/DG/
silentigata ano (profile)
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
- Messages
- 4,602
Why isn't "affirmative action" based on socioeconomic status instead of race?
I guess I understand the intentions of affirmative action, but it just seems like such an unfair system. It seems to me that minorities generally "need more help" in this area because many are of low socioeconomic status. When you take minorities of a higher socioeconomic class, things seem to get more fair.
At the risk of sounding like a whiny, bragging, bitchy, privileged white girl...I'm going to vent a bit. A few years ago I applied to a somewhat prestigious university (not like Ivy League or anything...calm your jets) and didn't get in. My GPA was quite high, my ACT was not outstanding, but definitely above average, and I took quite a few AP classes. I didn't get in to the school, probably because my essays were quite terrible and my extra curriculars were a bit lacking. On the other hand, one of my black friends had a much lower GPA and ACT score than I did, but she got in. Her scores were much lower than the median scores for the university. She didn't end up going there because it's quite expensive (I don't think I would have either), but it made me royally pissed off.
Another frustrating thing is that my cousin is half Native American, so she got to go to college for FREE. She went to school, but never even ended up using her degree or getting a job (it's been years since she graduated). So I guess the U.S. tries to give back to the Native American population in this manner, but she is not involved at all in her Native American heritage. Her father was the one who is Native American and she hasn't seen him in a long time. And on top of that, all of her children will be able to go to college for free as well because they are 25% Native American.
I've even heard of some weird "reverse affirmative action" for Asian students. The hell is up with that??
Why is all of this fair? It seems to me that it would make much more sense for universities to go "easier" on people of lower socioeconomic status. In poorer areas, education is of a much lower quality, and people never live up to their potential. While schools do seem to understand this, they also put too much emphasis on the archaic system of the color of a person's skin instead of how much money they have.
Why is it important for a school to have a "diverse" population? There is a high population of people of Middle Eastern descent in my area, so there are more of people with this heritage attending my university. But why does the university need to be "proud" of things like this? Why do we have to fill out anything regarding our race when applying to schools? Why can't someone just look at how intelligent a person is before letting them in, not what they look like or even their gender or name??
I guess I understand the intentions of affirmative action, but it just seems like such an unfair system. It seems to me that minorities generally "need more help" in this area because many are of low socioeconomic status. When you take minorities of a higher socioeconomic class, things seem to get more fair.
At the risk of sounding like a whiny, bragging, bitchy, privileged white girl...I'm going to vent a bit. A few years ago I applied to a somewhat prestigious university (not like Ivy League or anything...calm your jets) and didn't get in. My GPA was quite high, my ACT was not outstanding, but definitely above average, and I took quite a few AP classes. I didn't get in to the school, probably because my essays were quite terrible and my extra curriculars were a bit lacking. On the other hand, one of my black friends had a much lower GPA and ACT score than I did, but she got in. Her scores were much lower than the median scores for the university. She didn't end up going there because it's quite expensive (I don't think I would have either), but it made me royally pissed off.
Another frustrating thing is that my cousin is half Native American, so she got to go to college for FREE. She went to school, but never even ended up using her degree or getting a job (it's been years since she graduated). So I guess the U.S. tries to give back to the Native American population in this manner, but she is not involved at all in her Native American heritage. Her father was the one who is Native American and she hasn't seen him in a long time. And on top of that, all of her children will be able to go to college for free as well because they are 25% Native American.
I've even heard of some weird "reverse affirmative action" for Asian students. The hell is up with that??
Why is all of this fair? It seems to me that it would make much more sense for universities to go "easier" on people of lower socioeconomic status. In poorer areas, education is of a much lower quality, and people never live up to their potential. While schools do seem to understand this, they also put too much emphasis on the archaic system of the color of a person's skin instead of how much money they have.
Why is it important for a school to have a "diverse" population? There is a high population of people of Middle Eastern descent in my area, so there are more of people with this heritage attending my university. But why does the university need to be "proud" of things like this? Why do we have to fill out anything regarding our race when applying to schools? Why can't someone just look at how intelligent a person is before letting them in, not what they look like or even their gender or name??