异类之不一样的成功启示录 第53期:毕业去向调查

Let me give you another, perhaps more serious, example of the threshold effect in action.

让我们再来看另外一个正产生比较严重影响的例子。

The university of Michigan law School, like many elite US educational institutions,

密歇根大学法学院制定了一项行动计划，这项计划主要针对来自弱势群体的报考者提供赞助，

uses a policy of affirmative action when it comes to applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds.

正如美国很多顶尖教育机构做的那样。

Around ten percent of the students Michigan enrolls each fall are members of ratio minorities,

密歇根秋季注册入学的学生中，大约10%的学生属于少数族裔，

and if the school didn't significantly relax its entry requirement for those students,

假如法学院不放松对这群学生的要求

admitting them with lower undergraduate grades and standardized-test sores than everyone else,

不降低他们入学标准考试的录取分数以及大学毕业的评分，而是和其他学生一样

it estimates that percentage will be less than three percent.

那么 这群学生的比例可能会降到3%以下。

Furthermore, if you compare the grades that the minority and non-minority students get in law school, the whites students do better.

而且，如果你将法学院少数族裔和非少数族裔学生的评分进行对比，就会发现白色人种的学生表现更好。

That's not surprising:

这并不奇怪：

if one group has higher undergraduate grades and test scores than another,

那些大学毕业评分和测试成绩比其他人优秀的学生，

it's almost certainly going to have higher grades in law school as well.

自然会选择同样是较高等级的法学院。

This is the reason why affirmative action programs are so controversial.

这也是为什么人们对赞助性行动计划褒贬不一的原因。

In fact, an attack on the University of Michigan's affirmative action program recently went all the way to the US Supreme Court.

事实上，对密歇根大学赞助性行动计划的指控已经受到美同最高法院的关注：

It seems troubling for an elite educational institution to let in students who are less qualified than their peers.

让那些比同类人逊色的人一起进入精英教育机构，看来有不公平竞争之嫌。

A few years ago, however, the University of Michigan decided to look closely at how the law school's minority students had fared after they graduated.

但是，多年以前，密歇根大学计划对法学院少数族裔学生的毕业去向作近距离的调查：

How much money did they make?

他们的收入如何？

How far up in the profession did they go?

他们的职业生涯有什么进展？

How satisfied were they with their careers?

是否对自己的事业满意？

What kind of social and community contributions did they make?

对社会和团体有什么贡献？

What kind of honors had they won?

他们赢得过什么荣誉？

They looked at everything that could conceivably be an indication of real-world success. And what they found surprised them.

他们寻找一切现实生活中能够令人信服的成功案例，寻找的结果令他们大吃一惊。