Self-Analysis: The good, bad, and ugly.

Looking back over the process of this blog, I’ve come to the realization that I’ve learned a substantial amount of information about not only affirmative action, but about how society has greatly differing views on equality and discrimination.  Going into this I had the assumption that, for the most part, affirmative action was about helping minorities succeed in education because people are discriminatory.  This however is not just the case. Affirmative action aims to help those who are still currently disadvantaged economically due to past inequities.  I have let go of the bias that held me to the belief that minorities were just getting advantages because of the discriminatory attitudes of the past. This being said, I came in with the belief that affirmative action was discriminatory towards majority groups and was no longer needed. This idea has not changed. I now have a greater understanding of why. My original thought process was about logic, but through my research I‘ve found statistical support. For instance that there has only been a 6% increase of majority students with a 49 % increase of non-whites. This stat shows that affirmative action has done its job but has been discriminatory because this increase in whites is not as great as it should be. Majority students should be looking for education and making it a priority. In addition, the statistic that 56% of undergraduate students were women. This was an eye opener that women clearly have the majority and the same, if not more, opportunity. How can one say that women still need affirmative action when they are substantially leading in numbers?  Asian discrimination was an aspect of affirmative action that had never crossed my mine. I had the biased belief that affirmative action allows Asians to “jump to the front of the line” without question, when it came to education. This belief has changed as I learned Asians are now held back because of their once substantial increase in numbers. Furthermore, I explored the question of legacy students, a practice that I originally never thought of as discriminatory. This practice seemed insignificant but it is clear that legacy students have an unfair advantage against many others, creating affirmative action “for the rich”. Looking at the history and practices of universities, I’ve seen the difference of quota and point systems. These practices greatly furthered my belief that affirmative action is unfair. I wrongly assumed that race would be a deciding factor, not a “right-off-the-bat” positive. I had the assumption that the system would be a little fairer, but apparently not. Doing research, I encountered a lot of bias. This came from both sides. For instance, many bloggers who are for affirmative action would name call and base claims simply on opinion. On the other hand, those against it would make claims that were discriminatory and were given without a logical argument against those who reap benefits of affirmative action. The indecisiveness of the Supreme Court showed be that affirmative action is more than a black and white issue. This is due to the school of thought that has several interpretations. I’ve seen that both sides due have an argument under the 14^th amendment. This is, like it or not, the law system we have in place in the U.S. Reagardless of how great it may be, it leaves space open for debate, a concept that creates issues such as affirmative action. Looking through the implications post, it’s clear that something must be done, or academia will suffer. Not just majority students, but knowledge in this country as a whole. This challenged by original thought that affirmative action was an issue simply because of its unfairness. This being said, I have to hope that those in power of various systems will see the need for an end and alter the policies in practice.