Fred, when I say "dumbing down" the system for minorities, I am referring to the criteria, not the people themselves, black or otherwise. If the vast majority of blacks do worst than the vast majority of whites on arbitrary criteria like SAT's, then there is obviously a problem with the tests or a problem with the preparation for the test. We can fix the problem, or we can continue to patch it up.

What makes more sense? Continue sending ill-prepared minority students to college, or prepare them properly to compete for admission to any school, whether it uses Affirmative Action or not?

I think it is ironic that if U of Mich had a student body of 30% blacks, and they were giving extra points to white students to racially balance the school in proportion to the population, many of the people that support Affirmative Action would be whining that the U of Mich was being racist by taking opportunities away from blacks who earned it.