"Affirmative Action" / "Positive Discrimination"... bad idea?

[Walter Powers]

I believe I posted on this subject a while back, however I wanted to discuss it further as the effects of these policies have become much more evident to me. I'm outraged.

Being a sophomore in high school, it's time for me to start figuring what I want to do with my life. So, I've been looking into various colleges, scholarships, internships, and the like. It has amazed to me how much discrimination against white males, such as myself, in this whole process.

For example, over half of all the emails I receive from my school's College and Career center are advertising internships and scholarships exclusively for "historically underrepresented populations". That's code for "no white males." You might be able to make the argument that private institutions should have a right to be racially selective in who they offer money/opportunities, but when it is a publicly funded college that's supposed to be a service for all colors of people, that's downright unconstitutional.

More significantly is the roll race plays in being admitted to colleges. Most public colleges in the US are "affirmative action". This means a racial minority that has lower test scores, grades, and an overall worse application will still likely receive admission over a significantly better qualified white person. I'm going to call it as it is: Racism.

Either the people running these universities think that White people deserve a disadvantage and should be oppressed, or they think that blacks and hispanics are so inferior as to need a special advantage in order to make it into college. Which is it? I don't know. But either way, it's despicable.

What public colleges should do is stop the racism and ensure equal treatment through a socio-economic system. A black student with parents who make $50 grand a year should be put on the same level as a white student from a family making $50 grand a year. The system as it is screws over white men from low income families, and that should be changed.

Where do you stand on this issue?

[Stronk Serb]

Make the colleges government subsidized and run special tests, if you pass them, you can go for free, if not, you can pay or wait for next year. That's the system here, and it is effective.

[Hyper]

Wow I read a post by Walter Powers I actually agree with...

[Walter Powers]

Make the colleges government subsidized and run special tests, if you pass them, you can go for free, if not, you can pay or wait for next year. That's the system here, and it is effective.

Yes, when I think of world renowned educational instititions Serbia immidiatly comes to mind.


In your dreams!

We already have colleges here that are already government run; all of the extra supply generated by government aid is inflating the price of college.

[Sir Suomi]

I'm going to agree with this. I think it's unjust how someone can receive a scholarship just because they are either a) A female or b) An ethnic race other than Caucasian. Yes, I understand that the white male has been predominant for a lot of our American history, and I'm glad that that all of the people that have been oppressed in the past have reached equality, for the most part. But excluding white males from benefits that others receive just due to their ethnicity and sex is completely unjust. As Walter said, why should a black male, under the same circumstance as I, receive admittance to a college before I do? What really annoys me is the fact that I even perform better in academics than someone of another ethnicity/sex, and even then they will consider them before me. It's just ridiculous.

[Lovelife090994]

I do and don't agree with this. Most colleges in the US except for historically Black Colleges to some degree are mostly comprised of White or if you prefer the term, "Caucasian" students, but let's get back to your post. Historically mainly White males and not White females were the ones who could go to college and afford it, but now times have changed even though minorities usually have lower scores and lower income rates than Whites. Maybe colleges are overcompensating. I am a young Black male and since I am not in sports, have average grades, and am low on money I have not had much luck on scholarships recently.

To me it depends. Some think that race is always the reason of college acceptance. If this is true then why are a majority of college demographics White and Asian when there are certainly more than White and Asian in the entire populous? Something isn't matching up. Money, tuition is high anyway you look at it and scholarships can be a true blessing but what does do if he or she does not qualify? Blame it on race? I wouldn't By personal experience, my lack of admittance was based on my academics or lack thereof not my race. And for the one school I had acceptance to I could not afford it and my grades were acceptable to them just not enough for a full scholarship, but I did not call a race card or unfair practice.

I honestly see the whole issue as a dependent issue. Sometimes you wonder if race comes into play. For some it does, because let's face it, A White male will have way more oppurtunities than a Black female but that does not mean the said Black female cannot rise above and better herself. Sadly society is so, well, black and white.

[Lovelife090994]

I'm going to agree with this. I think it's unjust how someone can receive a scholarship just because they are either a) A female or b) An ethnic race other than Caucasian. Yes, I understand that the white male has been predominant for a lot of our American history, and I'm glad that that all of the people that have been oppressed in the past have reached equality, for the most part. But excluding white males from benefits that others receive just due to their ethnicity and sex is completely unjust. As Walter said, why should a black male, under the same circumstance as I, receive admittance to a college before I do? What really annoys me is the fact that I even perform better in academics than someone of another ethnicity/sex, and even then they will consider them before me. It's just ridiculous.

I have seen this where this is and isn't the case many times, but I see your issue.

[Stronk Serb]

Yes, when I think of world renowned educational institutions Serbia immediately comes to mind.


In your dreams!

We already have colleges here that are already government run; all of the extra supply generated by government aid is inflating the price of college.

Fixed that for you.

Still, smart/hard working people manage to get in. We have students from Africa coming to study. Because they are not citizens, they have to pay, but because their governments or families chose Serbia definitely tells something is good about our educational system. There is really no better alternative. If it's government subsidized (ie. paid from taxes), the professors get paid the same, but they get students who actually know what the professor is teaching. It would benefit you in the long run, because you would have a lot more people qualified for the jobs those people are studying. Now the college/university must be up to standards the government should make in order to recieve subsidies.

[Sph2015]

Fixed that for you.

Still, smart/hard working people manage to get in. We have students from Africa coming to study. Because they are not citizens, they have to pay, but because their governments or families chose Serbia definitely tells something is good about our educational system. There is really no better alternative. If it's government subsidized (ie. paid from taxes), the professors get paid the same, but they get students who actually know what the professor is teaching. It would benefit you in the long run, because you would have a lot more people qualified for the jobs those people are studying. Now the college/university must be up to standards the government should make in order to recieve subsidies.

Alright, I'm going to stop you right there.

American Universities are consistently ranked the best in the world in all categories. There is certainly no question of the quality of education being delivered by said institutions. We have thousands of students coming from every corner of the globe to study at our Universities. We win when it comes to colleges.

Is the admittance system broken? Hell yeah. How do we fix it? I don't know. I know I can get into the universities I wish to attend, even with my white male "handicap". I will say many schools have recently abandoned affirmative action programs, citing them as outdated. I think we can all agree that's a step in the right direction.

[Stronk Serb]

Alright, I'm going to stop you right there.

American Universities are consistently ranked the best in the world in all categories. There is certainly no question of the quality of education being delivered by said institutions. We have thousands of students coming from every corner of the globe to study at our Universities. We win when it comes to colleges.

Is the admittance system broken? Hell yeah. How do we fix it? I don't know. I know I can get into the universities I wish to attend, even with my white male "handicap". I will say many schools have recently abandoned affirmative action programs, citing them as outdated. I think we can all agree that's a step in the right direction.

What I meant was, there should be special tests about the things you did in high school, from the most important subjects. If you pass the tests, you are admitted on university or college budget (free) which is usually 400 students, if not, you can pay or wait for the next year to try again. How there colleges would get funding is through government subsidization and through the fees paid by students (self-financing). The ratio of the budget students and and self-financing ones here is 4:1. What there tests and government subsidies ensure is that even the most impoverished, but smart people get admitted. The same system started in Socialist Yugoslavia and was very good, not top of the line, but we had a lot more foreign students and those who studied were pretty good at what they did, now due to the economic problems and corruption, the quality of education has dropped. Walter meant that we have a crappy education system nobody wants to attend. I told him that we have a lot of foreign students, I didn't say that America had a crappy education system, I think it is good.