On Affirmative Action

On ‘Affirmative Action’

I was reading a thread by a University of Texas Austin recruiter, who was discussing the selection process and Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action is the idea that due to the treatment of minority races in the past, they should be given preferential treatment in the present. UT-Austin is currently embroiled in a US Supreme Court case over whether or not this is legal in the academic selection process.  To me, Affirmative Action seems completely ridiculous and in fact, counterintuitive to the goals of those who champion the concept. Disclaimer: this is written from the perspective of someone who stands to benefit from this policy.

It is completely unfair that minority student Ada who scores worse at, say, organic chemistry, would get accepted to a university, where majority student Bob who scores better, is rejected. This makes no logical sense whatsoever, especially with a reputation for having the best students. If Ada and Bob are relatively similar in skillsets and accomplishments, then race can be a factor, sure, but that still fails the second point against this idea.

The people who propose affirmative action policies are those who, rightly, say race does not matter, and people of different colors can be equal. This is true, but these policies actually implicitly say that a minority race needs help in order to succeed that a majority race does not. How is this showing that all races are equal? Race does not have an effect on ability.

This is a misguided approach to solving a relevant problem. The focus should be on assisting those in poverty, who are smart, but don’t have the resources to realize their potential. Race has no effect on success. Resources do. If I did not have resources, such as technology, I would have a much more difficult time compared to those with resources, and I would not be anywhere near as successful. There are a lot of resources and policies directed to people who abuse them. Those should be directed to people who actually need them due to circumstances out of their control.