>>Yes, they do struggle.
Like that idiot running for congress as a socialist with an econ undergrad degree who graduated with honors? I don’t recall the school but it appears you seem to think what goes on at these schools is similar to what went on when you and I were in college. It isn’t. For a ton of reasons, professors stopped giving out low grades. You may have one well qualified student sitting next to what you’re calling AA who isn’t qualified. But don’t act like they’re competing against each other like in graduate school. The qualified student will study, perform, and get an A, or High Pass. The “AA” student may or may not try, but will get a B or C or Pass. Sure, there is probably a minimum level of attendance and work they have to do but I’d suspect what you’re calling intensive programs are mostly places these schools dump these kids and hope they stay with it.
I’m not contending that they don’t go to class and don’t show up for tests. But when they do, they don’t routinely flunk out. There is peer pressure here to do a minimum level of work and the school knows that.
I know people who went to Harvard in several periods within the last 30 years. Getting IN is hard; getting out is not. First level honors isn’t difficult either. Go to a school like the U of Chicago and see what struggling really means for even good students. At least it was that way a decade ago.
You have some ideas about what is really going on in higher education. They are not accurate.
Minority students are not breezing through Harvard and the other Ivies. Many of them are struggling. Many of them are seeking out courses and majors that are not highly competitive. The Ivies are providing resources to keep them enrolled.
Many years ago, UC Berkeley accepted a large number of minority students. Many of the affirmative action students flunked and dropped out. Berkeley tightened their standards and only accepted the students who met their requirements. Lo and behold, their graduation rate increased significantly and their drop out rate dropped.
It was the AA students who were flunking out. If they had gone to a less competitive school they might have graduated and maybe graduated cum laude. Because of Berekely's 'do good' policies they were drop outs instead.