Very few people will try to argue that all school districts are equal. Most will also admit that this inequity usually follows economic lines, which are closely related to racial lines in many parts of the U.S. The problem with Affirmative Action is that it does not address the problem until it is too late to make a real difference. Most of the underqualified minority students who could only get in with Affirmative Action won't even apply to colleges. They will already have lost any faith in the educational system, and usually in government as a whole. Unless reform is applied to every stage of the educational system, it's not going to be fair or effective.