Quote:
Originally posted by Professor
its just me but i'm not aware of unqualified minorities receiving admission to school or jobs. i am aware of qualified minorities that just were not admitted or hired because of his or her race.
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I will use myself as an example. Even though I attended a historically black college, I was very unprepared for the intellectual rigors of the undergraduate environment. Many people do well in high school, but upon entry into college realize that doing well in high school is not a reliable predictor of college success, especially if you attend an urban school that doesn’t have a curriculum that adequately prepares you for the intellectual rigors of college. I was accepted to other non-black universities including one in London, England. Knowing what I know now, after-the-fact, having struggled to maintain decent grades and subsequently graduating, I think that sometimes you can do a student more of a disservice by bolstering their portfolio through something like the point system, than by denying them admission altogether. I had good high school grades and a good SAT score, but don't think I would feel comfortable knowing that I just barely got into a school. . . because I was black. Something like the point system does not adequately fulfill the purpose of affirmative action because if I am truly qualified for admission, I don't need an admissions officer adding 20 points (or overlooking deficiencies) to get me admitted to fill a quota. Either I'm qualified, or I'm not. Therefore, instead of focusing on race, as I stated earlier, I think it would be more beneficial in the long run to focus on increasing the pool of qualified black applicants by making sure that elementary and secondary school programs are truly challenging. If I apply to the University of Michigan and earn just 10 points shy of the points required for admission then they see a box checked African American on my application and add 20 points. . . . how did I genuinely qualify for admission? There are admissions standards for a reason; the reason being that those that meet the pre-set qualifications of the university are likely to do the best academically while in attendance. How does that do me any justice to be admitted to a university where I am statistically likely to not do well based on the application materials I provided, but just got in barely because I am black? I really don't see how that is affirmative action, and apparently the court agrees. There are always exceptions though, as I have proven statistics to be wrong by not only graduating, but going on to graduate school. Unfortunately, that is not the case for many black students. Statistically, there is a high attrition rate among blacks period, I can only imagine what it is among those that barely qualified for admission. The more the focus is on filling quotas, the less it will be on quality. Affirmative action is not about quotas, it is about ensuring qualified people are not discriminated against.