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The 1997 SPSSI presidential address: affirmative action: a compelling state interest - Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues President Dalmas Taylor - Transcript
Journal of Social Issues, Spring, 1998
A review of the court cases above reveals admissions procedures that use race and aren't constitutionally permissible. In each instance, test scores and grade point averages are not the sole determinants of qualification. Schools of law and medicine receive thousands of applications from applicants, most of whom are qualified to do the work. And that's the critical factor - that they're qualified to do the work. While it would be easier to determine who gets admitted by simply ranking test scores, this procedure would not identify qualifications and characteristics essential to a diverse student body, which not only has a substantial educational benefit, but also a benefit to society.
Psychometric studies show that scores from standardized tests are less predictive than claimed. They're also less predictive for minority students than they are for Whites, and they explain only a small amount of the variance in the prediction equation. A National Academy of Science blue ribbon panel noted that ethnic minority group members disproportionately shoulder the problems associated with standardized testing. Opponents of affirmative action believe that higher test scores alone can identify the most meritorious candidates. The testing industry, however, urges a more modest usage.
In the law profession, for example, nationally 58% of all Whites who apply to law school were admitted in 1992. Only Asian Americans had a higher rate of admission. Despite the fact that ethnic minorities are the fastest growing groups in America, their percentage increase in law school admissions declined in the past decade. These data do not suggest an unfair advantage for ethnic minorities from affirmative action or any other reason. Yet, plaintiffs in Hopwood alleged reverse discrimination. The year Cheryl Hopwood applied to Texas, more than 100 White students were admitted who had lower test scores and grade point averages than she did. Further, despite the admissions procedure used, more Whites with lesser credentials were taken off the waiting list than the total number of ethnic minorities enrolled in the school.
Tests have been used for numerous pernicious purposes ranging from restrictive immigration, eugenics and race purity, to the exclusion of ethnic minorities from access to the mainstream. The overreliance on test usage includes a dependency on test scores in admissions to institutions of higher education. These many uses have been aided and abetted by the psychometric tradition and prominent American psychologists who have been implicated. While these observations should not be construed as an indictment of American psychology or any individual, they should alert us to threats to the human condition as we employ our science and practice in the service of human welfare.
The plaintiffs in Hopwood were recruited by the Center for Individual Rights as part of a national campaign against affirmative action by conservative groups in America. In the SPSSI July Newsletter, I call attention to a number of conservative groups whose agenda included heritability of IQ, race and eugenics, English-only immigration, and anti-affirmative action. Yesterday, at the convention's opening session, following a keynote address by a Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel, it was announced that the Lifetime Achievement Award to be given to Raymond Cattell was postponed due to allegations of racism in some of his writings. A blue ribbon committee will be appointed to investigate Cattell's research and writings on eugenics. SPSSI has a definite stake in the outcome of this, through its role as the conscience of APA.
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