Affirmative action is failing minority students

A new analysis of the top American universities by the New York Times finds that black and Hispanic students are more underrepresented in higher education than they were 35 years ago – despite affirmative action policies aimed at increasing college attendance for minorities. According to the study, which looks at percentages of freshmen attendance in 100 universities, black students continue to make up 6 percent of college freshmen and 15 percent of the nation’s total college-age population, a position unchanged from the 1980s. Hispanic freshmen, however, have grown significantly, and today make up 13 percent of freshmen and 22 percent of the total college-age population. In that time, white students’ enrollment declined, but Asian American enrollment increased.