Race, Law Firms, and KIPP
The New York Times, of which I am a voracious reader, recently published an article on the underrepresentation of Blacks at the partnership level in major law firms. The data is indisputable, but the interpretation of the data is not.
Large law firms, attempting to fight the perception of racism and perhaps signing onto some societal goals of racial distributive justice, hire a significant number of minority lawyers whom they would not hire but for the color of their skin. This doesn't mean that the minority lawyers hired are not, generally speaking, high quality law students. However, given the constraint of a limited number of associate positions at every firm, every degree of consideration given to race becomes a degree of consideration not given to other qualities.
To a critic of hiring policies that are not race neutral, the result of few minority associates becoming partners is a natural consequence of this fact. Their assumption is that these other qualities are what make a good candidate for partner. A proponent of the policies, on the other hand, might argue that minorities are excluded because of their race once they become part of the firm, an dthat this could be fixed if firms were to be more proactive. In reality, the reasons why minority associates are less likely than their white colleagues to make partner are complex, and both points are fair ones.
A minority associate most likely has been affected by a long chain of policies preferring minorities: undergraduate admissions, law school admissions, and hiring. The aim of these policies from an equality of opportunity standpoint is to counteract the disadvantages of growing up as a minority. If the policies are simply nudging marginally underqualified people into marginally tougher jobs, then, absent additional resources, they may simply be setting people up for failure who would otherwise succeed. An associate who does not make partner in a top 5 law firm might have made partner in a top 10 law firm, and an associate who does not make partner in a top 10 law firm might have made partner in a top 20 law firm. Having race preferential hiring policies absent some minimum level of additional support for minorities may actually be less desirable for those who share the goals of those policies than not having them at all.
Furthermore, a marginalized minority associate at a corporate law firm in NYC could have used the skills acquired in law school to have become a community leader in a smaller city or town. If we examine the end goals of race preferential policies-- for one, creating positive role models for the next generation of minorities-- I have to wonder whether society wants to encourage large law firms to prefer minorities. Other good reasons may exist for encouraging race preferential hiring policies at large corporate law firms, but at least in this respect the goals seem inconsistent.
In any event, regardless of one's view on race preferential policies for minorities, almost everyone would prefer to eliminate the disadvantages of minorities from the start. The New York Times Magazine recently had a fascinating piece in part on a unique approach to education of poor students. Critics of private and charter schools like to point out that few succeed at educating students where public schools also fail. However, KIPP schools, an uncommon exception, may prove the rule about the worth of exploring alternatives to the traditional public school system and its educational methods.
The idea the biggest differences in the outcomes of former children of poor parents and former children of wealthier parents is in the ways they are raised to communicate is an appealing one. Yet I have to wonder how much of the difference in KIPP's results is based on factors other than teaching philosophy, such as KIPP teachers' willingness to put in 15 hours a day on a regular basis. This amount of work may even make some corporate lawyers feel lazy. Despite the numerous challenges faced by low income students and public school districts in low income areas, I suspect that ultimately the reason many people in this country are undereducated is simply because society sets a low priority on education and has a low expectation of children of poor parents.
What would the world be like if we gave public school teachers in even the lowest income districts the professional respect and salaries of corporate lawyers and investment bankers and in return demanded similarly high levels of performance? My thought is that the government should be require extremely high performance from poor schools and, in return, be willing to throw large enough sums of money at teachers and administrators who are competent enough to overcome these challenges posed by such settings. If we lived in a society with true equality of opportunity, where students from poorer backgrounds consistently achieved as high as students from wealthier ones, perhaps the need for race preferential policies at any level would disappear.
Large law firms, attempting to fight the perception of racism and perhaps signing onto some societal goals of racial distributive justice, hire a significant number of minority lawyers whom they would not hire but for the color of their skin. This doesn't mean that the minority lawyers hired are not, generally speaking, high quality law students. However, given the constraint of a limited number of associate positions at every firm, every degree of consideration given to race becomes a degree of consideration not given to other qualities.
To a critic of hiring policies that are not race neutral, the result of few minority associates becoming partners is a natural consequence of this fact. Their assumption is that these other qualities are what make a good candidate for partner. A proponent of the policies, on the other hand, might argue that minorities are excluded because of their race once they become part of the firm, an dthat this could be fixed if firms were to be more proactive. In reality, the reasons why minority associates are less likely than their white colleagues to make partner are complex, and both points are fair ones.
A minority associate most likely has been affected by a long chain of policies preferring minorities: undergraduate admissions, law school admissions, and hiring. The aim of these policies from an equality of opportunity standpoint is to counteract the disadvantages of growing up as a minority. If the policies are simply nudging marginally underqualified people into marginally tougher jobs, then, absent additional resources, they may simply be setting people up for failure who would otherwise succeed. An associate who does not make partner in a top 5 law firm might have made partner in a top 10 law firm, and an associate who does not make partner in a top 10 law firm might have made partner in a top 20 law firm. Having race preferential hiring policies absent some minimum level of additional support for minorities may actually be less desirable for those who share the goals of those policies than not having them at all.
Furthermore, a marginalized minority associate at a corporate law firm in NYC could have used the skills acquired in law school to have become a community leader in a smaller city or town. If we examine the end goals of race preferential policies-- for one, creating positive role models for the next generation of minorities-- I have to wonder whether society wants to encourage large law firms to prefer minorities. Other good reasons may exist for encouraging race preferential hiring policies at large corporate law firms, but at least in this respect the goals seem inconsistent.
In any event, regardless of one's view on race preferential policies for minorities, almost everyone would prefer to eliminate the disadvantages of minorities from the start. The New York Times Magazine recently had a fascinating piece in part on a unique approach to education of poor students. Critics of private and charter schools like to point out that few succeed at educating students where public schools also fail. However, KIPP schools, an uncommon exception, may prove the rule about the worth of exploring alternatives to the traditional public school system and its educational methods.
The idea the biggest differences in the outcomes of former children of poor parents and former children of wealthier parents is in the ways they are raised to communicate is an appealing one. Yet I have to wonder how much of the difference in KIPP's results is based on factors other than teaching philosophy, such as KIPP teachers' willingness to put in 15 hours a day on a regular basis. This amount of work may even make some corporate lawyers feel lazy. Despite the numerous challenges faced by low income students and public school districts in low income areas, I suspect that ultimately the reason many people in this country are undereducated is simply because society sets a low priority on education and has a low expectation of children of poor parents.
What would the world be like if we gave public school teachers in even the lowest income districts the professional respect and salaries of corporate lawyers and investment bankers and in return demanded similarly high levels of performance? My thought is that the government should be require extremely high performance from poor schools and, in return, be willing to throw large enough sums of money at teachers and administrators who are competent enough to overcome these challenges posed by such settings. If we lived in a society with true equality of opportunity, where students from poorer backgrounds consistently achieved as high as students from wealthier ones, perhaps the need for race preferential policies at any level would disappear.
posted by Tanner Jones at 1:28 PM
3 Comments:
While I agree with your analysis of the
unexpected consequences of race-based hiring practices, I'm less convinced by your suggestions for improving the education system. In particular, you seem to propose that there would be objective standards for evaluating teachers' or schools' performance, yet it is pretty well known that every attempt to create quantitative measures of such things has resulted in spectacular failure.
The idea of paying teachers more in exchange for at-will employment is attractive, but the first time Gibson joked about his wife, or Richardson did... well, pretty much anything... they'd be kicked right back out into industry. Schools would probably lose some of their worst teachers, but likely most of the best as well. Schools would be left with whoever was the least offensive -- and therefore the least interesting -- and attendance would likely plummet.
Fabulous post. I was really struck by this sentence: "The idea the biggest differences in the outcomes of former children of poor parents and former children of wealthier parents is in the ways they are raised to communicate is an appealing one." My own personal experiences lead me to feel that this is true. I grew up in a rural, working class area and did very well in school. However, when I went off to University, I found out how far behind I was. Often, in class or private discussions, I would find myself in conversations where I knew I had the superior argument, yet lacked the communication skills to properly express it. Even now as law student, I find my communication skills to be lacking.(Getting a physics degree didn't help- I hardly ever wrote as an undergrad!)
Furthermore, I think that if one compared a group of law students from, say, Columbia and my much more average school, one would find that the biggest difference between the groups would not be the ability to understand a legal argument, but rather the ability to discuss that argument. The difference between the conversations I have had with other students at my law school versus the conversations I have had with students at more prestigous schools is striking. The students at my school are generally very bright, they all have a bachelor's degree and scored in the top 10-20% of the LSAT. Yet their ability to communicate, and my own ability to communicate, is much less polished.
Of course, that's just my anecdotal observation on the subject. However, I think that the NYT article you link to supports the importance of communication. It seems that one of the most important thing that the KIPP schools do (at least in my reading of the article) is focus the students to develop good communication skills. But as you suggest, that may not be why they succeed. There is also a strong emphasis on discipline and providing the students more resources. Additionally, there is a strong connection between good communication skills and good learning skills, so untangle the effects is probably impossible. Yet, I am absolutely convinced that communication skills are the most important intellectual one can develop.
Cheers!
Allan
"What would the world be like if we gave public school teachers in even the lowest income districts the professional respect and salaries of corporate lawyers and investment bankers and in return demanded similarly high levels of performance?"
The answer - you would fulfill the vision of my friend Rafeeq Kalam Id-din, founder of Teaching Firms of America and Echoing Green fellow.
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