Diversity? Is that really what school is about? Diversity?

 No, it's about giving people the education they deserve.

Adversity Scores: The Last Ditch Effort to “Achieve” Diversity

The age-old question is back once again, but this time it has coiled itself rigidly around the sheath of the blade and is not showing any intention of budging. What is more important for the future of education: competence or inclusivity? Medical programs in schools the likes of UC Davis are leaning heavily towards the latter option, but ever since the Supreme Court passed their Affirmative Action legislature in June of 2023, that goal has been sunken into a ditch and buried under piles and piles of civilian opposition. Until now. Enter: adversity scoring- the last ditch effort from colleges to swerve around the black hole of achieving diversity and tackle the problem through a different lens- one that deals with the how more than the who.

Adversity scoring is as simple and unexacting of a process as the name suggests: colleges determine precisely how challenging it was for a student to pursue the field at hand (in these elementary stages, that would just include medical fields), and after appraising all of the different factors at play, they put a number on it. This S.E.D (socioeconomic disadvantage scale) numeral, from 0-99, vies in importance and consideration with the S.A.T score that almost every student applying to universities must deliver, with a higher a value received corresponding to a stronger fit and allure to the respective college. To put this into illustration, a student who grew up from a rich background with legacy parents and a medical background would receive an extremely low score, plausibly less than 10, while an impoverished minority student from an underprivileged and non-medical heritage would receive an extremely high score, plausibly greater than 90. Simply taking into consideration these scores alone, the second student would be a much higher value candidate to the colleges in promotion of socio-economic diversity and opportunity on campus, and would therefore be far more likely to earn admission despite having a slightly less optimistic academic portfolio in other critical areas.

But that’s a good thing, right? Everyone gets to dip a little bit of their paintbrush in the paint, even those with a coarser tip. Not necessarily. Here’s what people's problem is: some kids might be the brightest bulbs in the world, but for simply emitting the wrong type and variance of light, they aren’t admitted into their dream school. In other words, a student could be a perfect scholar with an appetite for learning and an acute passion for medical science but be rejected from UC Davis, which isn’t known to be highly selective, just because they’re following in their parents footsteps. Already, there is a higher proportion of African American students in UC Davis than there is in America (14% v.s. 13.6%), and studies have revealed that these students who come from a lower class backgrounds had received excessively lower GPAs and test scores, but had their applications compensated for by S.E.D score. And so, following course with the painting analogy, the whole canvas has found itself muddled with colors that never belonged in the first place, all under the ruse of creating something supreme. And the result? The one thing colleges sought out oh so long ago to dissolve: inequity.

Here’s the other problem. Being a doctor is no walk in the park; in fact, some would consider it more of a twenty-six mile marathon through scorching heat without water and shoes. So if medical students are being admitted and passed through their majors and minors with lower expectations and below average academic performances all in the name of elevating underprivileged societies, many of our next generation’s health fields will be brewing with relative incompetence. This will result in more health problems amongst victims of common ailments, more medical spending, more taxes, less developments in fields like taxonomy, a worse economy, and in extreme cases, death. When a man goes in for an open heart surgery, he doesn't care if his surgeon is a brother from another mother or a complete stranger from an alternate dimension; at the end of the day, he just wants to survive. This coupled with the increasingly high discouragement of overqualified students to enter into a field where they could thrive and serve betterment to the world is why adversity scoring, although noble in prospect, is not the end all be all solution to our broken college acceptance system as previously rationalized.

So the world is a cruel place; that isn’t news. People who are born into money stay in the money, and people without it must work ever so harder just to enjoy the same fruits of the slowly corroding womb. But if colleges snuggle and nurture disadvantaged students much longer, the real world which they boasted so fervidly to prepare young adults for will churn them so badly that they’ll fall squarely on their faces and flatline, just like the patients who they couldn’t keep up with. So it’s time people step down from their high horses and realize that the College Admissions process is meant to be equal, not equitable- at least if post-secondary tokens are meant to be redeemable (which they are). Moreover, it is meant to be brutally and selfishly unfair, because life is unfair in those same ways and university is merely the bridge between pencil marks on paper and the real world. Let’s help students achieve on the path that’s truly best for them, one step at a time, and one adverse journey after another.

“I condemn, for all climes and for all times, secret murders and unfair methods even for a fair cause”- Mahatma Gandhi

Sources: 

Marano, Hara Estroff. “What Does It Take to Overcome Adversity?” The New York Times, 12 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/books/review/meg-jay-supernormal.html.

News, Fox. “Adversity Scores” Hurt More than Help Perspective Medical Students. 10 July 2023, nypost.com/2023/07/10/adversity-scores-hurt-more-than-help-perspective-medical-students/. Accessed 14 Aug. 2023.

Ben & Jerry; Adversity Score; Censorship & SM; DeSantis; French Riots | YBS: News Roundup July 7. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjVCL2y1wGE&t=0s. Accessed 14 Aug. 2023.

‌Starr, Paul. “Moving on to Adversity-Based Affirmative Action.” The American Prospect, 3 July 2023, prospect.org/justice/2023-07-03-adversity-based-affirmative-action/. Accessed 14 Aug. 2023.