the irony of affirmative action
I’m against affirmative action. I believe it’s wrong, and I believe so for a number of reasons. Minorities don’t need a special privilege, because they’re not special. They’re the same as you and me. Affirmative action is not helping minorities get into college, or get a job, but what affirmative action is doing...is promoting racism.
That’s a strong idea, but let’s take a look at what affirmative action does. In 1997 The University of Michigan denied two white students admission into their school because of a points system they created to help diversify their school. Although the two students had phenomenal S.A.T scores and would normally be accepted to such a university, they were denied because they did not have the 20 additional points for being a minority. The University of Texas had a similar problem with a white student not being admitted, and a minority student being accepted, despite having lower scores and a less impressive resume. Although affirmative is constitutional, because it progresses a common national interest, it is utterly racist. I say this because it insists that minority students are less capable than white students, and therefore need assistance to get into college, or get a job. While statistics do imply that minorities on a general basis get lower test scores than whites, it doesn’t make up for the fact that they’re assuming all minorities need help getting a life going.
Affirmative action has two effects. 1) it reverse discriminates against whites, and 2) it’s racist against minorities, but in a passive aggressive way. They assume they are not capable of accomplishing the same goals as whites. This is not true, and while I do agree that privileges such as higher education do need to be accessible to everyone of all ethnicities, I feel affirmative action is not the way to do it. Recently, The University of Texas, along with other schools, have adopted the idea of automatic admission for students in the top 10% of their graduating class. Does the top 10% include a diverse population? Yes it does. Does it show minorities can break the stereotype of low scores. Yet it does. It certainly is a better system than affirmative action, because it gives the opportunity to attend college regardless of race. And while admission ideas will never please everyone, I feel this is a step in the right direction.
That’s a strong idea, but let’s take a look at what affirmative action does. In 1997 The University of Michigan denied two white students admission into their school because of a points system they created to help diversify their school. Although the two students had phenomenal S.A.T scores and would normally be accepted to such a university, they were denied because they did not have the 20 additional points for being a minority. The University of Texas had a similar problem with a white student not being admitted, and a minority student being accepted, despite having lower scores and a less impressive resume. Although affirmative is constitutional, because it progresses a common national interest, it is utterly racist. I say this because it insists that minority students are less capable than white students, and therefore need assistance to get into college, or get a job. While statistics do imply that minorities on a general basis get lower test scores than whites, it doesn’t make up for the fact that they’re assuming all minorities need help getting a life going.
Affirmative action has two effects. 1) it reverse discriminates against whites, and 2) it’s racist against minorities, but in a passive aggressive way. They assume they are not capable of accomplishing the same goals as whites. This is not true, and while I do agree that privileges such as higher education do need to be accessible to everyone of all ethnicities, I feel affirmative action is not the way to do it. Recently, The University of Texas, along with other schools, have adopted the idea of automatic admission for students in the top 10% of their graduating class. Does the top 10% include a diverse population? Yes it does. Does it show minorities can break the stereotype of low scores. Yet it does. It certainly is a better system than affirmative action, because it gives the opportunity to attend college regardless of race. And while admission ideas will never please everyone, I feel this is a step in the right direction.