Affirmative Action is not the solution

It is spring, which means sunny weather and flowers in full bloom. But for college seniors, spring brings about judgment day. The day when you find out if all the hard work you did in high school paid off or if you are lucky enough to get by with your four years off slacking. The day I am referring to is the day when high school seniors hear about whether they will be accepted or rejected from the colleges to which they applied. The last thing a senior would want to hear would be a rejection from the college of their dreams. This rejection would be even more painful if the student learned it was for unjust reasons. Puzzled by their rejection letters, many students wonder why someone with lower qualifications than them were granted acceptance to the same schools they were rejected from. Every year many of these disgruntled students point to the issue of race. Although many things are put into consideration when deciding whether or not to accept someone, the issue of race is often most talked about. I believe that affirmative action in the college admissions process should be terminated and my new solution should be instituted in its place.
Affirmative action is a policy that was put in place to create more diversity not only in the classroom but also in the job market. Beginning in the 1960s, affirmative action aimed to compensate for past discrimination with a racially just society in mind
(Sterba, 286). Many people in the sixties believed that giving blacks their freedom was not enough to right the wrongs of slavery. This is the premise of affirmative action set by President Lyndon B. Johnson who believed you cannot simply free an enslaved man and say " ‘you are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe you have been completely fair." Taking the president's words to heart, higher level educators started to recruit minority students as a part of their education mission (Garrison-Wade and Lewis, 24). For once college admission officers began taking into account the race of the applicant when deciding on their fate. Not everybody was happy with the decision to change the admission standards. Several court cases took place in which a student went against the beliefs of affirmative action. The first involving a white student named Allan Bakke who thought he was being discriminated against because a minority less deserving than him was admitted to graduate school and he was denied. The most up to date case concerning affirmative action involved the University of Michigan (UM) Law School. In both the Backe and UM cases the Court ruled that race can still be considered a factor in considering applicants. But, in the 2003 Gratz v. Reagents case the Court ruled that a point based system that awards extra points for race can't be used in the admissions process. I feel that the Court was right in eliminating point based systems but, I feel that they should eliminate affirmative action all together.
I know that many may be wondering why someone like myself, an African-American, would be against something that I have undoubtedly benefited from in the past. The reason for my disapproval being that I see fundamental flaws with the policy of affirmative action currently instituted. Although targeted to reverse the ills brought on by slavery, affirmative action rarely benefits the intended group of students therefore resulting in no difference in diversity. The truly poor minorities, the group that should benefit from affirmative action the most, rarely apply to enter universities and the better-off learn how to play the system (Sowell, 150). Another reason I believe affirmative action is not working is the fact that it was started to help minorities get out of poverty but it is not accomplishing that goal. Studies done by economists show that minorities are climbing out of poverty at a slower rate than they were before affirmative action took place. Why has something that was put in place to help minorities in the job market hurt them? I can recall when my friend, who happened to be a minority, got bad grades one quarter in his junior year of high school. When someone asked him if he was afraid that it would hurt his chances of getting into the college of his choice, he responded by saying ‘it would hurt me if I was white." This leads me to believe that the policy of affirmative action is decreasing minorities' motivation to do well in school. If minorities know that they will be given preferential treatment, then they will feel like there is no need to do as well or better then those without the benefit of affirmative action. Many of the supporters of affirmative action are unaware of the bad effects of preferential treatment.
I am aware of the stance held by all of the people in favor of affirmative action.
Many people say that affirmative action is needed because it is the only means of real diversity. I can not tell you how many times my friends, who are not minorities, say that "if it wasn't for affirmative action, then there will be nothing but Asians and Whites in college." I do not argue that diversity is a bad thing but, diversity by means of affirmative action is because many times minorities attend colleges that they are not qualified to attend. Many colleges accept a "token number of blacks" (Sterba, 287) in order to meet certain quotas and be able to call their colleges diverse. In addition to diversity many supporters bring up the topic of slavery. For many years slavery has oppressed blacks and
created a enormous gap between the education and job opportunities of blacks compared to whites. Now, the supporters believe that affirmative action is a perfect way to help blacks bridge the gap and make up for the discrimination they experienced while being enslaved (Hovannisian). But, I argue that affirmative action only exhibits a form of reverse discrimination against non-minorities. Many non-minorities are more than meeting the requirements of colleges but not getting in, while minorities that did not do as well are unjustly taking their place. Is it possible to be over qualified for a job or for acceptance to a school? Surprisingly, the supporters of affirmative action believe in being over qualified. When I explain to them the flaws in affirmative action, many respond by asking me ‘how will you create diversity in the classroom and the workplace.'
My solution to the problem is to get rid of affirmative action with a different kind of affirmative action. No longer should race be considered but instead, affirmative action should be based on one's socioeconomic status. Many people, including myself believe that no one should be discriminated against because of race, gender, religion, etc. Discrimination led to slavery in the U.S.A. and now the unjust refusal of many over qualified college applicants. If only socioeconomic status was considered then the right group of minorities will be targeted, the poor and underprivileged. I believe there is no reason that a black student who is of the same socioeconomic status of a white student should receive preferential treatment, they have the same opportunity to excel and neither is at an advantage. In addition, basing affirmative action on socioeconomic status will solve the problem of diversity in college. Many privileged students in selective colleges will be exposed to underprivileged students for the first time. Therefore, there would be diversity in the school based on social class. Also, diversity based on race would occur because many of the underprivileged youth in the U.S.A are minorities.
Although, many of my fellow minority applicants would shocked at the fact that I am disputing something that benefits me, I believe that I have to prove higher level education wrong. I feel that affirmative action should be eliminated because it does not accomplish what it was made to do. Minorities are not rising from poverty at a faster rate and diversity in college is addressed the wrong way. I have come to the realization that the supporters of affirmative action are in fact hypocrites. They claim that the policy is important to mend the wounds from their past discrimination when in fact they themselves are participating in reverse discrimination towards non-minorities. My plan basing affirmative action on socioeconomic status rather than race should be instituted in order to truncate the gap between whites and minorities.