College Admissions and Affirmative Action

alaskaguy · 11-29-2007, 07:23 PM

What are the costs versus the benefits? What affirmative action do you support if any?

brianhos · 11-29-2007, 08:00 PM

None, affirmitive action is just institutionalized racism. No special treatment based on race should ever be applied. No one would stand for it if only white males were accepted, so why should it be any different for other classes?

Incyte · 11-29-2007, 08:34 PM

I support giving every American the chance to suceed independent of race.

I think affirmative action can have more of a negative effect than positive. Clearance Thomas has said his law degree was devalued because people always questioned whether he really earned it or not.

I heard Ward Connerly give a speech back when I was at ISU. He was a member of the Cal. board of regents who opossed affirmative action. After the speech he was accused of not being black enough. That kind of made me sick to my stomach.

iceclone · 11-29-2007, 08:43 PM

I believe diversity has a value, and I think it is reasonable to use it as a criterion for admission along with other criteria. Diversity should also be interpreted broadly.

brianhos · 11-29-2007, 09:29 PM

Are you really willing to say a more qualified non minority deserves less of a chance to get into a school than a minitority? Say your son is trying to get into a med school. He gets a 3.5 at a hard school. Some minority applies also with a 3.0 at an easier school and is accepted and your son is not? How is that fair? It should be on merit and merit alone.

iceclone · 11-29-2007, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by brianhos

Are you really willing to say a more qualified non minority deserves less of a chance to get into a school than a minitority? Say your son is trying to get into a med school. He gets a 3.5 at a hard school. Some minority applies also with a 3.0 at an easier school and is accepted and your son is not? How is that fair? It should be on merit and merit alone.

GPA is one of several criteria used for college admission. As an example, another important criterion is advanced placement courses. Suppose you son goes to a high school that offers few or no AP courses. Your son is rejected, but another applicant with lower GPA but more AP courses is accepted. Is that fair? Or your son writes a poor essay and is rejected, but another applicant with lower GPA but a better essay is accepted. Is that fair?

My point is that there is no objective measure of “more qualified,” so your hypothetical question cannot be answered.

Cyclonepride · 11-29-2007, 11:02 PM

I do not support any affirmative action solutions whatsoever. We can not erase the sins of the past by applying reverse racism now. We should work very hard to make sure everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed or fail on their own merit. And that is all.

herbiedoobie · 12-01-2007, 01:44 PM

Instead of "affirmative action" I would like to see the inner city schools be gone after with hammer and tongs and straightened out. For one thing, the idea that all kids deserve an education, regardless of their level of discipline, is an idea that needs to die. Kick out the criminals and the troublemakers, while targeting the inner city school kids who are willing to submit to rudimentary discipline for retention, and you'll retain better teachers. Retain better teachers, and you will have a better scholarly "product."

I think that within a generation or two, people will wonder why they needed "affirmative action" in the old days.

mwitt · 12-01-2007, 07:03 PM

I was always taught that two wrongs don't make a right. Affirmative Action tells me otherwise.

Didn't Martin Luther King, Jr. once that he has a dream that one day his children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character? Affirmative Action doesn't do that.