Aaron Seitz
Section A03
Week
3-Monday April 17
Response to
“Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority
and Back Again.” By Nancy Chung Allred
The reading for this week
specifically relates to the themes of “Affirmative Action” and “Newer Debates
in Higher Education” by explaining how affirmative action is still important in
our current educational system and how affirmative action might need to be
altered in the future to avoid disenfranchisement of many minorities when it
comes to education. Reading this piece reminded me of my confusion about what
affirmative action was when I was applying to universities. I saw it as a
necessity in the past but was unclear as to how important it was in society
today. I would even hear my friends at school warn me that affirmative action
might prevent me from getting into the college I wanted to go to because there
were a “limited number of spots for people of each race.” I have often wondered
what a good alternative to affirmative action would be or if there is a
solution that universities could apply to their application process that
eliminates affirmative action. The text mentions a class-based system but to me
this seems absurd because I would think this would further disenfranchise
minorities who commonly have low incomes. This also would simply make the rich richer
by providing education strictly to students with wealthy educated parents. In
my mind the best solution is to make admissions strictly merit-based. This way
the level of qualification of students is matched with the quality of the
university education they receive. This can sound a bit harsh and as the text
points out, is also somewhat flawed. Here as well, students who are wealthier
commonly have a better basic education and would in turn be more likely to be
accepted into prestigious universities. This is where I believe the system
should be changed. I believe that students should be encouraged to excel in
areas of study they are interested in and in turn use that merit to be accepted
into universities that fit their determination, interest, and qualifications.
If a student proves they are great at math for example, that should favor them
for an engineering or math related degree but not necessarily a social science
degree and vice versa. If a student applies for a degree in veterinary medicine
for example, just because they have a high math SAT score doesn’t mean they
should receive acceptance for a degree in veterinary medicine.
Question:
Are there any universities that claim to completely exclude consideration of
race and ethnic background from the application process to their university?
This image further demonstrates the idea my peers expressed which was
that I might not get in to a certain university for a reason other than
intellectual and educational merit.
Resources:
[Affirmative Action-Admissions]. (2003, January 17). Retrieved April 16,
2017, from http://titleixpoliticalcartoon.blogspot.com/p/affirmative-action.html
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