Texas' 10% admission could teach colleges a thing or two

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Ten years ago, after a federal court blocked Texas colleges from considering race as a factor in admissions, the state, with George W. Bush as governor, came up with an innovative alternative. In an attempt to make affirmative action colorblind, the top 10% of graduates at each of the state's high schools was granted automatic admission to state universities.
While politically popular, the law was met with skepticism by many experts in both education and civil rights. Some educators feared that even the best students at inner city and rural high schools would never survive academically at the University of Texas. Civil rights leaders complained that the law was rooted in cynicism because it achieves integration in college by relying upon continued segregation of Texas high schools.

Ten years later, we know a little more about the law: It works. Maybe even a little too well.

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