| > Correlation does not imply causation This is not relevant to what I said. We are closer to ending sexism and racism due to legislation, which is causal. We took specific actions to try to end sexism and racism and we know they had a positive effect. > Artificially balancing preferential treatment by applying it badly in the wrong direction is a duct tape solution I agree! It was meant to be a duct tape solution, from the start. It was meant to be temporary and end preferential treatment and go away. > it may have been justified after the Civil Rights Act I agree with this too, the justification was probably much stronger 60 or 70 years ago. It is weaker now… and that might be an indicator of its success. Applying it badly has happened, and it’s lame and sucks, but that’s not an inherent feature or outcome of the core idea. Some might rightly say it was predictable. The big open question is whether turning off all affirmative action will close that remaining gap, or leave us with a little bit of persistent systemic bias, or worse, a backslide. If that does, the next question is what to do. |