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I think this is a bit of a misunderstanding of Affirmative Action, and, in a way, it demonstrates progress. AA wasn’t originally about poverty, but about race discrimination. I think many of today’s high schoolers and college students can’t quite see what the big deal about race is–but it was very recently a very big deal, and the effects are still with us in many ways.</p>
<p>Also, AA wasn’t really designed to make up for hardships the particular applicant faced, but rather to perform social engineering–the idea was that if more minorities had opportunities, it would help address overall problems with race discrimination, economic inequality, etc. Perhaps the fact that it no longer seems so obviously necessary to otherwise progressive people is a sign that it’s had some success.</p>