"This sort of legal preference for a race or a religion: it would be illegal in France and is contrary to the principles of the Republic. Affirmative Action is one of the great mysteries of America. If all men are created equal, how can laws distinguish between men based on inherited characteristics? "
IT'S A MYSTERY TO ME AS WELL! :-)
seriously, very bad thinking and 'victim'-claiming took over; it was noticed that mere 'merit-based' approaches were not enough to 'balance' opportunities, it was claimed past inequalities created the situation (phony argument, but who cares, there are jobs to be handed out) ... so we got: Equality-of-result over performance and equality-of-oppty.
Quotas and preferences, eqpecially in govt hiring, was a form of ethnic-based patronage from the Democrat party to the minorities - which has caused the Democrats to be adamant to defend this unjustified idea. The Republicans sometimes attempt to chip away at it, but see more benefit in minority votes than in intellectual rigor so do not press an issue that makes the left call them 'racist'.
Too many professors in "Ethnic Studies" have careers at stake for this nonsense to get killed, so it perpetuates itself in the university as well as in Govt.
So it falls to maverick reformers like Ward Connerly (ironically enough multi-cultural in person, being biracial) to fight the wrongs of racial preferences.
Just do the 'math' on %age of university students that are from your muslim slums... let me guess that they are 'under-represented'. Wait for the day when some opportunist decides that is a 'problem' that demands 'Egalite'. If his names sounds something like "Jesse Jackson" be very afraid.
Once it is started, it is hard to stop.
"Just do the 'math' on %age of university students that are from your muslim slums... let me guess that they are 'under-represented'. Wait for the day when some opportunist decides that is a 'problem' that demands 'Egalite'."
But French university is free, and open admission. So anybody who wishes to go, assuming he has passed the bac, can go. Passing is a different thing. Universities routinely fail about 70% of students each examination cycle, and perhaps 10% of them pass on the September re-examinations. So, some students - those who do not care and who do not focus - can spend years attempting to pass. But anyone who wishes to go, can go.
As far as the Grandes Ecoles go, there are competitive concours to enter, and entry is based strictly on exam score and order of finishing on the concours. It would be grossly unfair to elevate some students over others who had done better on the competitive examination. After all, that is what the examination is: everyone can take it, everyone knows the subject matter, everyone can prepare for it. Therefore, whoever scores the best should obviously get the seat in the Grandes Ecoles. Really nothing else would be fair.
Clearly there are problems with such a system, as in life many things are not properly managed by academic skills but by other capacities. Nevertheless, arbitrarily deciding that skin color or racial origin is a basis for elevating one over another who has scored better than him on the identical competitive exam seems immoral to me anyway.