Affirmative Action

Even though the affirmative action system has flaws, I feel that it's essential in order to give everybody a fair chance at success. Our debate focused a lot on affirmative action at colleges and universities, and if it's fair that sometimes a qualified majority student is rejected, and an equally or even less qualified minority student is accepted. In a perfect world, both students would be offered admission, but in that perfect world, affirmative action wouldn't be needed, as everything would already be equal. A predominant stereotype in our society is that minorities are less capable or intelligent than whites, but eliminating affirmative action would really only enforce this stereotype. If minority students can't considered at top colleges because their SAT scores are lower (because of the nature of the test or financial strain and inability to pay for test prep), then they might not be able to get as good an education as their white peers, only encouraging majorities to think of minorities as uneducated. It's important to realize that if a less qualified minority student is accepted to a top college instead of a more qualified white student, it will obviously seem unfair to the white applicant, but he will most likely get into other colleges, which isn't necessarily the case. Furthermore, the handful of minority students who weren't as qualified for the school but were still accepted will not make the school any less rigorous or prestigious as they will be held to the same standards as any other student. College is not just for learning academic and studying within one's major, it's for experiencing new things, including new races and cultures. Without affirmative action, students of both races might become prejudiced towards those outside of their race.