eat wisdom, but because their futures are inextricably tied to each other. When colleges and universities have exemplary programs to pilot, they are already available for elementary and secondary schools. If these institutions would begin to take their model programs to inner-city areas, improvements could begin toward the preparation of minority students for college work.The ultimate problem is that too many higher education institutions, and the public resources that support them, exist only for the elite upper classes while few exist for the masses. In the end, society pays double. Because we fail to fully overcome the burden of historic exclusionary and discriminatory racial practices in the educational system, we fail to fully use and develop our most valuable national resource, our human resource.Minority student access and retention are educational processes they are not merely programs. The success of these programs should not be measured by the mere numbers of minority students being enrolled in and graduating from colleges. They should be measured by structural changes in institutions designed to accommodate the diversity of skills, cultural backgrounds, adeptness, and historical legacies that minorities bring with them to school. This is what affirmative action does. It enables minorities to start at the same level at which Whites begin. They should also be measured by the articulation and realization of the institutions commitment to minority access and success....
