Since I'm nearing the end of high school, affirmative action has been the talk of my class and my upperclassmen. On one hand, I understand that we should try to be in a diverse environment because that's what the real world is, diverse. I agree that we shouldn't be confined to one ethnic group all the time because major cities are more diverse and we should be used to being in that type of environment. On the other hand, it's completely unfair to those who worked their butts off in high school and their extracurriculars for their accomplishments to be seen smaller compared to others with the same accomplishments because of their ethnicity. Because of this, I would prefer if universities used personal statements instead. I think it's more ideal for those from poor backgrounds to get accepted. It's like "You showed effort and you came from a poor family? You deserve this!" What do you guys think?
I'm a supporter of affirmative action whenever race and gender quotas aren't used. It helps make up for some of the systemic discrimination against minorities in the job market and in college admissions. I'd also support if LGBTQ people were included under affirmative action as well.
I understand why affirmative action should be in place. I can see some of the main reasons why people use it. However, I think I dislike society more for creating the need for affirmative action. I'm not a fan of affirmative action. It sucks that we live in a society that tries so hard to not be racist, that we end up making race the most important thing we pay attention too. We act like race doesn't matter, yet, it seems like race does matter in many cases where people want to see "diversity". If you were to make a TV show that starred only white people, people would notice the lack of diversity. Even if every person was perfect for the role but just happened to be white, people would be upset because of the lack of diversity. I think of skin color the way I think of hair color. If everyone in a college had brown hair, even if they all earned their spot in class, should we accept blond people simply because they have different colored hair?
Overall, I think socioeconomic factors should be considered but not ethnic groups. I think that if you weren't provided well on financial terms, but still mustered through it and got good grades, you get priority.
As everyone probably knows, I disagree with affirmative action. I'm much more in support of trying to correct the root issues that may make people think it's necessary.
I disagree with affirmative action too. In general, at least. I support ending discrimination in hiring and college admissions, but I don't support quotas to make things more "diverse". The problem is that it's hard to draw the line between the two.
I despise it. I have seen people get jobs based on their skin color and clearly they had no idea what was going on in the job. Being in the call center environment as I have been, I have actually been in the minority as a white male. In addition, when I was looking for colleges, the university of Michigan was a place I wanted to attend. However as I learned from my other friends who were white, you pretty much had to have a 4.1 and a 29 ACT. If you were black, you could get in with a 3.2 and 22 ACT. The best idea is to make affirmative action(if it HAS to be used) based on actual income. There are some poor whites out there that are treated the same as middle class whites because they share the same skin color. That is unfair. That said, do I think workplaces need to reflect their communities? Yes, that would be more equal opportunity employment, which I certainly support.
I would be interested in knowing where you received this data or what was used to come to this conclusion.
There were an humorist who said: "Positive and discrimination, these two words go as well together as sodomy and friendly". And that's pretty much what I think. It's only a way to hide the root of the problem... and to make minorities shut the f*ck up. The problem is that discrimination exists, that's what should change. I'd personally get really angry if I got refused somewhere because their quotas wouldn't allow them to hire me. To keep discriminating people, even in a "positive" way, won't put an end to discrimination.
The first was someone I knew that was fortunate enough to get in. I knew of someone with a 4.0(the first person's sister) and a 26 ACT, and she was denied. The other person was from a rival school. These types of figures were also exposed during the time that affirmative action was overturned a few years ago at the school.
I am unsure how the previous statement follows from this. Additionally, The University of Michigan has a less than 35% admissions rate and has been competitive for quite some time now. African Americans are the second largest racial demographic in Michigan, yet they constitute less than 5% of UMichigan students.Source. Source. Seven out of ten University of Michigan students are White and the average GPA of admitted students is barely a 3.8. The university, specifically, doesn't even keep record of GPA on the weighted scale so the highest GPAs are 4.0s. Essays and extracuriculars are also weighted heavily by admissions. All in all, I still don't understand how this idea was formed from two students being rejected along with the other nearly seven out of ten people who applied. ~~~ As for the topic, I have voiced my opinion on the subject only a short while ago and to be quite honest I don't see why this warrants a new discussion. I do, however, find it interesting that the subject of Affirmative Action always turns to African Americans despite the fact that middle class Caucasian female students statistically benefit from it the most. For the record socioeconomics is the study of how social status and relations pertain to economic status. Hence, the socio. Socioeconomic factors are quite literally gender, racial, and ethnic factors.
Actually, I've heard of studies that affirmative action policies actually favor white women the most. Also, the personal statement is also taken into consideration as well, and with all due respect, it may have been a mediocre essay.
Generally, no. But I used to be more against it than I am now. I recognize that it's supposed to be used to prop up underprivileged people who might not have gone to college/careers before because of disadvantageous upbringings. However, the idea that minorities are considerably poorer or more ignorant than whites is declining rapidly. The US is supposed to go by the doctrine that "all men (and presumably other genders) are created equal." So we should follow that idea and abolish race-based benefits like this.
I am generally against affirmative action. Some people are talking college admissions. That's why they have essays and interviews, and why high school college counselors can assist someone with admission to a college where their getting in is sort on the cusp. If there are extenuating circumstances that might explain some hardships which might have impacted performance, they can and should make accommodations for this, provided it's not too far below the baseline. If the average is a 3.8 and someone got a 3.5 while moving from one homeless shelter to another, they should get in. You see stories in the paper like this. This would also include someone who was attacked in the gym locker room by a bunch of their classmates (saw a similar story recently in the media, and I couldn't believe this goes on when the younger generation almost wants to make acceptance seem fashionable and cool) and they got through high school with this trauma and it caused their grades to dip, but not too far down. To allow admission for race or skin color alone, and have credentials and accomplishments be so much less impressive than what others are showing up with is not cool. Everyone should be reasonably clustered together, though not carbon copies of each other. It's never black and white. Special cases are special cases. I think that discrimination is a much bigger problem and too many forms of it exist even today. Schools are more egalitarian. Employers, mostly smaller and medium sized ones, can window dress the discrimination better. We need to be working on discrimination and there aren't enough anti-discrimination provisions on way too many states' books. It's amazing that it's 2015 and some states and their laws are so archaic. ---------- Post added 24th Apr 2015 at 11:02 PM ---------- You are way too smart. I'm kidding. There's no such thing as being way too smart. I find your reasoning skills impressive.
