[the_tyrant]

Last time I checked, affirmative action is in track to getting abolished in China. After all, they have hard data that it doesn't work well.

You see, interestingly, the Chinese entrance exam is actually very effective at predicting success in university. You see, in China, the average student spends so much time and effort preparing for it, that stupid mistakes usually don't happen. So assuming one doesn't make mistakes, the test structure serves very well to predict skill.

For instance, math is out of 150 maximum. If you understand algebra and trig, you would get 100 out of 150, no more. If you understand single variable calculus, you would get 120. If you understand multivariable calculus, you would get 140. Finally, the last 10 points are for the super geniuses, and would probably get you a scholarship.

Thus say a student gets 620 with 120 on the math section. With affirmative action, it would become 140. He/she would go into university knowing basic derivation and integration with one variable. However, because he is boosted into a better school, the school would assume that he would know multivariable calculus, something that he doesn't know. Thus, these students are set up for failure.


The hard data obviously shows it. Because people who get boosts due to everything but "special talent" get screwed. "special talent" students are like the football players anyways, they don't care about their grades in the first place. It doesn't matter if you are really an ethnic minority, or if you are a minority in name only, or if you faked your ethnicity, odds are, you would wash out.



I have every reason to believe that something similar happens in the US too. Low achieving students accepted to top schools due to affirmative action have a lower chance at success than those who earned it. However, the problem is, there is no "universal affirmative action boost" in the US, african american students don't exactly get a free 20 points on their SATs.

Without hard data, it is difficult to quantify the effects of affirmative action.