I believe if affirmative action is going to be here then it needs be discrimination action, because this policy is not hopeful or encouraging it creates discrimination. The definition of affirmative action is an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination. It was made and used to help increase the amount of diversity at universities; however I think all does is increases sexism, racism, and segregation. Affirmative action rewards minorities and women for opportunities they do not deserve and have not worked hard for. I have found three articles that are very beneficial to this subject, “The Case Against Affirmative Action” by David Sacks and Peter Thiel, “In Defense of Affirmative Action” by Paul Pryse, and the first chapter of Savage Inequalities by Johnathan Kozol. Overall, I think that affirmative action should be gone because it makes unfair judgments on students based on their race and/or gender.

Affirmative action creates sexism, racism, and segregation that are completely unnecessary and not already there. This policy adds more points to women’s applications and not men’s, why? The colleges feel as if they are adding more diversity and equal opportunities for women, but really all they are doing is stealing opportunities from men who have worked hard and deserve to go to college. A few decades ago is where segregation and racism was happening; an African American would not be allowed to share anything with a Caucasian. They would always get the short end of the stick and I think affirmative action is trying to fix that. However “a racist past cannot be undone through more racism” and that is completely true instead of fixing or making up for the racism it recreates it (Sacks and Thiel 1). These students that are getting accepted to colleges by affirmative action are basically being rewarded for being a minority not on their intelligence or grades, which I thought was the most important part of college acceptance. Affirmative action is not only racist to minorities, but I also think it is racist towards Caucasians. Take for instance, an African American woman with a 3.8 GPA and Caucasian male with a 4.0 GPA. Now, according to affirmative action, which is going to be accepted? The African American woman because she would get points added to her application and the man would not. It also makes the students who get accepted on affirmative action seem even more different which also increases racism. Even a prestigious school like Harvard University does not have an issue with diversity. In the class from last year 10.5% of the student body was African American, 17.8% was Asian Americans, 8.2% was Latinos, and a little more than one percent was Native Americans (http://ivysuccess.com/harvard_2009.html). Affirmative action was also created to help the poor and disadvantaged get an opportunity to go to college, but it was created thinking that only and all minorities are poor or disadvantaged (Pryse 1). Colleges want all this diversity on their campus but somehow Stanford came up with the conclusion of “racially segregated dormitories, racially segregated freshman orientation programs, racially segregated graduation ceremonies and curricular requirements in race theory and gender studies” (Sacks and Thiel 1). At Stanford they decided to do this so the races can intermingle with themselves but the problem is they are practically forbidding them from interacting with any other race and that is segregation. A student should be rewarded on their application for their achievements not characteristics that they were lucky enough to be born with.

Not only does affirmative action create sexism, racism, and segregation, but it also creates tension between the races. The Caucasians do not like the minorities because they are stealing most of their opportunities to go to college and also they are getting accepted so easily. I am sure the Caucasians are frustrated by the minorities as well because they can get accepted more easily whenever they have to work twice as hard to even get looked at during application reviews. I would not be surprised if there have been fighting at colleges and high schools during college acceptance time due to frustration. Affirmative action does not allow for an equal and balanced society in the future because it makes certain races hate each other. It is not fair for students’ lives to be put at risk so these colleges can have “diversity on their campuses.” I assume from “The Case of Against Affirmative” Stanford had similar problems because it says, “without affirmative action…the question of who belong here will no longer need to be answered…it will no longer need to be asked” either (Sacks and Thiel 2). In the article it was talking about how the question was always asked to who got in or affirmative action and who did not and now it is saying that without it the question with no longer be asked.

My opposing side may argue that affirmative action benefits the students who grow up in places that have many disadvantages like there are in East St. Louis. The students there have sewage outside their homes, rotten teeth and infections, dirty school, unhealthy environment, and a lack of teachers and resources. Yes, it does benefit them but at the same time I think the people in areas like East St. Louis are not even trying anymore because they know they are going to get accepted by affirmative action. It also makes them believe that they can only get accepted to college by affirmative action, that they cannot work hard and make good grades to be accepted. The students in these areas need to try and work hard because if they really want to and are dedicated they can get out of areas like East St. Louis by themselves like my mother did. She grew up in an area similar to East St. Louis but not as bad where she had all the lack of resources at the public school. But my mother worked hard and was very dedicated so that she could be accepted into a magnet school and she was. My mom eventually just kept up that work ethic and got a job and ended up being the first person out of her family to graduate from college. My opposing side may also argue about a person like that who has worked hard and were dedicated to do their best, do they deserve points? Yes they do deserve them but at the same time my mom had hopes, dreams, and goals for herself that she knew she was going to reach no matter what it took. These teenagers need to understand that not everything in life is easy and that even though they work hard they might not always be rewarded for it.

Overall, I think that affirmative action should be taken away because someone should be accepted into college based on their intelligence not the color of their skin or what gender they are. Martin Luther King Jr. fought long and hard for most racism to be gone in America, do you honestly think he wants it all to come back? The students of today need to learn to work hard and become dedicated if they want to reach a goal not rely on something or someone else to get them there.