A big part of the problem is that by simply focusing on education you are ignoring the very real effect of institutionalized discrimination. For example, experiments have repeatedly shown that resumes which suggest the applicant is a minority receive substantially less interest than resumes that appear to belong to a white person. So instead of “simply” having to increase minority educational achievements to that of whites (and good luck doing that when public school funding is tied to local property taxes), minorities actually have to surpass whites in order to access the same employment opportunities, unless you actually try to address endemic institutional biases.
There is virtually no opportunity cost to being “politically correct” (i.e., actually caring abut the feelings of people in other social groups), nor is there any resource cost. I mean, if you were politically correct, would it prevent you from helping your friend work on her textbook? “Sorry, I can’t help you, I’m too busy being politically correct and/or not watching Cleveland play baseball.”
In fact, being “politically correct” should be endorsed precisely because it is so costless to be PC.
