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I find the issue of affirmative action a painful one because I am not content with the implementation of a program designed to meet goals that I cherish - - ending discrimination and ensuring more equal access to education and jobs. Those of you who are at loggerheads need to keep in mind that everyone - - LRDO, Rapunzel, etc - - may disagree on the details but we all share the ultimate goal of ending discrimination.
I can share what I have seen and experienced in my tiny corner of the world. I grew up in a fairly low-income family where no one else had attended college. I went to an ivy league college and an ivy league grad school. Most often - - though certainly not always - - the minority students (the majority of whom were helped by AA) were at least middle-class and sometimes very affluent. A few students were wealthy, super-elite Africans (as in from Africa) who count under schools' diversity reporting. In other cases, middle-class students who had let's say a hispanic grandparent on one side of the family but looked like they were from Sweden rec'd scholarships and admissions assistance after checking that all important box (I understand that you can still self-identify as hispanic but in the sense that AA was conceived to address discrimination this never felt entirely right).
MEANWHILE, I have not been to a McDonalds that isn't staffed almost entirely by black workers - - who presumably have rec'd jack in the way of AA assistance or anything else. Not to mention truly poor white students who are oftentimes not helped in either admissions or aid.
My job experiences (nationally prominent business firms) reflected this same pattern of strong affirmative action assisting minority workers who were disproportionately from middle-class backgrounds - - and most of whom had already rec'd AA assistance in the college admissions process. In my (again narrow) work world, minority status is an incredible asset that can literally make a career - - I recognize that this is not true in every field or workplace but it is true in many.
At this point, I still see a role for AA but I do think it should be income-based - - that is designed to help those who are poor or first-generation college, etc. I believe racial discrimination exists but I think an income-based approach would in fact sweep in many minority applicants since race and SES are tightly linked.
As a final note, I think we will be FORCED to either switch to an income-based approach or end AA altogether. The reason for this is two-fold:
1) the workforce prediction that the majority of Americans will be racially mixed due to marriage, exploding hispanic populations etc. within a few short decades and
2) the recent advances in genetic profiling that indicate that even now we are racially mixed - - that most of us carry genetic material linked to africans or asians - - and that someone may appear black but really be predominantly asian in the genetic sense. How do you resolve that on a college application!
Interesting times . . .
I can share what I have seen and experienced in my tiny corner of the world. I grew up in a fairly low-income family where no one else had attended college. I went to an ivy league college and an ivy league grad school. Most often - - though certainly not always - - the minority students (the majority of whom were helped by AA) were at least middle-class and sometimes very affluent. A few students were wealthy, super-elite Africans (as in from Africa) who count under schools' diversity reporting. In other cases, middle-class students who had let's say a hispanic grandparent on one side of the family but looked like they were from Sweden rec'd scholarships and admissions assistance after checking that all important box (I understand that you can still self-identify as hispanic but in the sense that AA was conceived to address discrimination this never felt entirely right).
MEANWHILE, I have not been to a McDonalds that isn't staffed almost entirely by black workers - - who presumably have rec'd jack in the way of AA assistance or anything else. Not to mention truly poor white students who are oftentimes not helped in either admissions or aid.
My job experiences (nationally prominent business firms) reflected this same pattern of strong affirmative action assisting minority workers who were disproportionately from middle-class backgrounds - - and most of whom had already rec'd AA assistance in the college admissions process. In my (again narrow) work world, minority status is an incredible asset that can literally make a career - - I recognize that this is not true in every field or workplace but it is true in many.
At this point, I still see a role for AA but I do think it should be income-based - - that is designed to help those who are poor or first-generation college, etc. I believe racial discrimination exists but I think an income-based approach would in fact sweep in many minority applicants since race and SES are tightly linked.
As a final note, I think we will be FORCED to either switch to an income-based approach or end AA altogether. The reason for this is two-fold:
1) the workforce prediction that the majority of Americans will be racially mixed due to marriage, exploding hispanic populations etc. within a few short decades and
2) the recent advances in genetic profiling that indicate that even now we are racially mixed - - that most of us carry genetic material linked to africans or asians - - and that someone may appear black but really be predominantly asian in the genetic sense. How do you resolve that on a college application!
Interesting times . . .
) raises over $150K per year. The principal and teachers are great but that extra money goes a LONG way to setting the school apart from the other schools in the district. Part of the money our school raises, about one third, goes back to a general fund for the other schools (they apply for grants).
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