobs, or again mummy and daddy can fork out a couple of hundred k to make your mortgage manageable.

I have seen the divide widen between rich and poor and i don't like it.

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