Good education is a matter of Civil Rights

LAST November the people of California passed Proposition 209 (the California Civil Rights Initiative) which prohibits preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity, or sex in public contracting, public employment, and public education. During the campaign many who agreed in principle with the initiative were concerned about the effect it might have on minority inclusion, especially in college and university admissions. It was asked over and over again, “If you take preferences away from them, what will you give them in return?”

This of course is the wrong question. What we should be asking is why so many minorities fail to qualify for college in the first place. This shifts attention from how colleges can accommodate themselves to low-performing minorities, and toward the real problem of why the public schools are preparing so few minority students for college admission in the first place.

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About the Author

Glynn Custred

Glynn Custred, a professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at California State University East Bay, is the author of A History of Anthropology as a Holistic Science.

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LAST November the people of California passed Proposition 209 (the California Civil Rights Initiative) which prohibits preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity, or sex in public contracting, public employment, and public education. During the campaign many who agreed in principle with the initiative were concerned about the effect it might have on minority inclusion, especially in college and university admissions. It was asked over and over again, “If you take preferences away from them, what will you give them in return?”

This of course is the wrong question. What we should be asking is why so many minorities fail to qualify for college in the first place. This shifts attention from how colleges can accommodate themselves to low-performing minorities, and toward the real problem of why the public schools are preparing so few minority students for college admission in the first place.

GC

About the Author

Glynn Custred

Glynn Custred, a professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at California State University East Bay, is the author of A History of Anthropology as a Holistic Science.