Race Should Not Be A Factor In College Admissions Essay

College admissions will never ask for eye or hair colors, so why is race a required question? In the college admissions process, multiple factors are taken into consideration to judge a student’s character, intelligence, and abilities. These factors include GPA, extracurriculars, recommendations, etc. One notable factor is also race, and it was a result of the affirmative action policies that first took effect in the early 60’s. Affirmative action refers to policies and orders that were passed to increase opportunities in the workforce and higher education for minority groups who have been historically underrepresented (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). When it comes to the topic of affirmative action, most of us would agree that taking

Race should not be a factor in college admissions because it leads to reverse discrimination, sets double standards, and overlooks class-based issues.

One particular reason why race should not be a factor in college admissions is that it will lead to reverse discrimination. To clarify, in President Kennedy’s Executive Order 10925, it states, “it is the plain and positive obligation of the United States Government to promote and ensure equal opportunity for all qualified persons, without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin…The contractor will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin,” (Kennedy). This piece of evidence is important to acknowledge because it defines the original goal of affirmative action. Executive Order 10925 was created to eliminate discrimination based on a person’s identity and to ensure that everyone was treated fairly without prejudice and regard to their race. Following this order, it would be unlawful if colleges used a student’s race to decide whether they should be admitted or denied, which is what results in reverse

Many supporters of race-conscious admissions argue that without considering race as a factor, many groups of underrepresented minorities won’t have the chance to continue onto higher education because of their lack of resources, as compared to the wealthy and privileged white applicants. However, this is based on stereotypes. In “The Atlantic” article, “The Affirmative Action That Colleges Really Need”, the author states, “The current framework of race-based preferences…disproportionately helps upper-middle-class students of color, and pits working-class people of different races against one another…Research by the economist Raj Chetty shows that…Seventy-one percent of Black, Latino, and Native American students at Harvard come from college-educated homes with incomes above the national median; such students are in roughly the most advantaged fifth of families of their own race,” (Kahlenberg). What this shows is that in reality, there are families that come from underrepresented backgrounds who are still just as privileged because of their social class. Stereotypes create flaws in the system by giving minority students the boost they do not need instead of giving it to the lower class students that actually do, which includes minorities and the majorities alike. Since race has no correlation to how well someone is able to perform academically, it shouldn’t be