Affirmative Action

Introduction:

Affirmative action in higher education should be abolished. College admissions should be based on what the admissions board is looking for, not what the government says should be required. In this paper, I will present evidence to support that position.

At one time, affirmative action was a needed and legitimate policy. Segregation has existed way too much in the past and has left people out of jobs, out of certain areas of town, and schooling. We needed to make a law that would get rid of segregation, and help everybody assimilate or just live peacefully without discrimination. When a majority the southern where rebelling and would not allow African Americans in their stores, schools, etc, affirmative action was justifiable. But is it today?

Much of the affirmative action debate is, and should be centered on education. Many of the critics whom at one time also believed that the preferential treatment shown to lower the discrimination towards minority groups is something that should be eliminated. Being that American society has become less discriminatory, affirmative action may be less necessary. Discrimination is something that will always be an issue; there will always be backwards individuals who cannot overlook their own prejudices for the greater good. However, there are fewer of these people. With declines in racism, we should also seek to eliminate the reverse racism now being displayed towards college while male applicants.

This is an issue that effects potential students, and those who get rejected merely apply to another school. How can this issue of accepting minorities over others because be brought to the attention of the lawmakers without making it seem as if there will be less opportunities for minority groups? Equality is a very sensitive topic that has to be danced around with the potential for a misconception of what is trying to be achieved.

In the early 1960's the federal government implemented programs such as the National Defense Student Loan Program (NDSL), work-study programs, and the National Defense Educational Act (NDEA). These programs made it easier for minority groups, especially African Americans, to receive financial help. Equal opportunity grants also helped enroll more minorities, especially blacks. At the time, these programs were necessary for the advancement of the American society, along with changing a lingering stigma that plagued some Americans and that was prevalent during this time period. I doubt this stigma is still around today. If it is, I am unaware of it.

31.5 percent of blacks and other non-Hispanic minority families in the U.S. live at, or below the poverty level. This does show how some forms of aid are needed to help out minority classes in funding of their secondary education. But does this mean that we should also them into universities ahead of more qualified white applicants? From personal experience I know that it was hard for me to get accepted into a university due to my poor high school grades. However, I did not blame the state or federal government. I blamed myself for not being more devoted to my academics earlier in my life. However, I was able to attend Lock Haven University after going through a "summer development" program making me a full time student. I have heard of minorities who where accepted to other state universities that require better high school GPA's along with better SAT scores than LHU. These Universities are ones that I applied to with better scoring in both areas then others that I know got accepted. The only difference was race. I do not blame those individuals, but I do blame the government and the laws that support this. Racism is racism, be it involving the majority or the minority. Secondary education should be a privilege that requires hard work and be equally open to all, with no exceptions.

Favoritism in Grades

"Just as we believe that good test use practices advance high-standards learning and equal opportunity, we know that educationally inappropriate uses of tests do not" (The College Board Review). College is hard enough to get into, let alone finish. That is why that now, more then any time, we should abolish affirmative action - which is racial favoritism in university admittance. When high school students are tested, there is more on the line then their high school education. When a teacher is distributing grades and knows that if test scores are higher, then they will receive greater funding, from there a greater step is taken. With more lenient test scores in high school, there is less emphasis placed on SAT's, but high schools may distribute grades in accordance with what an individual needs to go to college. In a predominantly white high school, this tends to not be the case. However, in inner city schools I have heard this as being very prevalent. I know of a few cases where minorities have been asked, "whether they wanted to go to college." If they said, "yes," then higher grades where given. The system that we have for letting individuals pursue their academic goals is centered on issues that should not even be discussed. College admissions should be based on the person achievements, not the area they grew up in or their race.

I am not trying to portray an image of a single colored, single gendered school, or anything of the sort. Diversity is what makes college great; most people go through their lives without ever interacting with members of other races and backgrounds, where college can allow for this to take place. I enjoy this aspect acquired partially through the implementing of more generous funding for minorities and the diversifying of the admittance process. America has an excellent array of university's that help with the furthering of education. Be that as it may, an issue of possible consideration is that whether we should put our money into the building of more universities to allow for everybody to have a better chance in attending, so that the current system of ever growing class sizes and flooding of applicants may start to decline.

Wars have been fought, people lost lives, and many lives have been devoted over the acquiring of equal rights. The discrimination involved in governmental hiring or college quotas is not at the same level as the latter, but does carry with it laws that should be upheld but are not, for instance.

The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. When exceptions are made, they are to be made only after strict scrutiny of any reasons proffered as justification for classifying Americans by race or ancestry (later to be shorted to just race).