Affirmative Action | Teen Ink

Affirmative Action

January 11, 2010
By Rachel Henry BRONZE, Houston, Texas
Rachel Henry BRONZE, Houston, Texas
4 articles 0 photos 2 comments

After working as hard as you possibly can all 12 years of education, here it is. Your letter from Harvard that will determine whether you got in or not. You open it and stare at the black and white words. “ Thank you for the time that you have spent applying and all of your hard work, but we have decided that we want more diversity on our campus. Your SAT score of 1500 and 4.0 GPA impressed us, but we have given the spot to one of a minority race who had an SAT score of 1400 and a GPA of 3.5. Good luck with your future applications.” Dumbstruck and furious, you stare at the letter with confusion and you wonder how that could possibly be correct. This is the case on a regular basis. Colleges are giving people of minority races the priority in the application process. Doing so is cutting back on any racism and making a level playing field for people of all races. Minority races are given more points by the school application offices, and the achievements are hardly taken into consideration. The qualification of the student does not matter, it is determined by race. Shouldn’t the students chosen be the most qualified with the highest number of achievements? Race should not have any weight in the decision of who is allowed into a school, the decision should be by who has the best scores and achievements.

Affirmative action is set in place in order to make sure there is no racist advantage in place, but if the school is not racist, this is just trying to solve a problem that no longer exists. Affirmative action lessens the chances of admission for white and some Asian students. If other minority races are given the extra points, and there is a white person who is just as needy for those points and was raised in the same environment, but they would never get the points simply because they are not of a certain race. White is not a minority group, so therefore they do not get any bonus points and someone of another race, that is a minority, but far less qualified may get the spot that should have belonged to them. The people who have the higher, more qualified scores worked very hard to get to that place and there is no just reason that a person with a lower score should be admitted in over them. The scores shown between the different races do not vary that distinctively; so to give one race the priority just isn’t fair especially since the scores are relatively the same. If racism is no longer a problem that exists, why should affirmative action exist? If it was done away with, the question of who really belongs in the class would no longer be present because everyone who should really be there in the first place would already be there, and fairly. The people with the best scores, grades and the highest number of achievements should be admitted, not someone who had mediocre scores and simply because they are of a minority race.

It is argued that affirmative action is needed because is presents diversity to the school campuses. However, it is these same people who say they want diversity that set up dormitories for one specific race as well as one-race orientation. The ‘diversity’ that these very people want to create, needs to be by unusual characteristics, such as achievements, not by race. Also, it is suggesting that all minority races think in one certain way, which could be seen as offensive considering that is not true. Each person has their own thoughts and ideas and to assume that all people of a certain race think alike is not correct. The original reason for affirmative action is to make sure that the admission offices were not being racist in choosing who they allow into the school, but racism is not as big of a problem as it was back when affirmative action was first being used. It is just trying to solve a problem that no longer exists, and people use racism as an excuse for everything. Why should someone else, same or different race, who did not work as hard and has a lower score, be admitted in before you?

Why should not the brightest and the best students get in to any school they apply for regardless of race? Admission offices should altogether do away with any factors that give any specific race any sort of advantage. How hard the student works, their achievements and grades, should determine the decision of admittance; not by race. The Bible even states that all men are created equal, so why should any race get any priority in the decision of college admittance?


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This article has 4 comments.


on Feb. 6 2010 at 11:59 pm
Rachel Henry BRONZE, Houston, Texas
4 articles 0 photos 2 comments
That is exactly what I am against also, I believe that everyone should work equally as hard regardless of what race they are. I do not think it should be a "free pass" in for anyone.

shelly BRONZE said...
on Feb. 6 2010 at 1:31 pm
shelly BRONZE, Sanford, Florida
1 article 0 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, i think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat
-Mother Teresa

(hey this is still me I just had another account I'm trying to delete it but I can't figure out how to) anyway

sorry if I came off harsh that's not what I wanted. You explained ur self quite well it's just I believe in affimative action to an extent , only because in this world some one who is white already has the upper hand at a lot of things. But at the same time I disagree with affiative action bcuz I believe it's a green light to some minorities that hey I done have to work hard I'll getbin anyway bcuz of my skin color.

on Feb. 6 2010 at 12:11 am
Rachel Henry BRONZE, Houston, Texas
4 articles 0 photos 2 comments
Oh, I am very aware that racism is still present and is still an issue. Also, my mother came from a very poor family and worked extremely hard to get into college with a scholarship. What i believe is that one should be admitted into the school based off of their hard work and grades, not what race they are on. Im sorry if my paper did not communicate my ideas clearly.

shellybell said...
on Feb. 5 2010 at 11:13 pm
I'm going to have to repectfully disagree with you, and here's my reasoning. first of all just because you don't see lynchings in the street and riots doesn't mean that racism does not exit, because it does. it is alive and well in American the only difference between now and years ago is that people are better at hiding it. i am an African American female and i can testify to that.

secondly, how do you know that the minority didn't work hard? maybe they didn't come from a family that supported them and they had to push themselves through school, and those are the grades they got because they really tried. you don't know they're life.

now i don't think they should let someone with a gpa of 2.0 in who is black, but if it's a decent GPA like 3.5 why not let them in.