The Pros And Cons Of Affirmative Action

715 Words3 Pages

One of the largest issues we face as a society is the security of equal opportunities for everyone. Minorities especially see very little opportunity when it comes to getting an education. Affirmative action seemed to be a logical solution to the racial discrimination involved with college admissions. However, affirmative action has proven to be of little success. Although there should be policies in place to ensure equal opportunity for all students, regardless of race, affirmative action gives an unfair advantage to students of color, and does not solve the institutional disadvantages that minorities have. Affirmative action is a messy, brute force method of trying to close the enrollment gap. Although on paper it may seem like a good idea to require colleges to admit a certain number of students of color, it actually gives an unfair advantage to minorities. A white student and a student of color with identical grades, test scores, and resumes do not have an equal chance of getting into the same college because one student belongs to a minority. Affirmative action causes the same problem it attempts to solve in reverse. Ashley K., a student who gave her opinion to the New York Times, says that she is “being given an advantage in college admissions” based on her race. It is superfluous, especially …show more content…

It attempts this by making it unfairly easier to get into college as a minority, but doesn’t actually fix the problem. Instead of trying to fight fire with fire, we should remove the fire entirely. Race doesn’t determine their intelligence, their work ethic, or any other quality worth noting in admissions. Therefore, there is no reason to know the student’s race when considering their college application. If there is still an enrollment gap, which there likely will be, we can attempt to actually solve the institutional discrimination minorities face instead of forcing more of them into