"Affirmative action" refers to the sociological-based guidelines and principles for mainly minorities gaining admittance in fields of education, typically college. Affirmative action has been a hot topic for the various educational systems throughout large American cities, and has been deemed hypocritical, discriminative, and racist by people against it. People for it view this policy as a good way to promote a diverse accessibility to an education for minorities, mainly blacks and Latinos opposed to whites or Asians. An example of affirmative action is having a higher chance in being accepted into a particular college (Columbia University for example) based on ethnicity rather than personal standards.

With that said, what are your thoughts on it?

Of course, it's objectively wrong, but in the long run, you can't change a person's beliefs, and though the world should be "politically correct", it isn't always that way, and that's either something someone has to stand against (MLKJ.) or learn to live with it.

When people get to saying it's wrong, they go into insulting those people's beliefs, not a topic I would love to delve into.

I think it's terrible and very old fashioned.
In Ireland you have a better chance of gaining acceptance to even first level education if you are of the Catholic religion.
I find this to be terrible backward and is a topic I love debating.

quote Unity

Of course, it's objectively wrong, but in the long run, you can't change a person's beliefs, and though the world should be "politically correct", it isn't always that way, and that's either something someone has to stand against (MLKJ.) or learn to live with it.

When people get to saying it's wrong, they go into insulting those people's beliefs, not a topic I would love to delve into.

Just thought I'd bump this for more discussion.

Affirmative action is wrong on so many levels. People should not be admitted because of their races or social class. The best student/applicant she be allowed into schools and university. Affirmative action is just another form of discrimination.

quote Heart_of_stone

I think it's terrible and very old fashioned.
In Ireland you have a better chance of gaining acceptance to even first level education if you are of the Catholic religion.
I find this to be terrible backward and is a topic I love debating.

Sigh...

One of my jobs currently is to research and put together an internet database of scholarship opportunities for minority students, specifically those interested in studying journalism at colleges and universities in the United States. In order to do that, I also have to research the percentages of populations of minority students within these schools as compared to their true figures in the census. The simple truth is that minorities are still absurdly underrepresented at both the undergraduate and graduate level at many major universities in the United States--including state schools. Most colleges will include in their brochures a mention of their initiative to increase student diversity, but it's simply not happening in a lot of places around the country.

The playing field still isn't level. I know economic hardship is something that transcends race, but we're not talking about students choosing their socio-economic status in order to screw some white kid out of his place at Harvard. It doesn't work that way. Students selected to enroll in major universities are qualified--whether they are chosen based upon their race due to affirmative action or not. Once the numbers represent a congruence with population figures and student enrollment, then I will begin to argue in favor of removing affirmative action policies from admissions offices throughout the country. But I'm still not satisfied with what I see.

Affirmative action is inherently racist and places deserving white students at a disadvantage. Skin color shouldn't mean shit when it comes to college admissions; the only thing that should be considered is the objective information provided on the application. Community colleges are available to those who are too stupid to make it into top-notch universities on their own merits.

I know a Mexican-American who got into Stanford with a 1700 SAT score and a 3.3 GPA. Enough said.

quote

Skin color shouldn't mean shit when it comes to college admissions

To be quite frank with you, I don't think that acknowledging that minority students as a whole are less intellectually inclined than white students is going to help them achieve. It's going to make them reliant on receiving special treatment because they're not white.

That's not what I said at all, you're twisting my words around. I said that they don't receive the same opportunities privileged white students do, which can have an impact on their abilities. That's not racism-it's a fact. If one student receives training at an early age in journalism, let's say they are able to attend a workshop at a major university with top professionals in the field because their family is more affluent than the average African-American family, they are obviously going to have skills that the African-American student won't. Is that fair, that the African-American student is at a disadvantage because of the income of his/her parents and their inability to pay for such a training program? It would be, if every American had the opportunity to make the same amount of money in a particular job field, but that simply isn't the case in today's society, and until it is affirmative action is necessary. We're not weaning students onto any sort of special treatment program, we're providing them with an opportunity to succeed they wouldn't otherwise have. Once they've been accepted to these programs, they have to prove that they are willing and capable of completing the work to achieve success...and many times, they do.

quote Irish Gamer

Regarding university in Ireland, there is a grant system in place for people less fortunate and first and second level education are free so, in reality, minorities have no excuse for a lack of education in this country.

Yes, there are grants available to students of color but they are a part of the Affirmative Action issue. Affirmative Action in the United States refers to the acceptance of students, it is the responsibility of the individual student to garner the funds required to attend the school. That's why most students who are accepted due to affirmative action practices actually end up succeeding in college because they then take the initiative to secure grant money in order to attend college. Those that argue that admissions practices in the United States are unfair to white students usually also argue that providing funds for schools to ethnic minority students based upon their ethnicity rather than stringent academic standards is also racial discrimination, lumping scholarship and grant-bestowing institutions into the argument.

quote trendyskaman

That's not what I said at all, you're twisting my words around. I said that they don't receive the same opportunities privileged white students do, which can have an impact on their abilities. That's not racism-it's a fact. If one student receives training at an early age in journalism, let's say they are able to attend a workshop at a major university with top professionals in the field because their family is more affluent than the average African-American family, they are obviously going to have skills that the African-American student won't. Is that fair, that the African-American student is at a disadvantage because of the income of his/her parents and their inability to pay for such a training program? It would be, if every American had the opportunity to make the same amount of money in a particular job field, but that simply isn't the case in today's society, and until it is affirmative action is necessary. We're not weaning students onto any sort of special treatment program, we're providing them with an opportunity to succeed they wouldn't otherwise have. Once they've been accepted to these programs, they have to prove that they are willing and capable of completing the work to achieve success...and many times, they do.