by Lance T. Izumi, Fellow in California Studies
Pacific Research Institute
March 9, 1999

Announcer lead: Time for Perspectives. Lance Izumi says that Gov. Davis' 4% UC admissions plan is flawed.

Since passage of Proposition 209, which ended race and gender preferences, policymakers have tried to figure out lawful ways to increase minority enrollment at the University of California. Gov. Gray Davis is now pushing a proposal to admit into the UC system those students ranked in the top four percent of each high school's graduating class.

Under Davis' plan, which will increase minority enrollment, many students will be able to get into the UC based solely on on their high school grade point averages. SAT scores will not be considered. Says Davis: "It would no longer matter what school you attend. It would only matter if you excel at the school you attend."

Yet, think about what that means. What incentive is there to attend a tough academic school like Lowell High if one is guaranteed a spot in the UC simply by graduating in the top 4% of one's class at even the lowest performing high school? One student says: "I think there will be a lot of transferring to where there isn't a whole lot of competition. [Students] will just work the system."

Further, are students who have high grade point averages but low SAT scores really prepared for UC-level work? Not according to Dee Ransom, head counselor at Orange County's Santa Ana High School, a low-perfoming school which only sent six students to the UC last year. Ms. Ransom says: "Our concern would be that [the UC] might admit students of ours who are not prepared. Our goal is not just enrollment, it's staying power." Ms. Ransom's concerns are supported by the UC's own data that shows that the lower a student's combined SAT and GPA scores, the less likely the student will graduate from the UC.

A Santa Ana High School student sums up the key problem with Davis' proposal saying: "They are teaching the wrong lesson. I think the students should mold to the quality of the system, not the other way around. This is not the way the world works."

With a perspective, I'm Lance Izumi.