Personally, after the critical conversation that took place on Friday, I have to say I left it with a bunch of mixed feelings over affirmative action and whether it truly is necessary in the furtherance of the education system. I didn't exactly know much about how it would benefit anyone at all before the conversation, and even still I don't know how to feel about it. I think it can be helpful and harmful at the same time.
Affirmative action is only helpful if it is bestowed upon the right people and the ones who need it most. I feel it is unfair for a particular student who may not have the greatest academic standings to gain the same benefits and be equal as another student who has perhaps a stunning academic record based solely because the former student is of a minority ethnicity. Diversifying schools does not mean blindly choosing students and picking them out only because of their ethnicity and because they are not part of the "majority."
I feel that affirmative action is a completely double-sided coin. One side is helpful in that it can properly diversify schools by helping the right people who truly do need it and have worked just as hard as anyone but may have been shorted or under-resourced, while the other side seems like a free pass to a student part of a minority and may serve as an injustice to a student of a majority, who may have worked just as hard but was shorted because of affirmative action.
I feel it doesn't need to be necessary per se because schools should not rely on race to choose their students; if the students want to go to that college, they should play their cards on their academics and achievements, not on their race.
No comments:
Post a Comment