Affirmative Action

After going through and participating in multiple debates on the topic, I personally believe that affirmative action is a step towards a more equal system and should not be abolished. The counter argument towards affirmative action is often the concept that race should not be a factor in whether or not someone is accepted. Although I agree that, in a perfect world, it would be ideal for race to not matter when it comes to our education but sadly, systemic racism and the impact that this has on the opportunities for children of color does not allow for race to not to be closely connected when it comes to education. As I have said before, when we apply for college not everyone is playing on a level playing field and I believe that affirmative action is a step towards evening the odds. Many kids who are applying to these universities are sons or daughters of an alum, parts of families who can afford to send their kids to the college of their choice, or were able to afford expensive tutors who help them to get better scores on the standardized tests. In our system, the people who get these advantages are almost exclusively white, which already makes it even more difficult for people who do not have the luxury of tutoring, or wealth to get into these universities. Affirmative action is a way to diversify the kinds of kids that are accepted into these schools by helping those who have had the odds stacked against them by a system that has pushed people of color to the outside for years.