Color Blind Country | Teen Ink

Color Blind Country

January 12, 2010
By sghelm0217 BRONZE, Houston, Texas
sghelm0217 BRONZE, Houston, Texas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Do minorities have an unfair advantage with affirmative action? In my opinion they definitely do. Affirmative action is a cheat sheet for minorities who do not need it. People who are black, or female get extra points on their college application because they apparently cannot get in on their own. In East St. Louis, everyone there is black. They have horrible schools and it is hard for them to provide for themselves, but the governor still gives money to the richer side of the bridge, not East St. Louis. But the thing is, not everyone who is black lives like that. Not every woman is less capable then man. Every minority, though, is able to work for themselves and able to have the same qualifications as someone who is not a minority. Minorities do not need affirmative action to get into college or even high school. I disagree with affirmative action because it forces people to believe that minorities, no matter what, should get points added to their college application because they can not get in on their own.

Some minorities don’t need affirmative action; they can get in on their own. The government does not realize what they are doing when they use affirmative action in schools. It tells the citizens that all minorities are poor, stupid, or unable to get into colleges. But that is not true. Not all minorities are poor. Some of the most famous athletes or singers or actors (who are some of the richest people in the country) are minorities, but obviously do not need the extra points because they have plenty of money. It is a very similar situation for girls. By giving females extra points on their college application, it makes people think that they are not as smart as men. But that is not the case because right now there are more women in school then men. Also, some of the best lawyers or doctors that went to the best colleges in America are women. Not all minorities need the extra points; so giving them the points anyways is unfair to those who are not minorities.

The schools should only look at GPA and test scores, not at race and gender. Isn’t that what school is all about? In school, the main idea is to learn and to receive the best GPA and test scores. School is not supposed to be about race, or gender. When a college or high school uses affirmative action it makes citizens think that certain kinds of people can only do certain kinds of things. Race or gender does not affect the abilities of a person to learn. This country is supposed to be a color-blind county, and using affirmative action contradicts that. Affirmative action gives the idea that people with different skin or a different gender are not as qualified as non-minorities. Schools should only look at GPA and test scores when going through applications because it does not matter what race or gender a person is.

Using affirmative action is not a very smart thing to do if colleges are trying to keep reputations of having the smartest students. When extra points are added to a college application and a minority gets in over a non-minority who had better scores, it means that the college is accepting a less qualified student. Colleges try to have diversity so that they do not seem racist, but is it worth it if the school continues to let in less qualified people? Does Harvard want students with low GPA’s or low test scores just so that there will be diversity in the school? I think not. Affirmative action gives less qualified students the chance to get into some of the best schools in the country. That is not fair for those who do not receive extra points on their college application.

Is affirmative action fair? Some people say that minorities who are poor have bad health care, so they cannot focus on school from pain or sickness. That is why affirmative action is fair to some people. But that is not a good enough reason! If they want to go to college bad enough they will work hard or figure something out so that they can still learn properly. Then how about the argument that diversity will end racism? Trying to have diversity in a school means that people get in who do not deserve to be in. The students who are not minorities might feel that they worked a lot harder then the students who are minorities. That might make the students mad because they deserve to be in and the others do not. That does not end racism. That just causes more racism. There is always the fight that there is still racism today. People say that affirmative action is needed because minorities might not be accepted because of their race or gender. But not all officials are racist. Even if one of the heads of the school were racist, that would not stop the student from being allowed into the school. The others would notice if that person rejected a perfectly good student. They would stop it and accept the student into their school. Trying to make reasons to allow affirmative action is not good, it can almost always be argued against.
Affirmative action is completely wrong. There should be no excuses at all for affirmative action to be allowed. It forces people to think that minorities can not get into schools on their own, and that they need extra points on their college application. If affirmative action is going to be used further, the country will be at risk of racism becoming a huge issue all over again. It could cause immense fights between states. Affirmative action is suggesting that non-minorities are better than minorities. Do you want to be thought of as stupid or incapable? Do you want to be thought of as a racist? If not, then fight against affirmative action.


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