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Let me give you another, perhaps more serious, example of the threshold effect in action.
讓我們再來看另外一個正產生比較嚴重影響的例子。
The university of Michigan law School, like many elite US educational institutions,
密歇根大學法學院制定了一項行動計劃，這項計劃主要針對來自弱勢群體的報考者提供贊助，
uses a policy of affirmative action when it comes to applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
正如美國很多頂尖教育機構做的那樣。
Around ten percent of the students Michigan enrolls each fall are members of ratio minorities,
密歇根秋季注冊入學的學生中，大約10%的學生屬于少數族裔，
and if the school didn't significantly relax its entry requirement for those students,
假如法學院不放松對這群學生的要求
admitting them with lower undergraduate grades and standardized-test sores than everyone else,
不降低他們入學標準考試的錄取分數以及大學畢業的評分，而是和其他學生一樣
it estimates that percentage will be less than three percent.
那么 這群學生的比例可能會降到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，如果你將法學院少數族裔和非少數族裔學生的評分進行對比，就會發現白色人種的學生表現更好。
That's not surprising:
這并不奇怪：
if one group has higher undergraduate grades and test scores than another,
那些大學畢業評分和測試成績比其他人優秀的學生，
it's almost certainly going to have higher grades in law school as well.
自然會選擇同樣是較高等級的法學院。
This is the reason why affirmative action programs are so controversial.
這也是為什么人們對贊助性行動計劃褒貶不一的原因。
In fact, an attack on the University of Michigan's affirmative action program recently went all the way to the US Supreme Court.
事實上，對密歇根大學贊助性行動計劃的指控已經受到美同最高法院的關注：
It seems troubling for an elite educational institution to let in students who are less qualified than their peers.
讓那些比同類人遜色的人一起進入精英教育機構，看來有不公平競爭之嫌。
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，密歇根大學計劃對法學院少數族裔學生的畢業去向作近距離的調查：
How much money did they make?
他們的收入如何？
How far up in the profession did they go?
他們的職業生涯有什么進展？
How satisfied were they with their careers?
是否對自己的事業滿意？
What kind of social and community contributions did they make?
對社會和團體有什么貢獻？
What kind of honors had they won?
他們贏得過什么榮譽？
They looked at everything that could conceivably be an indication of real-world success. And what they found surprised them.
他們尋找一切現實生活中能夠令人信服的成功案例，尋找的結果令他們大吃一驚。
