Thread by @michaelharriot

I'll take this one.

The idea that affirmative action or diversity, equity & inclusion policies equal lower standards is something that a lot of people believe.

Instead of citing what "I believe" like Elon did, let's use facts & a something I like to called "math"

A thread.

First of all, there is a good reason why Elon referred to Duke. It's part of a discussion began by Ben Shapiro and some other white people after a white girl said some things about Duke Medical School's DEI program

By its own admission, the school has a DEI program.

Duke Medical School is 12.5% Black and US News ranks it as the 5th best medical school in America. Nationwide, Black students make up 10% of medical students.

25 years ago, Duke was ranked 6th and was 9% Black. In 2005, the medical school was 15% Black.

So what did DEI change?

Well, here's the thing: While most people think DEI policies have something to do with increasing minorities, most DEI policies focus on recruiting and retention.

Instead of lowering your standards, you can increase diversity by inviting more diverse students to apply.

Cost is the #1 reason why non-white students go to grad school, so offering scholarships & fellowships and recruiting at HBCUs INCREASES the number of diverse applicants. We rarely think about the advantage white kids have by interviewing with someone who looks like them

When you focus on diversifying the applicant pool, you don't have to lower the standards. In fact, Duke Medical School's applicants' GPAs INCREASED as the school became more diverse.

And here's the thing: Even though the % of nonwhite students increased...

The TOTAL NUMBER OF WHITE STUDENTS increased. Somehow they found a way to STILL GET white kids in.

So, exactly who are these so-called "DEI admits" taking spots from?

Is it possible that expanding the competition resulted in white kids losing out to MORE QUALIFIED applicants?

Here's a more interesting question:

What exactly does "qualified" mean?

Duke requires a minimum 500 MCAT. Just as the SAT predicts how well students perform on the SAT, the MCAT just predicts how well someone performs on the STEP 1 (a multiple-choice test for med students)

Does "qualified" mean "richer?" Because people with more money can afford expensive test-prep services, they tend to perform better on standardized tests. To be fair, there's one factor that better MCAT scores and medical school admission than wealth.

Children of doctors.

Which makes sense. Having someone who navigated the process gives you a leg up.

But ONLY FOR THE 1st YEAR.

Forget whether the tests are biased. Ignore legacy admissions. Let's look at the facts.

Look what happens to the "underprivileged" students who make it past the 1st year

Basically, once they make it past the 1st-year exam, the poor students shot past children of privilege and wealth.

This is not something "I believe." I don't know shit about medical school. I just read what the National Library of Medicine said:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

But what does this have to do with DEI?

Well, even though WE KNOW systems that rely on standardized tests are biased towards the rich & privileged, no one cares about that.

They don't care that the POOREST white students attend better K-12 schools than middle-class Black kids

They're not upset that MOST nonwhite kids attend underfunded schools

They don't care that white kids NEVER EVER have to attend underfunded, majority non-white schools.

Yet, they believe someone who manages to navigate a biased system that advantages whiteness is "unqualified"

They believe doing well on a flawed multiple-choice test because their daddy did well on a multiple-choice test in a system DESIGNED FOR THEM TO DO WELL is an indicator of "merit."

Because Elon & his mouthbreathing acolytes don't actually give a fuck about fairness or equality

In the history of America, there has never been an issue as big as the American education system that white people wanted to fix but somehow couldn't.

Not one.

ZERO.

And this motherfucker has a billion dollars and goddamned spaceship.

This is not a thing I "believe."

This is something I know:

The law doesn't allow schools to give Black students preferential treatment.

Instead, MOST DEI admission policies INCLUDE factors like interviews, GPAs & financial status, that BETTER predict success. They provide resources for underserved students...

WHO ACTUALLY PERFORM BETTER than the Elons of the world, once they make it past the unimportant obstacles that literally increase bias.

If Duke was lowering standards, Hospitals wouldn't hire Duke grads. The rating would drop. And guess what would happen?

All those wealthy, white free-market capitalists would immediately stop sending their kids to an inferior, low-quality school.

But instead of using logic, facts & the same economic principles that made them rich, they'd rather "believe" unqualified Black kids are the problem

I believe that's called racism.