Affirmative Action gives a chance to unprivileged minors that are surrounded by bad influences a hope for a better education by getting into a college. “There’s not much for me in a public school. The truth is that’s a pretty honest answer. A diploma from a ghetto high school doesn’t count for much in the United States today,” stated by a young high school student (Kozol 4). This is the motive for many minors in a bad high school and around many bad influences. In this type of situation, this is where affirmative action comes in. Affirmative action has been a debatable topic for about 40 years if colleges should continue to proceed with it or not. Those opposed to affirmative action believe that it is racist and undermining the achievements of other who deserve to be accepted into the college. However, I believe that students who grow up in a bad environment and have a numerous amounts of problems, should be given an opportunity in life, ones that they have never had before.

With minors going to poor schools, they deal with awful conditions. For instance in an Illinois high school, “Martin Luther King Junior High School was evacuated Friday afternoon after sewage flowed into the kitchen…the kitchen was closed and students were sent home…The school had to be closed because of fumes and backed up toilets.” (Kozol 2). How can a student thrive in such an unsanitary environment? They definitely go through different things as to what other schools go through. These are the disadvantages that minors go through, so a little boost from affirmative action would definitely help their future.

One thing a lot of minorities have are unsupportive parents. They don’t have parents supporting them with daily life needs. For example when a high school student minority states, “I am still accepting that I have an abusive parent. I have decided to detach from the family because of my mother” (Calvin 1). Moreover, they do not have that moral support that every single child need. Because they have possible unsupportive, abusive, drugged up parents, they have to work and support themselves. This is a big amount of weighing responsibility. Responsibility that’s not meant for a high school students, at least not at that great amount.

On the opposing side of affirmative action there are several beliefs. One of them being that it is not fair to accept someone with a lower grade point average over someone with a high grade point average. Alongside that it also causes segregation. First of all, the difference between the high grade point average student and the lower grade point average minority student is that the minority did not have the same lifestyle conditions as the other. The minority had to handle good grades, being at a poor school, and other additional family problems. The truth is the minorities had to deal with way more things than the other student with a high grade point average. As far as segregation, if anything affirmative action helps stop it because it is helping someone who didn’t have a quality education but were hardworking. It creates a better diversity and equality on the campus.

Along with all of minor’s struggles, overall just dealing with it all and maintaining and average grade is a big thing to consider. Imagine working when having unsupportive parents, and dealing with all kinds of bad influences, and unsupportive parents. When people opposing affirmative action believe that they deserve getting accepted over someone else because they have a greater grade point average, they have to look at the other facts too. Minorities deal with all kinds of problems, and the people with greater point averages didn’t. Affirmative action just gives these people a boost from that they needed because of all the disadvantages that they had.