Good points, Bobert. I think the other thing people don't understand, apart from the educational issues, is how admissions work in colleges. Admission is not, and never has been, only about "scholastic merit." If it were, you would not need admissions officers or interviews. All the work could be done by a computer. Every high school in the country would have a rank that ramified your GPA, then your SAT score would be plugged in, and an algorithim would decide who got in.

In fact, admissions officers work very hard not to pick the people with the highest scores on everything, but to create an interesting community of smart, creative people who can learn from their differences. A certain number of people more gifted in sciences will be admitted, and a certain number more gifted in arts. A certain number of women and a certain number of men. If you play an instrument, or play a sport, you have an advantage, and if you have a certain hobby that can contribute to the campus (say, acting), or a certain perspective (say, you're a well-spoken proponent of vegetarianism, or a political activist of any persuasion) this can all count in your favor. Ethnic background is another element in this mix. It benefits both white and black students to have both communities represented, even if the black students scored lower averages.

Putting together a first year class is an art, not a science. To argue that this process is unfair is silly. It never has been, strictly speaking, fair, but the government doesn't step in until they see a way to promote right-wing values through political positioning. If there's a glut of people who like math in one year, each one's chances of getting in are reduced by the competition. It's like whining that it's unfair that your hobby of stamp collecting doesn't count for as much as someone else's hobby of football. That's technically unfair too, but you won't see Bush filing a brief hostile to sports recruiting.

I think if anyone sat and thought about it for more than a second, they would realize that a peer group chosen only because they scored highest on tests and schoolwork would not necessarily provide the best environment to learn in. So other factors need to be taken into account, not only to "help out" disadvantaged people, but also to make a vibrant, intellectually challenging environment. Having white privileged kids actually meet and interact with less privileged black kids can have a major effect on the lives of both groups--sparks can fly in both good and bad senses, but it's always eye-opening! So Affirmative action does much more than help minority students, it brings the issue of racial discrimination and racial privilege to the attention of kids at an impressionable time. You can't get more educational than that!