Looking at Both Sides of the Issue
Dear Editor:
If one of the editorial goals of Black Issues In Higher Education
is to advocate and expand the base of those who seek to increase
educational opportunities for Blacks, care must be most intensive when
reporting the results of various studies that address any issue
pertinent to the stated goal. This includes the issue of affirmative
action.
The news brief in the October 1, 1998 edition titled, “Study Shows
Affirmative Action Works,” is about the new book, The Shape of the
River, by Drs. W.G. Bowen and Derek Bok. The article gives the
impression that racial preferences at top educational institutions has
worked. A review of the writings of those critical to the findings of
Bowen and Bok should have been made in greater detail. There are those
who study the Bowen and Bok statistical presentation and claim that in
reading the data, the interpretation is flawed — hence, the
affirmative conclusion is forced.
Among those critics is Dr. Abigail Thernstrom. Apart from the
disagreement on how to interpret the data, her bottom line conclusion
is that the effort to defend higher education access preference diverts
attention away from the real problem — public schools are doing an
inadequate job of preparing Blacks for college.
If educational opportunity is to be increased, any weakness as to
the justification or methodology of this effort should be fully
explored. We should not kid ourselves as to the achievement of any
program or policy, and we should not deny ourselves the opportunity to
learn from the findings. Without properly reported data — pro and con
— we cannot learn, and hence, we diminish the ability to achieve the
desired goal.
DR. RICHARD D. WELLBROCK
