Affirmative Action For School Reformers?

Affirmative action is a policy that does not poll well these days. Large majorities typically reject the idea that hiring or school admissions should take into account the discrimination that African-Americans, women, and other groups face. Most people will argue that we should have a strictly merit-based system with people evaluated on their records.

It might seem like a good idea that people stand or fall on their track record, but that doesn't seem to fit the United States today. It's certainly hard to maintain that standing in my profession of economics bears any relationship to performance. Nearly everyone in a top policymaking position today was among the group of economists who could not see the $8 trillion housing bubble that wrecked the economy when it collapsed

Economics is clearly not the only field where failure seems the best track forward. The top ranks of the so-called school reform movement are packed with people who have prospered in spite of failure.

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