Word: klitgaard
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...would be fruitless to try to summarize in detail here the corpus of Klitgaard's analysis. Suffice it to say it is heavily quantitative, loathe to make categorical statements, and in general correctly skeptical of making too much of our ability to predict "success." But from his research, Klitgaard does hazard some striking and, in many ways, unsettling conclusions...
...universities will best achieve their objectives if they select the most academically able students (with proper allowance for the representation of groups)--goes against our general liberal intuitions. After all, what of the intuitively pleasing intangibles--like leadership, motivation, or simple effort--that such indicators presumably cannot measure? Yet Klitgaard presents a convincing argument against the widespread belief that such intangibles may be measured by such items as letters of recommendation, which in general are notoriously not candid and unhelpful to admissions committees...
...what he does not adequately address is the intrinsic unfairness of the direction in which he urges us to move. Klitgaard persuasively provides a framework for choosing elites, yet he does not account for the possibility that such a framework would systematically and unfairly perpetuate such at, elite. He tells us that admissions officers cannot avoid questions of just desert in drawing up policies, but points us in directions that would further skew society's distribution of fruits and rewards...
...KLITGAARD'S SECTION on affirmative action focuses on this troubling dilemma. Here he restates the most controversial findings of the Klitgaard Report, and while he is careful to qualify his conclusions, he minces no words. For unknown reasons, he states, at the right tail of academic qualifications, "there are surprisingly large differences in the performance of various ethnic groups." In 1983, for instance, 570 Blacks had combined SAT scores above 1200, compared to 60,400 whites--numbers which are also disproportionate to the numbers of the groups taking the test. More troubling, according to his research, standardized test scores tend...
...credit, Klitgaard does not take these figures as an excuse for universities to end their affirmative action programs. His purpose, again, is not normative, but rather to set out such a policy's costs and benefits. He is extremely sensitive to the correct benefits of affirmative action--in terms of educational diversity and creating incentives for disadvantaged groups. His findings suggest the general factors which universities must consider in setting up their affirmative action policies. The problem is that he understates the extent to which the educational system itself undercuts the opportunities of Blacks and students in lower socio-economic...