In terms of college diversity a lot of people look around for the reason why it isn't so diverse. The most common discussion that is brought up in it's regard is affirmative action. But what is affirmative action really doing, does it help with diversity?
As defined by merriam-webster affirmative action is the practice of improving the educational and job opportunities of members of groups that have not been treated fairly in the past because of their race, sex, etc.
There was actually a recent case brought up that began in 2008 by Abigail Fisher and is actually still continuing on. For those of you who are unaware, Abigail is a caucasian woman who blames her her inability to be accepted in to the the University of Texas on her race and claims that if she were black that should would be accepted into the school of her choice. An article by the Huffington Post was published January of 2016, goes to make a point of how Abigail's anger may be displaced. The article states that "Affirmative action, when it was introduced by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, originally required entities that receive federal funding to take tangible steps “to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” In 1967, Lyndon Johnson added sex to that list."
The reason that this case is being brought up today is because affirmative action is not an act that is specifically for people of color and therefore does not help through the means of providing better chances to be able to reach the step in which affirmative action may help those who have lesser access to high quality education. That is the reason why a few states have decided to use a new policy called the top1 0 percent rule. In another article that was posted by the Huffington Post, the top ten percent rule, is described as allowing the top 10 percent of the graduating classes of public high schools to be automatically admitted to the state public universities. CBS news even mentions that the policy has been working extremely well.
It would seem that this method would be helpful to many students however there are many disputes on weather this policy is fair or not. According to CBS news the main reason why Texas, the originator of this policy, decided to come up with this policy is because they wanted more African Americans and Hispanics within their schools. However, the were denied being able to allow people in simply because of the color of their skin, so as to avoid cases such as the one that Abigail,who was mention earlier, is taking part of now. The state of Texas decided to respond by accepting the top 10 percent of every public school because of how extremely segregated a lot of the high school's in Texas are. This provided an opportunity for those who previously believed that they would never be accepted into a good college to be able to do so.
But for every good thing there is a consequence, and one of the biggest issue that are being reported is the fact the the students who could be accepted anywhere are taking away opportunities from students who were not at the top of their class.CBS news even has reports of people switching their children to less competitive schools so that they can graduate in the top 10 percent guaranteed,
The importance of this 10 percent rule is directly proportional to Abigail who blames affirmative action for her reason as to not being accepted to the college of her choice. However, the top 10 percent rule was also available to her as well. It is unfortunate, that neither of these policies worked for her but it is important to not all of the opportunities that these policies create in helping to make America a place where everyone can have a fair opportunity. Even the national center for educational statistics state that there are quite a few of the gaps between race and education that are being narrowed. What this means for our nation is an opportunity of having a true democracy as well as a chance to eradicate some of the damage that was done to people within the minority, race, sex, sexual orientation etc.
very interesting blog post
ReplyDeletevery interesting blog post
ReplyDeleteIt is a weird situation. I can understand why some argue that we should have affirmative action due to the fact that there was some type of heavy oppression towards that specific race that put a huge setback on progression for them. However, when it comes to fairness, it is not fair for the caucasians when it comes to affirmative action. Plus, it is also generational differences where our ancestors where the ones that impacted our futures.
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DeleteI've always wondered if affirmative action really worked. Looking at the dynamic of many big universities, the ratios never seem quite equal.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the top 10% rule, I do understand how that can cause a problem with people switching their children to less competitive schools. It all seems like a big hassle.
Thanks for sharing
I like your post. It is a sticky topic. I think affirmative action does work, but I think the seen results of it have a lot to do with the type of people who apply to a school and the amount of people under the affirmative action law. My opinion is that a good way to get rid of race issues or maybe even gender issues is to stop talking about in a negative light and to stop singling people out by affirmative action. I think we are past the point of really needing affirmative action because of white male dominance; there are too many women integrated into education and male dominated fields. And sometimes I do think admissions officers use it anymore in the women context and how has now shifted to a race context.
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