Elite-college affirmative action benefits black students despite initial test-score gaps

Evidence

Bowen and Bok’s The Shape of the River is a very important work, both for its arguments themselves and because it is so unusual in this field. It confirms some of the critics’ fears; many African-American students who attend elite colleges and universities do indeed enter with lower test scores and exit nearer the bottom than the top of their class. But it does more to confirm the supporters’ hopes: the more selective the school they attend, the better black students do in the short and long runs; white as well as black students value and benefit from racial diversity; black students are not paralyzed by insecurity, and black alumnae contribute importantly to their communities. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1995