With gains like these, what's to roll back?

According to Frank Fountain (“Don't roll back gains of affirmative action”, 10/20/2006), Michigan will return to the 1950s and 1960s if Proposal 2 passes. If 40 years of affirmative action programs still haven’t created equal opportunities, why continue to promote failed policies? Giving preferential treatment to minorities seeking admission to prestigious state universities ignores the problems with their first 12 years of education. The best action we could take to benefit every citizen regardless of race or gender is to fix the education system. Of course, this would require many to realize that their methods used for the past 30 years have failed too. But that’s another debate.

[Letter to the Editor - The Detroit News. Published 11/01/2006.]