One argument against affirmative action is that those with less qualified grades get into competitive colleges simply because of a minority status, over those who are more qualified. This argument is reasonable in its basis that, naturally, if spots are encouraged to be left for minorities, some of those spots will be given to those who are less qualified, solely because of race. Affirmative action takes opportunities away from the majority race because minorities in education are looked upon as favorable over whites, who were once the only race admitted. Currently, however, the number of minorities in education has risen substantially. According to Minorities in Higher Education, from 1994 to 2004, the number of minorities has increased by 49% in higher education, with whites only increasing by 6%. Unarguably these statistics show that the number of minorities has risen, but the ramification of this increase is questionable. Though minorities in education are needed, it must be investigated whether this increase is taking away from majorities. The mere 6 % increase may be due to the fact that a white student has a much harder time gaining admittance because they do not provide diversity to the school.
In my own findings, I have discovered that one large competitive university, clearly places minority in high regards. I have talked to two students at this university about their qualifications to get into the school. One male discussed that he attended a large public high school, where he barely made the cutoff for the top 150 in his senior class. He personally proclaims that his admittance was due to the fact that he is half Colombian and half Swiss. On the other hand, one white female valedictorian, who attended and average sized public high school, was admitted simply by the wait list status. Thinking these two situations over, it seems unclear why a valedictorian who clearly has a stellar G.P.A. must be admitted through the wait list, while another gains acceptance for is race/ethnicity qualifications.
This evidence raises a few questions. Isn’t it possible that oppression of the majority occurs during the attempt to allow for equality in race? Is this oppression necessary when it is also arguable that affirmative action is no longer needed? In my opinion, oppression is occurring, justified through the claims discussed above and logical reasoning that an application with minority status will outweigh a majority application to ensure the schools need for diversity. It seems that the simple act of checking a box on an application is crushing dreams and opportunities for those who possess no deciding factor in their race.
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Though I mildly disagree with your position, I certainly respect that you were brave enough to tackle this issue in a world where hypersensitivity to racism dominates social interaction. I understand that the argument you are making is not a racist argument; you are simply questioning the motives of allowing students with lower GPAs and less extra curricular opportunities to be chosen over more qualified students due to their ethnicity. This seems logical too; however, there is a flaw in this argument.
ReplyDeleteFor one, minority students do not always have the same opportunities that the majority has because they come from disadvantaged communities where education is not actively stressed in their lives. Our primary education system is completely unbalanced to where the richer or densely populated communities receive better public institutions while the poorer and or rural communities receive less localized attention. To exclude these students from getting a chance at improving their standards in education is not fair either. I, for one, can relate, since I came from a rural school where the education I received was not nearly as thorough as students from magnet schools in the Research Triangle.
I do give you credit for arguing this point, though. Perhaps if the standards of our primary education system were higher, then I might lean more towards your side of the argument; however, I think it is currently unfair to claim that affirmative action should be removed from our educational policies.
Sparky McDolspienker,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your acknowledgment that my argument has some credibility. However, I have to disagree with your counter argument. You claim that in our current education system there is unbalance. I completely agree. Unarguably, schools in some communities are not provided with the same opportunities as others. This creates a system where it is more difficult for college needed extra curricula and a competitive curriculum. I, too, came from a small school that limited my options. However affirmative action is not the answer to fix the educational system. Allowing minorities admittance simply because they have not had the same opportunities as whites, with equal or greater qualifications, is not plausible. For instance, would it be fair to allow a minority priority over me (of the majority race) if the qualifications were equal? I have not had the same opportunities either. We cannot assume that just because someone is a minority, they have automatically had unequal circumstances. Placing all minorities under the idea of underprivileged is not correct at all, as economic distribution is no longer what it once was. On the opposite side, I have to point out that many minorities have in fact had the same if not better options.This reform is for education not affirmative action.