Affirmative Action

Before the debate on Friday, I supported affirmative action. But after being on the side that wanted to get rid of affirmative action, my feelings about this topic became more mixed. Yes, affirmative action does indeed give a chance for those who otherwise might not have one, but it also creates doubt on the ability of those that affirmative action helps. To me, affirmative action seems like a late attempt to diversify certain communities, such as colleges. This raises the question of why there is so much emphasis on affirmative action in the college admissions process rather than diversifying earlier. Affirmative action has not made much of a change overall, but I do agree that this would be a step in the right direction. On the other hand, however, affirmative action also neglects poor Whites and Asians. The whole point of having affirmative action to help those that are disadvantaged, but aren’t poor Whites and Asians disadvantaged too? Don’t they also lack the resources to build a solid foundation? But in reality, or at least as of now, Whites make up the majority of college enrollment. Because is no other practical solution to the problem, I believe affirmative action is the best choice we have.