There was some discussion on the list recently of the value of affirmative action based on socio-economic status. I’m not completely closed to it but overall I’m thinking it’s not a good idea. We need to maintain the idea of merit so that students will have the abilities needed for the colleges they enter, and the curriculum will not need to be watered down and then supplemented by remediation and special advisers and so forth. But perhaps more important, such affirmative action conveys the impression that society is supposed to do something about the all the inequities of human existence, and that there is something deeply wrong with a society where inequities exist. Inequities are part of life, as every mother must know. The sooner young people learn to stop feeling entitled to redress, and the sooner they get to working hard with the gifts and opportunities they do have, the better. And, ironically, when everyone is admitted according to the same standards, a sense of equality does reign, whereas special admissions foster the very sense of inequality they are supposed to address.