The student newspaper of Randall High School

Silver Streak

The student newspaper of Randall High School

Silver Streak

The student newspaper of Randall High School

Silver Streak

Affirmative Action shouldn’t determine college capability

Scholarships and college admissions are extremely hard to come by. The pool of students vouching for them is massive.  Kids in high school can spend up to five years working on their GPA. Studying all night and completing college courses while still in high school just for a significant chance at the opportunity to be given money or accepted to a school. The problem that many of these driven young kids run into though is that many of their scholarships and college admission spots are being given to minority groups because of their race or to students who come from a poor school. These reasons are completely unethical.

Imagine a student working hard for years and finally applying for a school they’ve always dreamed of going to only to find there are no more openings because their potential spot was given to somebody else because of their ethnicity. This process is called affirmative action, and it is wrong. To have a hard working student who slaved over their education for years not receive their just repayment only because they have affluent parents or are Caucasian is erroneous.

Affirmative action only increases racism. It was created to end the prejudice but its own system is tolerating it. By making an emphasis on someone’s religion, ethnicity or financial status they only redefine and bring to light the very concept of racism and prejudice. It completely turns the tables on it as well. Just instead of segregating poverty-stricken, minority groups they are pushing away the middle-class Caucasians.

It’s completely true that poor districts may not receive as good of education as the schools with better funding, but that doesn’t mean the students from the wealthier area worked any less hard than their underprivileged counterparts.  Scholarship and college opportunities should be given based on work ethic and college-student compatibility, not privileged circumstances, race or gender.

Instead of giving minorities more opportunities just for being a minority, colleges should not ask for that kind of personal information at all. It shouldn’t matter. In what way would someone’s race ever apply to an aptitude for a scholarship or a college? There may be particular instances where colleges give unfair advantages to certain groups, but those cases should be dealt with individually. This blanketing system in which they try to make everyone equal isn’t fair to those who play by the rules. Work ethic, GPA and extracurriculars, these are what should be looked at. Not skin color, gender, financial status or school placement.

 

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