Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Possible Weakness of Proposition 209

From what I remember of the discussion on affirmative action in today's class, Proposition 209 came up, which states that you cannot, "discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting."

Prior to the approval of Proposition 209 in 1996, Beverly Hills High School used "diversity permits" to enroll a mixture of different minorities in its predominantly affluent, Caucasian school. However, after this was enacted, the school "no longer asks children who apply for diversity permits to state their race or ethnicity. As a result, 108 of the 159 Los Angeles students attending Beverly Hills High on this program are Asian, while 19 are black and 16 are Latino." http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=1dfa7a04e9baf75e721528018a7e253d&_docnum=9&wchp=dGLbVzW-zSkVb&_md5=8484d1674e0bf69d6aadeb34a91ebc59

From this situation, the argument can be made that instead of increasing opportunity and diversity in schools for all races, that it can limit such opportunities for members of some groups.

What do you think?

1 Comments:

Blogger Eric Mumm said...

Jenny,

Similar state laws have been passed in Michigan and Washington. The idea seems to be catching on.

When doing my research paper, I discovered evidence to the contrary of your argument about limiting opportunities for minorities.

After the passage of Prop 209, I remember reading (for my reseach paper) that graduation rates at the California (UC) schools increased significantly. This figure was especially true among minority students. The rates would suggest that those who were academically prepared and capable of graduation were more likely to be admitted (and therefore succeed in the future) as opposed to students who would be accepted and later drop out.

The law does not harm those who are academically qualified for acceptance and will likely graduate. Some people think that it saves time for students who would drop out anyhow and shouldn't be enrolled in the first place (so they wouldn't lose opportunity).

Ultimately, under the supremacy clause (federal trumps state law), the Supreme Court's summer decision could effect these state laws.

4:35 PM  

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