Andy R. over at CalStuff reminds us of the Affirmative Action events going on this Thursday, March 3rd. Here’s some more info from BAMN’s website:

10:00AM University-sponsored forum: “Diversity in Action: Leading the Nation through Research and Practice,” Pauley Ballroom, 3rd Floor, MLK Student Union, UCB

12:00PM RALLY at SPROUL PLAZA

1:00PM MARCH!

Afternoon “Diversity in Action…” Breakout sessions, Pauley Ballroom

3:30PM “Diversity in Action…” Keynote address by Christopher Edley, Dean of Boalt Law School, and a statement by Chancellor Birgeneau, Pauley Ballroom

Then they include the obligatory PR spin:

CONGRATULATIONS to the more than 15,000 people who signed the petition and were part of the fight to remove Ward Connerly! The new civil rights movement has succeeded in removing the national frontman for the attack on affirmative action from the UC Regents. Once again, students have shown that the efforts and convictions of a dynamic and growing movement that speaks for the historical interests of an awakening mass of people can change history

As I predicted, BAMN would try and take credit for “removing” Ward Connerly.

Further down the page, there’s a list of participating professors. So check there to confirm your suspicions about your professors’ political beliefs… Only three engineers? Props to the College of Engineering for not taking part in this foolishness.

Finally, let’s talk about what really should be done instead of marches in support of racial preferences.

Andy from CalStuff has the right idea:

Any constructive advice I might offer would probably focus on improving things in the 17 years before someone applies to college, and I think there is very little that BAMN can accomplish here at Berkeley to further those reforms. In a general sense, raising awareness about inequalities in education would seem to me to be the best approach… Also, they would probably have to abandon their rhetoric supporting affirmative action, because at least rhetorically, affirmative action = quotas to many people.

Affirmative action solves nothing. If people were buildings, then K-12 education would be our foundation. Adding a few more levels of education to a shaky foundation is a recipe for disaster. And it’s society that suffers as a whole from this lowering of standards.

Most people agree that our education system just doesn’t work. Here’s Bill Gates from a recent speech on the topic:

When we looked at the millions of students that our high schools are not preparing for higher education – and we looked at the damaging impact that has on their lives – we came to a painful conclusion:

America’s high schools are obsolete.
—
Our high schools were designed fifty years ago to meet the needs of another age. Until we design them to meet the needs of the 21st century, we will keep limiting – even ruining – the lives of millions of Americans every year.

And his counterpart, Steve Jobs:

It’s a political problem. The problems are sociopolitical. The problems are unions. You plot the growth of the NEA [National Education Association] and the dropping SAT scores, and they’re inversely propotional. The problems are unions in the schools. The problem is Bureacracy. I’m one of these people who believes the best thing we could ever do is go to the full voucher system.

Neither of these guys are right-wingers, but they see that something’s wrong. Why not vouchers, such as the kind championed by Milton Friedman? Many who are supportive of affirmative action are adamantly against vouchers. Many Democratic politicians are against them, even though the minority groups that they represent may be in favor. Instead of fighting for public education, we should fight for an educated public. This can be accomplished through public, private, religious, or home schooling with the aid of vouchers. And everyone will benefit, minority or not.