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The Affirmative Action and Social Policy Views of a Select Group of White Male Private High School Students

University of Nebraska at Omaha, fthompson{at}mail.unomaha.edu

This study investigates race views of students from a Midwestern, predominantly White, all-male high school. Findings corroborate a belief that students at the pre-sophomore college level lack a proper understanding of affirmative action (AA). Forty-three percent (n = 266) lacked knowledge altogether, whereas 30% (n = 188) opposed AA as a job hiring and promotion (out-come) measure. Conversely, a majority of students (n = 394, 65%) supported AA as an academic scholarship (front-end) measure, compared to those opposed (n = 188, 30%). When using a .05 alpha criterion, significant differences were shown for relationships between (a) job-hiring AA and age of student, grade average, and four selected social policy variables, and (b) academic scholarship AA and five of the social welfare indices. Five of the eleven relationships disappeared, however, when a stricter .01 rule was applied. In spite of the school's elitist reputation, students were supportive of multicultural education, adding credence to the argument that blatant racism is not the only factor that drives the antiracial preference movement.

Key Words: affirmative action • racial preference • merit-based scholarships • Black president • multiculturalism and suburban schools

Education and Urban Society, Vol. 36, No. 1, 16-43 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0013124503256940


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