Thoughtless Admissions Policies

The (false) assumption behind the attacks on Harvard’s admissions policies is that admission to any school must be strictly according to a single standard. It presupposes a national competition for grades, and test scores, which lead to a national ranking to which all schools must adhere; just as was the case in the Soviet Union. Any deviation from that ranking, any disparate outcome, must be prima face evidence of racism, sexism, or some equally heinous sin.

A century ago, Harvard did admit according to academic ranking (aside from legacies, and racial considerations). Harvard was, and to a great extent still is a local school with a veneer of international dominion. They were able to fill most of their slots with the cream of the academic crop, and they found that they did not like the result. They found that such a policy did not produce a student body that suited their ambitions. So they stopped considering only academic prowess, and determined to create an “interesting” incoming class. (I do not endorse Harvard’s admissions policies, nor its recent behavior, I merely object to the smug, ignorant—by people who assume they know everything, when they have not even asked basic questions, let alone answered them—pronouncements.)

To raise some obvious objections to such a national admissions policy (state schools may very well be constrained to adopt such metrics): should West Point accept students with no potential as future officers, merely because they are academically more qualified than someone else? Should Nortre Dame be prohibited from preferring Catholics, to some degree and become indistinguishable from other schools? Should every school have to apply to the DOE, or a committee of self-appointed pundits for exemptions from the national list?

It is appropriate, it is accepted American practice to object when demographic groups are denied access to (excellent) education, but that is a far cry from a unitary national admissions policy, thoughtlessly imposed even by people who pride themselves on their conservative, or libertarian ideals. Private schools should be free to adopt their own policies and standards, even when they make no sense to the rest of us.