[jbob2000]

This assumes that educational under-performance can be fixed by more education.

By my own experiences, the people who I have seen do well academically tended to have stable support systems (whether that is direct family or a mentor, or a solid group of friends, it doesn't matter). And likewise, the people who I have seen do poorly have broken or missing support systems (divorced or absent parents, bad friends or community).

Affirmative action does not solve the support system problem. All it does is throw people who can't swim into the deep end. I am not sure why people are confused as to why these people then drown.