TEN YEARS AGO: Robert is a black kid growing up in the Los Angeles suburbs. He's a good kid. He's no valdictorian, but he studies reasonably hard and makes mostly B's, with an A thrown in here and there. He has a good head for math and building things, and wants to become an engineer.
As a senior, he's not sure what to do. Berkeley hears about him, and gets him a plane ticket to fly to campus. Figuring it's a chance to see the bay area, he accepts. He is wined and dined by the Black Students League. Feeling at home, he puts in his appplication for Berkeley.
His SAT scores and grades are far less than the average for applying students. The Admissions Office adds many points for the fact that Robert is black.
Robert gets to Berkeley for his freshman year and starts taking intro. engineering classes. His classmates include Westinghouse Science Winners and people who had begun taking calculus in their sophomore year of high school. Robert doesn't have the background to keep up. He gets discouraged and fails out after one year.
TODAY: A boy named Dean has the same background as Robert. This time, Berkeley isn't paying for any plane tickets. Dean enrolls in U. Cal Irvine. He is now on a more even footing and keeps a B average in the introductory engineering classes.
Other than the sanctimonious bean-counters, who exactly is really helped by affirmative action?
Good points.