Affirmative Action
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For those who do not support affirmative action I have a couple of questions for you. One of my questions is how do you expect for those who are economicially inferior and low in numbers to compete in a society where status quo (and everything that comes along with it) is governed by white americans who control apprx 80 to 85% of this countries wealth and have a much larger population? In addition, if one group has been exploited for apprx four hundred years and fought for equal rights even up to the sixties and seventies (and still to this day), how can they assimilate and become a part of the dominate culture if they are not given the same chances allocated to their peers of opposite gender and ethnicity?
Living in the bay area it's hard for most of us to think about affirmative action. Most high schools here are VERY mixed and diverse. If you go to other states you will find schools with like 95% of one race. The rich area would probably be all white people and poor area all black. This is where I could understand the minorities to be under privilaged. But I don't believe that minorities that attend mixed race schools are significantally more disadvantaged or underprivalaged than a white person or any other nationality just because they are a minority.
This was a really good debate in my class and I had a wayyy better argument than the other people. I wish I had a good enough memory to remember what I had actually said.
One thing I just thought about right now, and I may be wrong, but wouldn't a minority from an under developed school have the advantage towards earning higher grades? It would be hella easier for them to get all A's with their schools lower standards than a white kid in a private school. Which means that this minority may seem as equally qualified as a white person but in fact they have not learned as much as the other student and may not even be prepared for the college they would be admitted to on terms of affirmative action.
Don't get me wrong though I partly am For affirmative action. Maybe I'm confused because I'm mixed.
This was a really good debate in my class and I had a wayyy better argument than the other people. I wish I had a good enough memory to remember what I had actually said.
One thing I just thought about right now, and I may be wrong, but wouldn't a minority from an under developed school have the advantage towards earning higher grades? It would be hella easier for them to get all A's with their schools lower standards than a white kid in a private school. Which means that this minority may seem as equally qualified as a white person but in fact they have not learned as much as the other student and may not even be prepared for the college they would be admitted to on terms of affirmative action.
Don't get me wrong though I partly am For affirmative action. Maybe I'm confused because I'm mixed.
My questions were directed at those who are against affirmative action. Are you going to address them?
So when should the balance come into play? It is a known fact that kids with better resources do better on tests, but you are not addressing the fact that minorities are usually not the beneficiaries of such resources, and since they usually don't receive such resources how can you level the playing field and when do you do it?
More questions for people who are againts affirmative action:
The majority of African Americans are categorized as low income, and only 6% of those who are low income will earn a college degree. African Americans have the second highest drop out rate in America, and a study that compared high school dropouts to those who graduated from high school revealed that dropouts earn 10k less than graduates do. If these numbers are correct, how can black students possibly hope to achieve the “American Dream”?
So when should the balance come into play? It is a known fact that kids with better resources do better on tests, but you are not addressing the fact that minorities are usually not the beneficiaries of such resources, and since they usually don't receive such resources how can you level the playing field and when do you do it?
More questions for people who are againts affirmative action:
The majority of African Americans are categorized as low income, and only 6% of those who are low income will earn a college degree. African Americans have the second highest drop out rate in America, and a study that compared high school dropouts to those who graduated from high school revealed that dropouts earn 10k less than graduates do. If these numbers are correct, how can black students possibly hope to achieve the “American Dream”?
what? I think you might have confused what I was trying to say. What do you mean kids just don't do that?
I was saying they already go to a shitty school so it's easier for them to get higher grades than if they were at a private or higher standard school. so their gpa might qualify them or whatever but they really aren't equally prepared. actually to prove myself wrong that is a bad example since there are definitly other factors considered besides gpa but I was just making a point.
I was saying they already go to a shitty school so it's easier for them to get higher grades than if they were at a private or higher standard school. so their gpa might qualify them or whatever but they really aren't equally prepared. actually to prove myself wrong that is a bad example since there are definitly other factors considered besides gpa but I was just making a point.
I wouldn't consider myself definitly against afirmative action which is why I didn't address them. I somewhat agree with it and understand there are valid points as to why it should be used but it just doesn't seem completely logical to me and there should be another method of coping with the problems affirmative action is trying to correct.
Affirmative action isn't necessarily "leveling the playing field". It could possibly be a step in the right direction but like I said there must be some other method to do this. It doesn't exist now but in the future it might. Maybe they need to create colleges that are more suitable to the statistical levels of minorities, if you are saying that they simply cannot achieve the equivalent of whites due to their lack of resources.
From personal experience, I've witnessed the majority of minorities, including blacks, who all had basically equal oppurtunities of whites, show an apalling lack of concern for college. I'm not putting down minorities considering that I am one but as long as I've been in school I've noticed minority kids get into more fights, get suspended more, cut more class, fail more classes, and care alot less than the white students. These kids that have just as equal oppurtunity as the white ones don't even use it to their advantage. Instead they become lazy or careless until it's too late for them to succeed and they regret it, if they even realize it at all.
Affirmative action isn't necessarily "leveling the playing field". It could possibly be a step in the right direction but like I said there must be some other method to do this. It doesn't exist now but in the future it might. Maybe they need to create colleges that are more suitable to the statistical levels of minorities, if you are saying that they simply cannot achieve the equivalent of whites due to their lack of resources.
From personal experience, I've witnessed the majority of minorities, including blacks, who all had basically equal oppurtunities of whites, show an apalling lack of concern for college. I'm not putting down minorities considering that I am one but as long as I've been in school I've noticed minority kids get into more fights, get suspended more, cut more class, fail more classes, and care alot less than the white students. These kids that have just as equal oppurtunity as the white ones don't even use it to their advantage. Instead they become lazy or careless until it's too late for them to succeed and they regret it, if they even realize it at all.
^^^obviously...but what affirmative action does is give the person at the shitty high school more leverage, because it was much harder for them to get that than a kid who gets a 4.0 at a good school, because he had more reason to. its not depreciating the 4.0 from the good school, its just granting more power to someone who probably worked twice as hard to get that 4.0 at a shitty school.
bottom line: its recognizing the hard work someone did when it otherwise wouldnt be recognized. b/c if it were up to most admissions officers (or whatever they were called), they would love to take every 4.0 student from every private school. and i know a lot of kids who got 4.0's at good schools and they didnt deserve them, or work hard for them, and they are struggling right now at universities while others are flourishing at them with half the resources they had.
bottom line: its recognizing the hard work someone did when it otherwise wouldnt be recognized. b/c if it were up to most admissions officers (or whatever they were called), they would love to take every 4.0 student from every private school. and i know a lot of kids who got 4.0's at good schools and they didnt deserve them, or work hard for them, and they are struggling right now at universities while others are flourishing at them with half the resources they had.
Read below Trolly.
Those are all good points....50 plus odd years ago. But times have changed due in part to the proper use of Affirmative Action and nowadays it does more to harm than help (the better qualified are being overlooked).
Not that racism and sexism don't exist, but that discrimination is not as prevalent. Everybody is given a chance nowadays and that's all that you should ask of an employer.
Those are all good points....50 plus odd years ago. But times have changed due in part to the proper use of Affirmative Action and nowadays it does more to harm than help (the better qualified are being overlooked).
Not that racism and sexism don't exist, but that discrimination is not as prevalent. Everybody is given a chance nowadays and that's all that you should ask of an employer.
This is a good point...15 plus odd years ago. In the mid-90's people started to argue this point legally and politically, which forced many universities and employers to move away from anything that could be regarded as preference based solely on race.
Wrong, in my opinion. I would argue that discrimination may not appear to be as prevalent, it's simply more covert. And, by saying that it's not as prevalent, you are still acknowledging it's existence, so just how are we to believe that "everybody is given a chance", as you say?
Wrong, in my opinion. I would argue that discrimination may not appear to be as prevalent, it's simply more covert. And, by saying that it's not as prevalent, you are still acknowledging it's existence, so just how are we to believe that "everybody is given a chance", as you say?