There is very little culture of achievement in low-income neighborhoods, especially a culture of academic achievement.

A new proposal by the University of California guarantees the state’s top 12.5 percent of high school students admission so long as they spend their first two years at a California community college.

Some see this as an attempt to revive affirmative action.

While, yes, this proposal could result in a student body that is more representative of the state’s diverse population, a laudable goal in itself, it remains a merit based proposal not a racially based one.

This is a plan for diversifying the student body through leveling the playing field, not through preferential treatment on the basis of race.

According to Carl Gutierrez-Jones from the Department of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, “A diverse student population is an essential component of a quality educational environment.”

Since 1998 when voters banned affirmative action, UC has guaranteed admission to the top four percent of high school students.

The four percent plan has been widely touted as solving, or at least addressing, the lack of diversity at UC Berkeley and other schools in the UC system.

The four percent proposal increases the number of UC eligible African Americans and Latino students by less than one percent. It increases the overall pool of students eligible to attend UC by only 1.33 percent.

This cannot be considered a serious attempt to achieve diversity in the UC system.

The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the UC for failing to come up with a viable solution to the diversity problem in a March 1, 1998 letter to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Within the University of California, a 1988 Regental policy mandates that we enroll a student population that encompasses the cultural diversity of the state of California,” said Gutierrez-Jones.

“That policy has served the University and the state well, and we remain firmly committed to the principles it embodies.”

The new 12.5 percent proposal is a worthwhile attempt at upholding these principles.

It would also change the way graduates are ranked by putting less emphasis on standardized verbal and math exams and more weight on SAT II scores, which tests students’ knowledge in the three subjects of their choice according to CNN.com news service.

Those high school students who have the patience, the heart and the determination to be in the top of their graduating class could help bolster a culture of achievement in lower income classrooms.

They would be a worthy addition to the UC system and should be encouraged, through programs like this, to attend.